ECOSYSTEMS, FOOD WEBS AND FOOD CHAINS Flashcards
whats the hierarchy of biological complexity?
Biosphere = all living things on earth Biome = different environments Ecosystem = a self-sustaining system consisting of biotic organisms interacting with their abiotic environment Community = all the animals living in a specific area Population = population of one species in a particular area Organism = a singular living thing
what is a niche
an organism’s niche includes anything that it eats, anything that eats it, its habitat, its effect on the environment (basically it is just everything that the organism interacts with)
what is a habitat
A habitat is the organisms home. This home meets all the environmental conditions the organism needs to survive
what is the difference between an organisms niche and its habitat?
Their habitat is where it lives, whereas, its niche is its role within an ecosystem
what are abiotic factors
they are anything non-living - such as rocks, sun, air, water
what are biotic factors
they are anything that is living
name and describe the different ecological groupings of organisms
autotrophs/producers: produce their own chemical energy via the sun
heterotrophs/consumers: consume other living organisms in order to gain their energy
decomposers: break down other organisms and restore the nutrients to the earth (eg. bacteria and fungi)
detrivores: differ from decomposers as they feed off dead organisms instead of decomposing them
what are the different relationships in an ecosystem
- competition
- predation
- symbiosis
what is competition and what are the different types
competition is when organisms compete for limited resources such as territory, water, food, shelter or mates
intraspecific: between organisms of the same species
interspecific: between organisms of different species
what is predation
when one organism kills and eats another organism. Predator and prey evolve together as in if the prey die off then the predator evolves to find new prey
what are the different symbiosis interactions, give examples of each
mutualism: where both organisms are benefitted (eg, honey bees and flowers)
commensalism: where one organism is benefitted while the other is neither harmed nor benefitted (shark and remora)
parasitism: where the host suffers at the expense of the parasite
eg) tapeworms (endoparasite), ticks (ectoparasite)
Amensalism: where one organism is neither benefitted nor harmed while the other is destroyed (the plants and animals elephants step on)
what are the different trophic levels, and what are the different levels of consumers
each level is a new trophic level, however, you say the top level is the apex predator. Whereas, the first trophic level is the producer while every new trophic level after that is a new consumer (primary, tertiary, quaternary etc)
What percentage is lost at each level/new consumer
10% is lost at each trophic level
whats a keystone species
a species that if you removed it from the ecosystem the ecosystem would collapse
what is an apex predator
a predator that is not prey to any other species
