Lecture 10 Flashcards
What is ecology?
the study of the interaction of living organisms with their biotic and abiotic environment
What are distributions?
where organisms are found
What are abundances ?
how many organisms there are
Why were barnacles found high on the shore?
Because there was less competition high above shore
What are individuals?
organisms that are physically distinct from other organisms
What are populations?
group of individuals of the same species, responding to the same environmental factors and freely mixing
What are communities?
groups of populations of different species living in the same location
What is an ecosystem?
entire habitats, including both living species and abiotic factors
What is a biosphere?
the entire set of living things on earth and the environment with which they interact
Are populations affected by the same overall environment?
yes
Are populations isolated from other populations of the same species?
yes
What determines change in population size?
birth, death, immigration, emigration
What is a metapopulation?
a series of populations
What are metapopulations connected by?
dispersal
List the two examples of metapopulations
isolated population model and island mainland scheme
What does the source do?
contributes disproportionately more individuals to the metapopulation
What does sink do?
receives immigrants but does not contribute
What are ecological communitites?
coexisting species that interact via many different biological encounters
-competition,predation and herbivory, and facilitation
What are the four main reasons kelp is so important to the ocean?
- increases the amount of smaller organisms for bigger predators
- produces a habitat for other species
- slows down the movement of water which helps spawning organisms
- stops coastal errosion
What is consumption?
a negative interaction in which organisms seeks to obtain a limiting resource (can limit survival, growth, or reproduction)
What is competition?
a negative interaction in which organisms seek to obtain a shared limiting resource (food, space, mates,light, nutrients)
What is facilitation?
an interaction in which at least one organism benefits and neither is harmed
mutualism
both benefit
commensalism
one benefits
What is an ecosystem?
a group of interdependent biological communities and abiotic factors interacting in a single geographic area
-also how the organisms affect transformation and flux of energy and matter
What is evolution?
the process that leads to adaptation and diversification of populations and species
What is plasicity?
one genotype can produce multiple phenotypes
What is natural selection?
differential survival and reproduction of organisms with different phenotypes
-individuals vary, offspring resemble parents, survival and reproduction are selective
