Ecology Test Flashcards
What are auto troughs
Only plants, algae, certain bacteria can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals, I used to produce food
What source of energy to organisms use that do not use the sun
Some rely on the energy stored in inorganic chemical compounds
Chemosynthesis
When organisms use chemical energy to produce carbohydrates
Herbivore
Eats only plants
Carnivore
Heterotrophic eat animals
Omnivore
Eats both plants and animals
Detritivore
Eats dead matter
Decomposer
Break down organic materials
Detritus
Plant and animal remains and other dead matter
How does energy flow through ecosystem
It flows in one direction from the sun to the components
Food chain
How organisms get energy from each other
Food web
How they interact
Tropic level
Each step in a food chain or web
Ecological pyramid
Relative amounts of energy or matter contained within each traffic level
Biomass
Total amount of living tissue within a traffic level
What does a pyramid of numbers show
The number of individual organisms in each tropic level
Transpiration
Water can enter the atmosphere by about breeding from the leaves of plants
Nutrients
Bodies building blocks
The three main nutrient cycles
Carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycle
Nitrogen fixation
Convert of nitrogen gas into ammonia
Denitrification
Soil bacteria can Wert nitrates into nitrogen gas
Weather
Day to day
Climate
Average year-to-year
Polar zone
Areas around north and south poles
Temperate zone
Between the polar zone and the tropic zone
Tropical zone
Near the equator
Biotic factors
The biological influence with in an ecosystem
Abiotic factors
Physical or nonliving factors that shape and ecosystem
Niche
A full range of physical and biological conditions
When does competition occur
When organisms tend to use the ecological resources at the same time
Resource
I necessity of life
Predation
One organism captures and feeds on another
Symbiosis
Two species live close together
Mutilation
Both species benefit
Commensalism
One species benefits and the other is not helped or harmed
Parasitism
One benefits the other is harmed
Ecological succession
Predictable changes that occur in a community overtime
Primary succession
Succession occurs where no soil exists
Pioneer species
The first species to populate and area
Biome
A complex terrestrial communities that covers a large area that has a certain Clement or soil
Clement diagram
Temperature and precipitation
Microclimate
Acclimate were a small area that differs
Tropical rain forest
Biome that occurs or on the equator
Tundra
Biome that occurs near or above 60° north latitude
Boreal forest
Forest biome that occurs almost exclusively in the northern hemisphere
Canopy
Dense covering formed by the leafy tops of tall trees
Understory
Layer of shorter trees and vines
Deciduous tree
A tree that sheds its leaves during a season
Chaparral
Community is dominated by shrubs
Coniferous tree
Produces seeds bearing comes and leaves shaped like needles
Permafrost
A layer of permanently frozen subsoil
The four main characteristics that determine aquatic ecosystems
Depth, flow, temperature, chemistry of the overlying water
Freshwater ecosystems
Flowing and standing, mountains or hills,
Plankton
Tiny free-floating or weekly swimming organism
Phytoplankton
Single celled algae
Zoo plankton
Planktonic animals
Wetland
Water cover soil or is present near the surface for at least part of the year
Brackish water
A mixture of fresh and saltwater
Three types of freshwater wetlands
Marshals, Boggs, swamps
Marshes
Along rivers
Swamps
Around trees
Estuaries
Wetlands where river meets the sea
Salt marshes
Temperate zone estuaries dominated by salt tolerant grasses
Man Grove swamps
Coastal wetlands spread across tropical regions
Phonic zone
Well lit underlayer
A photic zone
Permanently dark zone below the Fatick zone
Three main vertical divisions of the ocean
Internal, coastal ocean and open ocean
Zonation
A prominent horizontal balancing of organisms that live in a particular habitat
Benthic zone
Attached organisms to or near the bottom
Bentos
Stick or near the bottom
What is population density
The number of individuals personal unit area
What are the three factors that affect population size
Number of births, number of deaths, number of individuals who leave or join a population
Immigration
The movement of the individuals into an area
Emigration
The movement of individuals out of an area
When does exponential growth occurred
When individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate
When resources become less available how does population growth change
It stops or slows
Logistic growth
Population growth slows or stops following a period of exponential growth
Carrying capacity
The largest number of individuals that a given environment can support
Limiting factor
The factor that causes population growth to decrease
For density dependent limiting factors
Competition, predation, parasitism and disease
Why is the human population beginning to grow more rapidly
Agriculture and industry
Why can’t the human population keep growing exponentially forever
Earth and its resources are limited
Demography
Study of human population
Demographic transition
A dramatic change in birth and death rates
Three places in the world that I’ve arty gone through demographic transition
United States Europe and Japan
Three places that have yet to go through demographic transition
South America Africa and Asia
What for human activities have transformed the biosphere
Hunting gathering industry and urban development
What is meant by the tragedy of the commons
Resource open to everyone is destroyed because everyone uses it but no one to take care of it
Bio diverse city
Some total of genetically based variety of organisms in the biosphere
Ecosystem diverse city
Variety of habitats and communities
Species diversity
Number of different species in the biosphere
Genetic diverse city
Some total of different forms of genetic information
Why is biodiversity whenever it’s greatest natural resources
Species provide us with food industrial products and medicines
Extinction
When a species disappears from all or part of its range
Endangered species
A species population is declining that place it in a way of being in danger
Biological magnification
Concentrations of a harmful substance increases and organisms at higher traffic levels in the food chain
Invasive species
Animals that humans transport accidentally or intentionally
Wire auto troughs also called producers
They make their own food
Heterotrophs are also called
Consumers
In a food web which organism makes up the first tropic level
Producers
What are the four elements that make up over 95% of the body and most organisms
Oxygen carbon nitrogen and hydrogen
