Ecology Flashcards
Environmentalism
A social movement based on various backgrounds (activism, stewardship, vegetarianism, etc.) whose collective goal is to reduce humanity’s ecological footprint
Natural history
The study of plants and animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study
Ecology
The scientific study of the interactions (abiotic and biotic) that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms (4 steps: understanding the influence of multiple scales, physical variables, growth rates, and biological interactions)
3 scales
1) Static: looking at the same system under different resolutions (ex. local different species in a coral reef, regional structure of the reef from above, and the larger scale of reef systems on different islands)
2) Dynamic: events that occur on different levels (small spatial scale ecological heartbeat, longer term influence of fish or other interactions of different species, and then longest-term reproduction of coral travelling through coral ecosystems, etc.)
3) Interactions between scales: perturbation amplification/damping (disturbance such as hurricane or human impacts in upper scales is amplified in lower scales, but disruption to lower scales does not disturb upper ones)
Sensible heat
UVA heats up more particles closer to the earth, causing them to move around faster to create heat
Cycle of wind masses and their names
Wind masses cool out from the earth and split towards poles, warm, and float back in the same cycle (Hadley cells are hot tropical, Ferrel cells are hot and dessert, and Polar cells are cold tropical, Northeast trade winds, westerlies, polar easterlies, intertropical convergence zone)
How are camels and saguaro cacti alike?
Both store food for later access, reduce heat gain because of size overhead, and reduce water loss by not sweating/closing stomata
Adaptations of tundra plants
Pubescence, reflectivity, track the sun, etc.
Water stratification
Thermocline
Langmuir streaks
Wind blows to create a warm rotating current along the length of the lake, which raises heavy algae back to the surface to keep the water environment oxygenated (rotate in clockwise, counter clockwise, etc.)
Life cycles created by solar energy differentiated habitats
1st Benthic-based macrophytic: food web associated with mud/sand on the bottom of a lake (includes large plants like seaweed)
2nd Pelagic-based microphytic: open water food web (includes small plants like algae)
Coral reef
Reef crest at top = high physical stress from waves, changes in salinity, UV exposure leading to dessication
Medium depth = moderate stress and competition
Deepest depth = low stress and predation/herbivory
How are aquatic and terrestrial biomes the same, and how are they different in affecting their distribution and abundance?
Both use environmental stress and disturbance
Aquatic: use light and temperature
Terrestrial: use moisture and temperature
Earth’s carrying capacity
If everyone lived a “first world” life, the earth could support 1/2 a billion people, but 1.5 currently live like this. If everyone lived a “third world” life, the earth could support 12 billion…
2 resources that will be in high demand as the carrying capacity continues to be exceeded
Water and food
Population ecology
1) Population abundance: N (Species richness: S)
2) Geographic range (abundance/range = density)
3) Index of population dispersion (variance/mean = ID)
4) Age structure
5) Demographics and life tables (Cohort life table analyzes key factors, Static life table analyzes mortality age)
ID > 1
Clumped, maybe caused by intraspecific aggregation (schooling), habitat selection (predator avoidance, food), interspecific competition
ID < 1
Uniform, maybe caused by intraspecific competition, limited resources (habitat selection/territoriality)
ID = 1
Random, maybe caused by accumulative multiple effects, even distribution of habitat
Models of population growth
Model 1: geometric growth assumes density-independent, unlimited environment, non-overlapping generations (ex. In one generation population doubles in size)
Model 2: exponential growth assumes density-independent, unlimited environment, overlapping generations/continuous (ex. Eagles start with one pair of eggs at age 4 when they first reproduce and then reproduce every 2 years thereafter, experiencing birth and death)
Model 3: continuous logistic growth assumes limited environment, density-dependent, overlapping generations (Convergent oscillations, stable limit, boom & bust)
2 determinants of population size
1) Biotic potential: max rate a population can increase assuming max bith/min death rate
2) Environmental resistance: weather and natural disasters
Factors become increasingly effective as population density increases
Types of INTRAspecific competition and regulating factors
1) Interference: direct competition with a clear winner and loser
2) Exploitative: indirect competition for resources
Regulating factors: instrinsic factors like coping mechanisms and the endocrine system response, social interactions between same species, predation, toxic wastes, diseases, and habitat selection
INTERspecific competition
Competition between individuals of different species
Community
Collection of species bound together by their influences on each other
