ecology: adaptation, interdependence and competition Flashcards
what does habitat mean?
the place where an organism lives
what does population mean?
all the organisms of one species living in a habitat
what does community mean?
the population of different specieies living in a habitat?
what are abiotic factors?
non livign factors of enviroment
what are biotic factors?
living factors on enviroemnt
what is an ecosystem?
The intercation of a community of living organisms with non living parts of the enviroment
to survive and reproduce what do organism need to do?
organism need a supply of materials from their surrounding and from other organism livign thier.
what do plants compete aginst each other for?
light and space water and minerial ions in the soil
what do animals compete againts each other for?
terriorty, mating partners, food, water
what does interdependance mean?
when all of the different species in a community depend on each other
what is the importance of interdependance and competition in a community?
if different species stop depending on each other and a specie is remved it could affect the whole community.
plant depedn of bees for pollination
trees shelter animals from sun or bad weather
what is a stable community?
where all the species and enviromental factors are in balance so poulation remains fairly constant
what are the biotic factors?
- new predators arriving, compettion
- new pathogens, availability of food
what could a change in the enviroment cause?
a chnage in the enviroment could cause a new biotic factor such as a new pathogen affecting size of populations in a community
what are the abiotic factors?
- moisture level
- light intenisty
- carbon dioxide level
- oxygen level
- wind intensity
- temperatures
- soil pH and mineral content
changes in the abiotioc factors can affect what?
affect size of populations and could affect the population size of other organism that depend on them
example animal depend on plant for food and if plant popualtion decrease
give 2 exmaples of how abiotic factors can affect plant popualtion?
- a decrease in light intenisty or temp or co2 levels can decrease photosythesis rate so affect plant growth and decrease plant popualtion
- a decrease in minerla content of the soil could cause nutient deficiencies affect plant growht and cause a decrease in popualtion
what are adaptations?
features or chacharaterisitics that allow them to live in different enviromental condtions
what are structural adaptation of a camel?
large surcae area to volume ratio to help them lose heat
what are behaviorla adaptations?
adaptations to an animals lifestyle or behavior for example species may migrate to a warmer climate during the winter to avoid cold conditions
what are functional adaptation?
adapataion to the body fuction of an organism e.x the metabolism and reprodcution fucntion
give the functional adaptation of desert animals?
conserve water by prodcuing ver little sweat and small amount of concentarted urine
what are extremophiles?
microogisnsm which live in extremly harsh conditons of high tmeperatures and high pressure and high concentartion of saltfound and are found in deep sea vents.
what is a producer?
An organism which makes it own food using the energy from the sun
