Ecology Flashcards
Levels of ecological organization
Biosphere (largest), ecosystem, community, population, individual (smallest)
Population
ONE SPECIES in ONE AREA
Community
VARIOUS POPULATIONS in ONE AREA
Ecosystems
Community of biotic and abiotic things interacting with each other
Biosphere
EVERYTHING ON EARTH, ALLL THE ECOSYSTEMS
Food chain
Producer (autotroph)–>primary consumer (herbivore)–>2ndary consumer (omnivore/carnivore)–>tertiary consumer (carnivore)–>decomposer
Bio-magnification
Pollutants from the producer will be worse in the next level
Movement of Energy
UP THE PYRAMID Producer—>Decomposer, in the form of organic molecules/chemical energy, energy is lost to heat as it moves up
Scavengers
Feed on bodies of dead organisms
Parasites
Lives and feeds on host organisms
Energy pyramid
Shows the amount of energy available in an ecosystem at each feeding (TROPHIC) level DECREASES AS U GO UP
Biomass pyramid
Shows the relative mass of organisms (BIOMASS) at each feeding level DECREASES AS U GO UP
Pyramid of Numbers
Population size also tends to generally decease as you move up through the trophic levels
3 Levels of Biodiversity
The diversity of ECOSYSTEMS found of earth, species in a COMMUNITY, and diversity within a SPECIES
More diverse=
More stable
Negative human affects on biodiversity
Over harvesting, alien species introduction CANE FROGS, habitat fragmentation, pollution, habitat destruction
Biodiversity benefits for us
The richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries and economic development
Ecosystems help to…
Protect water source Form soil Store/recycle nutrients Break down pollutants Increase climate stability
Biological resources
Food
Medicine
Building materials like wood
Social benefits
Research+education
Recreation+tourism
Niche
Specific role of an organism in its environment, no 2 organisms can occupy the same niche at the same time
Habitat
Where in the community that organism lives
Mutualism
+/+ (lichens, flowers and insects)
Commensalism
+/0 (barnacles on a whale)
Parasitism
+/- (tapeworms, mistletoe, athletes foot)
Competition
Struggle for limited resources among organisms
Limiting factors
Limits pop size (space, light, temp, food, predators)
Carrying capacity
The largest pop of any species that an area can support at one time, determined by limiting factor (population size cycles up and down on carrying capacity line)
Population would go straight up…
If there are unlimited resources/no limiting factors NEVER HAPPENS IRL
Carbon and oxygen move by
Photosynthesis an respiration
Nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen: important part of ANIMO ACIDS needed to make PROTIENS
Decomposers: bacteria and fungi make nitrogen available to other organisms
Ecological succession
Process when an existing community is replaced by another