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Ecology BIO 304 > Exam 3 > Flashcards

Exam 3 Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is an ecological community?

A

A group of interacting species living in a particular area.

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2
Q

What is physical structure defined by?

A

Species composition, abundance, and spatial distribution.

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3
Q

What factors cause vertical stratification in terrestrial environments?

A

Light, Moisture, and Temperature

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4
Q

What factors cause vertical stratification in aquatic environments?

A

Light availability, temperature, and nutrient distribution.

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5
Q

What effect does vertical structure have on diversity?

A

It increases niche diversity and supports more species.

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6
Q

What are properties of zonation?

A

Changes in altitude, latitude, tidal level, or distance from shore.

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7
Q

What is species richness?

A

The number of species

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8
Q

What is species evenness?

A

Relative abundance of species.

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9
Q

What does a rank abundance curve show?

A

Species abundance distribution.

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10
Q

What is a keystone species?

A

Has an extremely disproportionate impact on community structure.

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11
Q

What is a dominant species?

A

The most abundant species, but not necessarily influential.

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12
Q

What is ecological succession?

A

Gradual, predictable changes in community composition.

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13
Q

What communities are associated with initial and final stages of succession?

A

Initial: Pioneer Species
Final: Climax community

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14
Q

What is primary succession?

A

It starts on a new community.

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15
Q

What is secondary succession?

A

It starts from a disturbance (eg. forest fire)

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16
Q

What is the discrete succession process?

A

Discrete suggests distinct stages.

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17
Q

What is the continuum succession process?

A

Continuum envisions a gradient.

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18
Q

What are the three models used to explain successional changes?

A

Facilitation, Inhibition, and Tolerance models.

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19
Q

What is heterotrophic succession?

A

The process by which decomposers break down dead organic matter.

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20
Q

What is plant succession?

A

The process by which different plant species colonize and replace each other over time.

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21
Q

What is autogenic environmental change?

A

Changes cause by the community.

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22
Q

What is Allogenic environmental change?

A

External factors drive change.

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23
Q

How does species diversity change during succession?

A

Increases initially, stabilizes, may decrease with time.

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24
Q

What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

A

Intermediate levels of disturbance are necessary to maintain high levels of species diversity in ecosystems.

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25
Q

What is a landscape?

A

Heterogeneous area composed of interacting ecosystems.

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26
Q

What factors influence dynamics within a habitat patch?

A

Patch size, shape, and connectivity,

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27
Q

What role does a patch perimeter and area play in patch composition?

A

They affect the movement and dispersal of organisms, the availability of resources, and the interactions between species.

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28
Q

What are the effects of habitat fragmentation on plants and animals?

A

Reduced population size, increased edge effects, changes in species compositon, disruption of ecological processes.

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29
Q

How does fragmentation affect animal movement?

A

It can create movement barriers and change movement patterns.

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30
Q

What is edge affect?

A

Changes in population or community structures at the boundary of two habitats.

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31
Q

What is an ecotone?

A

A transitional area between two ecosystems exhibiting characteristics of both.

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32
Q

What is the equilibrium theory of island biogeography?

A

It explains species richnees on islands considering immigration and extinction rates.

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33
Q

What factors determine the expected number of species on an island?

A

Immigration and extinction rates.

34
Q

If given spatial information about two different islands, what determines the relative equilibrium species number of each island?

A

Larger islands and closer islands typically have more species.

35
Q

What is a metapopulation?

A

A population of populations linked by migration.

36
Q

What factors influence the distribution of a metapopulation among habitat patches?

A

Habitat quality, patch size, and isolation.

37
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A biological community and its abiotic environment interacting as a functional unit.

38
Q

What are ecosystems components?

A

Biotic and abiotic

39
Q

Are ecosystems open or closed?

A

They are open systems that exchange energy and matter with their surroundings.

40
Q

What are major inputs of ecosystems?

A

Solar energy and nutrients

41
Q

What are major outputs of ecosystems?

A

Heat and Waste

42
Q

What is primary productivity?

A

The rate of biomass production by autotrophs.

43
Q

How do GPP and NPP differ?

A

GPP is total photosynthesis and NPP is GPP minus respiration.

44
Q

How do we measure primary production and standing crop biomass?

A

Satellite data for primary production and biomass sampling for standing crop

45
Q

What are some of the large-scale trends in productivity in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems?

A

Terrestrial productivity tends to decrease with increasing latitude. Aquatic productivity varies with nutrient availability.

46
Q

What limits productivity in various terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems?

A

Nutrient availability, temperature, and water availability.

