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Ecology Flashcards

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AP® Biology flashcards Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Ecology

A

The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment

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2
Q

Environment

A

All that is external to the organism and is necessary for its existence

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3
Q

Abiotic environment

A

The physical or nonliving

Climate, temperature, availability of light and water, local topology

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4
Q

Biotic environment

A

All living things that directly or indirectly influence the the life of the organism

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5
Q

Organism

A

The individual unit of an ecological system

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6
Q

Population

A

A group of organisms of the same species living together in the same location

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7
Q

Species

A

Any group of similar organisms that are capable of producing fertile offspring

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8
Q

Community

A

Consists of populations of different plants and animal species interacting with each other in a given environment

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9
Q

Biotic community

A

A population and not their physical environment

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10
Q

Ecosystem

A

The interaction between living biotic communities and the nonliving environment

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11
Q

Biosphere

A

All portions of the planet that support life, the atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere

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12
Q

Water

A

The major component of the internal environment of all living things

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13
Q

Sunlight

A

The ultimate source of energy for all organisms

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14
Q

Physical Environment

A 
Water
Temperature
Sunlight
Oxygen supply
Substratum (soil or rock)
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15
Q

Photic zone

A

Top layer of water through which light can penetrate where all aquatic photosynthetic activity takes place

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16
Q

Aphotic zone

A

Layer in water where only animal life and other heterotrophic life exist

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17
Q

Substratum

A

Soil or rock
Determines the nature of plant and animal life
Acidity, texture, minerals, humus quantity

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18
Q

Loams

A

Contain each type of soil

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19
Q

Niche

A

The functional role of an organism in its ecosystem

No two species can ever occupy the same niche in the same location

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20
Q

Habitat

A

The physical place where an organism lies

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21
Q

Outcomes of competition

A

One species is competitively superior and drives the second to extinction.
One species is competitively superior in some regions resulting in the elimination of one species in some places.
The two species may rapidly evolve in divergent directions under the strong selection pressure resulting from intense competition.

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22
Q

Autotrophs

A

Organisms that manufacture their own food

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23
Q

Heterotrophs

A

Organisms that eat other plants or animals for energy and nutrients.

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24
Q

Herbivores

A

Organisms that consume only plants or plant foods

Long digestive tracts for greater SA and time

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25
Q

Carnivores

A

Organisms that eat only other animals

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26
Q

Omnivores

A

Organisms that eat both plants and animals

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27
Q

Interspecific interactions

A

Symbiosis, predation, saprophytism, scavenging

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28
Q

Symbiosis

A

Symbionts live together in an intimate association which may or may not be beneficial to both participants
Commensalism, mutualism, parasitism

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29
Q

Commensalism

A

+/0

One organism is benefited by the association and the other is not affected

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30
Q

Mutualism

A

+/+

Both organisms derive some benefit by the association

31
Q

Parasitism

A

+/-

One organism benefits at the expense of the host

32
Q

Ectoparasite

A

Parasites that cling to the exterior surface of the host

33
Q

Endoparasite

A

Parasites that live within the host

34
Q

Saprophyte

A

Organisms that decompose (digest) dead organism matter externally and absorb the nutrients

35
Q

Scavengers

A

Animals that consume dead animals

Require no adaptations for hunting and killing their prey

36
Q

Osmoregulation

A

Animals have developed many adaptations for maintaining their internal osmolarity and conserving water

37
Q

Thermoregulation

A

Poikilothermic vs homeothermic

38
Q

Poikilothermic

A

Cold-blooded
Heat energy escapes to the environment
Body temp very close to that of their surroundings

39
Q

Homeothermic

A

Warm-blooded
Physical mechanisms that allow them to make use of the heat produced as a consequence of respiration
Maintain body temp higher than the temp of the environment

40
Q

Energy flow

A

The transfer of energy through the living components of the ecosystem mapped in the form of a food chain or web

41
Q

Food chain

A

A single chain showing the transfer of energy

42
Q

Producers

A

Autotrophic green plants and chemosynthetic bacteria
Utilize the energy of the sun and simple raw materials to manufacture carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids
Always initial step in any food chain

43
Q

Primary Consumers

A

Animals that consume green plants (herbivores)

44
Q

Secondary Consumers

A

Animals that consume primary consumers (carnivores)

45
Q

Decomposers

A

Bacteria and fungi decompose the organic wastes and dead tissues to simpler compounds which are returned to the environment to be used again by living organisms

46
Q

Food web

A

An intricate collection of interconnected food chains of a community to form a web
The greater the number of pathways, the more stable the community

47
Q

Pyramid of energy

A

Each level of the food chain utilizes some energy it obtains from food for its own metabolism and loses some additional energy as heat
Producers = greatest amount of energy
Top consumers = least amount of energy

48
Q

Pyramid of mass

A

Since organisms at the upper levels of the food chain derive food energy from organism at lower levels and since energy is lost, each level can support a successively smaller biomass

