Interdependencies between species Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
- Multiple communities (Biotic > Living), interacting with each other and their physical environment (Abiotic, non living).
What is a community?
- A group of interacting populations living in the same geographic area.
What is a population?
- A group of individuals of the same species living in the same geographic area.
What is an organism
- A living thing made of one or more cells.
What is a cell?
- Smallest functional unit of a living organism.
What is a species?
- Organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.
What is carrying capacity?
- The maximum population size an environment can sustain indefinitely.
What are density independent factors?
- Properties of the environment that are unaffected by the density of a population.
What are density dependent factors?
- Properties of an environment that change with the density of a species.
Definition of symbiosis
- Interaction between two organisms of different species living in close proximity (Can be beneficial, natural or negative).
Definition of immigration
- Migration of individuals into the population.
Definition of Emigration
- Migration of individuals out of the population.
How could we describe/measure the structure of a species population?
- Population size, distibution or density/
Outline 2 factors that affect a species population distribution
- Ideal of habitat of a species.
- Tolerance to abiotic conditions.
- Species geographical distributions.
True or False? (The pattern of a species, changes all the time as environmental conditions change)?
True
What type of distributions will organisms requiring a large amount of space have?
Uniform distributions.
What type of distribution will organisms that form colonies, packs or are social?
Clumped distribution
What is population density?
Number of individuals in a population, per unit area.
Define Mutualism
Interactions where both organisms benefit.
Define commensalism
Interactions where one organism benefits and the other is not seriously harmed.
Define predation
One organism hunting and killing the other for food.
Define parsitism
Interactions where an organism obtains nutrients at the expense of a host.
Define Amensalism
Interactions where one organism experiences some negative effect, while the other is unaffected.
Define competition
Interactions between two organisms (Can be different or same species), where they are competing for the same pool of resources.
What is a keystone species?
A species whose effects on an ecosystem are greater than expected to its population size.
True or false. Removing a keystone species typically has a larger effect than removing other species?
True
