Ecology Basics Flashcards
Ecology
The study of how each organism interacts with each other and with their environment
Population Size
Total # of individuals in a population
Population Density
Total # of individuals per unit area
Intraspecific Competition
Individuals of the same species fight each other for limited resources
Species Distribution
How species are organized in a habitat
Three types of Species Distribution
- Uniform
- Clumped
- Random
3 Ways to estimate a Population Size
- Count each individual (Often Difficult)
- Quadrat Method (Used on slow/immobile organisms)
- Mark & Recapture (Used on large/mobile organisms)
Demography
Statistical study of a population’s birth/death rate, and life expectancy
Formula for Birth Rate and Death Rate
Birth Rate: # of births / population size
Death Rate: # of deaths / # of surviving organisms
Survivorship Graph
A graph of survivorship overtime, providing insight of an organisms history
3 Types of Survivorship Graph
- Type I: Low mortality in early life but high mortality in later life
- Type II: Mortality and survivorship equally likely throughout life
- Type III: High mortality in early life but low mortality in later life
How can Type I be compared to Type III
Type I requires high parental care, resulting in few offspring, Type III offers no parental care but have many offspring
Life Table
A tool that shows mortality and life expectancy changes from age class to age class
