Ecology Exam 1 Flashcards
Oikos
Greek word for house
Ecology
The study of all the complex interrelationships referred to by Darwin as the conditions of the struggle for existence
Trophic levels
where you fall into the food chain
Guilds
is any group of species that exploit the same resources
Levels of organization
Organisms, populations, Guilds, Communities
Behavioral Ecology
the study of how the behavior of individuals affect the way they can survive and reproduce
Autecology
physical factors that affect organism in different environments
Population ecology
the study how groups and individuals belong to each other
Ecosystem
the study of the flow of energy
Community ecology
how population from different species interact mutually
Global ecology
how does the distribution of species change with the rising temperature
Landscape ecology
the study of the pattern and interaction between ecosystems within a region of interest,
Symbiosis
is the close mutual relationship between two species
Mutualism
when one provides something the other organism needs
Dynamic steady state
When gains and losses are balanced, ecological systems remain unchanged
Natural selection
is not evolution
Large systems change more
slowly than small systems
Mathematical model
Uses a set of equations to attempt to predict what will happen
Microcosm
attempting to replicate environmental situations in hypothesis testing within the lab.
Natural experiment
which relies on natural variation in the environment to create reasonably controlled experiment factors
Human are a part of the
natural system
Scales of pattern and process vary
in space and time
El Nino
Warmer (tropical eastern Pacific ocean) Weaker trade winds don’t force the warm towards Australia and Indonesia and no upwelling occurs. Changes the weather around, causes drought in Australia. Fish die.
El Nina-
cooler (tropical eastern Pacific ocean) trade winds pushes warm water towards Indonesia. Pushes was from Indonesia back to the east (upwelling- bring nutrient rich water).
What causes the temperature change- trade winds
Coriolis
Zenith
the suns highest position each day
Thermohaline circulation
causes the North Atlantic deep water. It moves salty warm water higher in latitude. Salty water does not freeze further increasing its density and finally dropping back. This causes upwelling. Ice melting prevents the formation of north Atlantic deep water
Mediterranean climate
same season patterns of climate
Spring overturn-
brings nutrients from the bottom to the top and oxygen to the bottom
Epilimnion
Upper level
hypolimnion
Lower layer
Thermocline
Later in spring and early in summer, surface water gains heat faster than deep water creating an abrupt change in temperature in the intermediate level.
too much nutrients on the surface with an explosion in population of phytoplanton
Fall autumn
Stratification
Water does not move across this layer because warmer water will be less dense than the layer, this is called
Rain shadows
the dry other side of the mountain, caused by wind pushing wind upward ward and cause the cooling of dry air to fall on the other side- Great Basin Desert, Gobi desert.
Hadley circulation
As hot air rises it will reach a point where it cools off. This will generally travel 30 degrees north and south before it becomes dense enough to sink back towards the equator.
Intertropic convergence
where air from the northern and southern subtropics meet near the equator and rise.
Conditions in the tropics are not more humid because
This occurs because the cycling of weather occurs faster (evaporation/ condensing and precipitation)
Subtropical high pressure belts
The descending dry cooled air moving away from the intertropic convergence cause areas of higher pressure.
Equilibrium water vapor pressure
the amount of water evaporating and precipitating coming to equilibrium
Climate
long term weather pattern
Conduction
transfer of heat energy from molecule to molecule
Convection
transfer of heat from one place to another via fluids
Latent heat
…
Global Energy Budget
how much energy is coming on the world and how much is coming out
Sensible Heat
…
Green house
allows visible light to pass and blocks radiation to some extent
Adiabatic lapse rate
5.5 per 1km elevation gain
Lapse rate
rate of change of any meteorological factor with altitude, esp atmospheric temperature,
High latitude
the beam is being spread out over a greater distance
Wind patterns
are caused by the effects of insolation and the rotation of the earth
Insolation
is a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area and recorded during a given time.
Hadley predicted
predicted hot air rising at the equator and moving north where it sinks and then moves towards the equator again
Regions of winds
Combination of convections cells and coriolis effects
Doldrums
air is rising, no horizontal winds
Milonkavish cycle
…
Coriolis effect
caused by moving north or south on a rotating earth
Warm air hold lots of moisture
Cold air from bottom cools the warm air around it, releasing the moisture from it.
Are the polls dry or wet
Extremely dry
Factors that will affect regional climate
How close are you to the ocean
Topography
What area you are in, influences temperature and wind
Albedo
reflectivity
Higher Albedo
Higher Reflectivity
Seasonal climatic variation is caused by?
Changes in earth’s position relative to the sun ( based on the tilt of the earth)
