Ecology Flashcards
ecology
study of relationships and interactions among organisms with their environment
levels of biological organization
population - community - ecosystem - biome
population
group of organisms of the same species living in the same location/area
population ecology
- population density
- immigrants
- emigrants
- carrying capacity
population growth formula
(births - deaths) + (immigrants - emigrants)
population density
number of organisms divided by area
immigrants
individuals arriving in the area
emigrants
individuals leaving the area
carrying capacity
maximum population an area can support
community
group of different populations living in an area
community ecology
interspecific interactions:
- commensalism
- mutualism
- parasitism
- predation
commensalism
one species benefits, the other is hardly affected
mutualism
both species benefits
parasitism
the parasite gets food or nourishment from the host; the host is negatively affected
predation
predator eats and kills prey
competitive exclusion
survival of only one between or among two or more species competing for identical resources in a particular habitat
ecosystem
all organisms living in a particular area in their environment
biome
group of ecosystems that are each characterized by a unique set of abiotic factors such as climate and defined by dominant communities
example:
tropical rainforest savanna desert temperate grassland coniferous forest tundra
biotic factors
biological influences on organisms within an ecosystem
includes other living organisms that an organism might interact with
abiotic factor
physical or nonliving factor
includes temperature, humidity, sunlight, soil etc
niche
organism’s occupation or its role to ecosystem
flow of matter and energy in ecosystem
producers or autotrophs
consumer or heterotrophs
decomposers or final consumers
producers or autotrophs
use energy from environment (sunlight, mineral water) to produce complex organic molecules necessary for tissue production in
example: plants, algae and plankton
consumers or heterotrophs
organisms that rely on other organisms for their food and energy supply
human, shark, fish etc
decomposers or final consumers
feed on organic wastes and dead organisms and recycles their nutrients to the environment
fungi and some bacteria
food chain
series of steps in which energy is transferred among organisms by eating and being eaten
energy exchange in a community as it goes up to different trophic levels
plants - herbivores - carnivores
trophic level
each step in the food chain
each consumers depends on this for energy
food web
a network of complex eating relationships of organisms
- links all the food chains in an ecosystem
biosphere
the global ecosystem, the union of all earth’s biomes and ecosystem