47
Q

How do producers allocate productivity to biomass?

A

Plants allocate due to environmental conditions and nutrient availability.

48
Q

How does biomass allocation vary with age and with plant type?

A

Young plants allocate more to growth and older plants allocate more to reproduction.

49
Q

What are the patterns in root-to-shoot ratios and biomass distribution?

A

Varies among plant species and environmental condition.

50
Q

What is secondary production?

A

The generation of biomass by heterotrophic organisms

51
Q

What are the different ways in which energy is used by secondary producers?

A

Metabolism, growth, and reproduction.

52
Q

What is assimilation efficiency?

A

Proportion of ingested food that is assimilated.

53
Q

What is production efficency?

A

Proportion of assimilated energy converted into biomass.

54
Q

What is consumption efficiency?

A

Maximizing value of consumption with the least amount of energy used.

55
Q

How does energy flow through different kinds of ecosystems?

A

Through trophic levels. (eg. Producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers)

56
Q

What is trophic transfer efficiency?

A

The percentage of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next.

57
Q

What is the 10% rule?

A

Only 10% of energy is passed from one trophic level to the next, with the rest lost as heat or used for metabolic processes.

58
Q

How do biomass pyramids differ in various ecosystems?

A

Biomass pyramids can be upright, inverted, or pyramid-shaped, reflecting variations in energy transfer efficiency and the structure of ecosystems.

59
Q

What is meant by Human appropriation of NPP?

A

Human use of earth’s NPP.

60
Q

What are the major types of decomposer organisms?

A

Bacteria, fungi, and insects/earthworms

61
Q

What factors affect rates of decomposition of plant material?

A

Temperature, moisture, nutrient availability, and the composition of the plant material.

62
Q

What is immobilization?

A

The conversion of inorganic nutrients into organic forms by microbes, making them temporarily unavailable.

63
Q

What is mineralization?

A

converting organic nutrients into inorganic forms, making them available for plant uptake.

64
Q

How do plants, bacteria/fungi, and other consumers in soil impact rates of nutrient cycling?

A

Plants contribute organic material to the soil through litter, bacteria decompose organic matter releasing nutrients, and other consumers can further influence nutrient cycling by excreting waste.

65
Q

How does nutrient movement differ from energy movement in ecosystems?

A

Nutrients are recycled within ecosystems, while energy is a one-way flow.

66
Q

How do nutrient dynamics differ in a tropical forest from a temperate forest?

A

Nutrient cycling is often more rapid in tropical forests due to higher temperatures and decomposition rates.

67
Q

How is nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems similar to and different from nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems?

A

Similarities include the basic nutrient cycles, but aquatic ecosystems may have unique processes due to water movement and the absence of some terrestrial features.

68
Q

What is the river continuum?

A

Changes in physical and biological characteristics of a river ecosystems along its length.

69
Q

What is nutrient spiraling?

A

The cycling of nutrients down stream in a flowing water system.

70
Q

What are the general pools and fluxes in the global carbon cycle?

A

Pools include the atmospshere, oceans, soil and living organisms. Fluxes involve processes like photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition.

71
Q

What are the major pools and fluxes in the global nitrogen cycle?

A

Pools: atmosphere, soil, living organisms
Fluxes: nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification.

72
Q

What is Nitrogen fixation?

A

Nitrogen gas to ammonia, bacteria responsible

73
Q

What is nitrogen mineralization?

A

Organic nitrogen to ammonium; decomposer microbes responsible.

74
Q

What is nitrogen immobilization?

A

Ammonium to organic nitrogen; microbes responsible.

75
Q

What is nitrogen ammonification?

A

Organic nitrogen to ammonium; decomposers responsible

76
Q

What is nitrogen nitrification?

A

ammonium to nitrite; bacteria responsible.

77
Q

What is nitrogen denitrification?

A

Nitrate to nitrogen gas; bacteria responsible.

78
Q

What is leaching?

A

movement of nutrients through soil often into water bodies.

79
Q

What are the largest pools and fluxes of the global sulfur cycle?

A

Pools: oceans, sedimentary rocks, living organisms.
Fluxes: Weathering, volcanic emissions, human activity.

80
Q

What are the largest pools and fluxes of the global phosphorous cycle?

A

Pools: sedimentary rocks, oceans, living organisms.
Fluxes: Weathering, erosion, runoff.

81
Q

How have humans affected these biogeochemical cycles?

A

Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and industrial processes have altered these cycles by releasing large amounts of stored nutrients into the environment.

Ecology BIO 304 (3 decks)

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