ecology Flashcards
Ecosystem
all living ecosystems and their physical and chemical environment
population
group of the same spices together in an area
biotic factors
living things, remains, nests as well
adiotic factors
non living things and chemical components of a ecosystem
sustainability
the ability to maintain a balance in a ecosystem and maintain constant characteristics over a long time in a ecosystem
community
different spices together in an ecosystem
habitat loss
when the area where organisms live cannot support that life anymore
fragmentation
dividing up a region into smaller pieces
the second most threat to sustainability
species may not be able to survive
climate change
1 threat to sustainability
how the worlds climate+ temperatures are changing when CO2 is released causing the earth to warm
animals who live in colder areas have to move
adapt to new condition s
maybe cause death
acid precipitation
effects of land and water
precipitation made acidic from chemicals that mix with the atmosphere produced by burning fossil fuels LAND changes soil less nutrients for plants= flow growth hard to breath rust and dissolves concrete WATER less food when producers get effected makes water look clear limestone stops the effects (neutralize)
over exploitation
using a resource faster than it can be replaced
causes extinction
poaching
type of over exploitation when animals are killed for parts of them
ex: ivory, medicine and skin
pollution
harmful contaminants that go into the environment
some have purposes like pesticides
while others are by-products (exhaust)
oil spills
water pollution that occurs when tankers spill
oil is toxic and slow to break down
hard to clean up
bad for birds and fish
cleaning oil spills
SWIMMING VACCUMING: to vacuum up the floating oil
BIO REMEDATION: use micro organisms to creak down and consume the oil
BURNING- to burn the floating oil and causing it to burn away
this causes more pollution in the atmosphere
DISPERSAL AGENTS: detergents that break up the oil in to small particles to be eaten by organisms
plastics
can be at sea and do not chemically degrade
can last for thousands of years
broken into pieces and ingested by animals
or the pieces can entangle animals
symbiosis
close interactions between two species in a relationship
multualism
both spices benefit from the interaction
commercialism
one species benefit while the other has no effect
parasitism
one benefits and the other is harmed
energy flow
shows the amount of energy transferred between tropics
at each level energy is lost by 10%
ex a rabbit gets 10% of the energy in a plant while a fox who eats the rabbit only gets 10% of that 10% the rabbit has
numbers
number of animals at each tropic level
biomass
total mass of organisms at a particular tropic level
predator
an animal that preys on other animals for food
prey
an animal that is hunted for food
4 ways to avoid being eaten
speed and endurance: use endurance to run for longer to escape a animal that can only run in short bursts
camouflage: hide as something else so the predator doesn’t eat it
poison: doesn’t taste good so the predator doesn’t eat it
mimicry: make themselves look like another animal
prodicer
organism that makes it’s own food through photosynthesis
also called autotrophs
consumer
organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms primary consumer- eats plants secondary consume tertiary consumer also called heterotrophs
pests
things that damage crops and humans try to eleiminate can be: plants- weeds insects- mosquitoes rodents- mice
monocultures
when there is only a single type of crop growing in the fields
it is a good environment for pests and if one plants becomes diseased the rest become as well
pesticides
common method to eliminate pests
some can be short lived (days) or long lives (years)
broad spectrum pesticides are effective against many types of pests
narrow spectrum are only effective against a few pests