49
Q

Pyramid of numbers

A

Greatest number of organisms (great total mass) at the base and smallest number at the top

50
Q

Nitrogen Cycle

A

Nitrogen is chemically inert and cannot be used by most organisms. Lightning and nitrogen-fixing bacteria change the nitrogen to usable, soluble nitrate.
Nitrates are absorbed by plants and used to synthesize nucleic acids and plant proteins.
Animals eat plants and synthesize specific animal proteins from plant proteins.
Nitrogen locked up in waste and dead tissues is released by the action of bacteria of decay, covert proteins into ammonia
Some ammonia is nitrified to nitrites by chemosynthetic bacteria and usable nitrates by nitrifying bacteria
Some ammonia is denitrified, broken down to release free nitrogen which returns to the beginning of the cycle

51
Q

Carbon Cycle

A

Plants use gaseous CO2 to produce glucose via photosynthesis then use glucose to make starch, proteins, and fats.
Animals eat plants & use digested nutrients to form carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. A part is used as fuel in respiration.
The metabolically produced CO2 is released into the air. Organic carbon remains within an organism until death and decay processes by bacteria to return CO2 to the air.

52
Q

Conditions for Ecosystem Stability

A

Relatively stable physical environment and biotic community.
Constant energy source and living system incorporating energy into organic compounds.
Cycling of materials between the living system and its environment

53
Q

Ecological succession

A 
The orderly process by which one biotic community replaces or succeeds another until a climax community is established
Each stage (sere) is identified by a dominant species
54
Q

Climax Community

A

The stable, living (biotic) part of an ecosystem, in which populations exist in balance with each other and with the environment
Persists until a major climactic or geological change disturbs the abiotic factors or a major biotic change affects the populations

55
Q

Biome

A

Distinct communities inhabiting a geographic region existing in the major climate areas

56
Q

Climax vegetation

A

The vegetation that becomes dominant and stable that determine the nature of the inhabiting animal population

57
Q

Terrestrial Biomes

A 
Desert
Grassland
Rainforest
Temperate deciduous forest
Temperate coniferous forest
Taiga
Tundra
Polar
58
Q

Desert Biome

A

Fewer than 10 inches of rain/year within a few heavy cloudbursts for main growing season
Plants actively conserve water
Animals live in burrows

59
Q

Grassland Biome

A 
Low rainfall (10-30 inches/year)
No shelter for herbivorous mammals from carnivorous predators
Land animals developed long legs, many hoofed
60
Q

Rainforest Biome

A

Torrential rains
Moderate (temperate) - high (tropical) temperatures
Climax communities with dense growth of vegetation that does not shed its leaves
Trees grow closely together and sunlight hardly reaches the forest floor
Floor inhabited by saprophytes which live off dead organic matter

61
Q

Temperate deciduous biome

A

Cold winters, warm summers, moderate rainfall

Deciduous trees that shed leaves in winter

62
Q

Temperate coniferous forest biome

A

Cold, dry
Inhabited by trees that do not lose their leaves
Vegetation evolved for water conservation with needle-shaped leaves
Largest biomass

63
Q

Taiga biome

A

Less rainfall than temperate forests
Long, cold winters
Inhabited by trees that do not lose leaves
Forest floors are characterized by thin soil covered in moss and lichens

64
Q

Tundra biome

A

Treeless, frozen plain found between the taiga and northern ice sheets
Ground covered in snow and ice described as permafrost
Very short summer and growing season, ground becomes wet and marshy

65
Q

Polar region

A

Surround polar ice caps and are frozen areas with no vegetation and few terrestrial animals
Little precipitation
Considered deserts

66
Q

Marine biomes

A

Oceans connect to form one continuous body of water which controls the earth’s temperature by absorbing solar heat
Intertidal, neritic, pelagic, photic, aphotic

67
Q

Intertidal zone

A

Region exposed at low tides that undergoes variations in temperature and periods of dryness

68
Q

Neritic zone

A

Region on the continental shelf that contains ocean with depths up to 600 ft and extends several hundred miles from the shore

69
Q

Pelagic zone

A

Typical of the open seas

Divided into photic and aphotic zones

70
Q

Photic zone

A

Sunlit layer of the open sea extending 250-600 ft
Contains plankton, passively drifting masses of microscopic photosynthetic and heterotrophic organisms, nekton
Chief autotroph is diatom (alga)

71
Q

Aphotic zone

A 
Beneath photic zone
Receives no sunlight
No photosynthesis, only heterotrophs
Organisms have adaptations to survive in very cold water with high pressures and in complete darkness
Nekton and benthos
72
Q

Nekton

A

Active swimmers

73
Q

Benthos

A

Crawling and sessile organisms

74
Q

Freshwater biomes

A

Rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes
Links between the oceans and land
Hypotonic creating diffusion gradient resulting in water passage into the cell
strong, swift currents favoured the survival of fish with strong muscles
Affected by variations in climate and water

Biology (17 decks)

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