PART 1 Flashcards
What is ecology?
when wanting to learn of the communities, population, and biotic and abiotic factors that influences each other
What is an ecologist?
A scientist that studies the interaction of organisms and their environment
What is an ecological niche?
A specific part of a habitat that an organism occupies
What happens when a niche overlap with each other?
This leads to competition within the organisms in that habitation (Fight for food, resources)
List the levels of Hierarchy (Hi-rr-arky) in order
Individual, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere
The first level of Hierarchy, individual, ecologists often focus on the learning about the abiotic (non-living) environment affects individual..
behaviour and physical features
The second level of Hierarchy, population is a..
group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time
The third level of Hierarchy, communities are..
different populations interacting with one another (could be the same or different species)
The fifth level of Hierarchy, the ecosystem..
surrounds all living and non-living parts of the environment
The sixth level of Hierarchy, the biosphere is..
the largest possible ecosystem. A place that allow different organisms to reproduce and survival (there are many on earth)
What is a climate?
the average long term weather conditions in a particular region
The earth has different temperature of heat in different places due to the earth heating..
unevenly
Land and water heat and cool at different rates (water tends to grasp on its energy leading it to remain at a hot temperature for long periods of time)
Due to earth heating unevenly, it affects..
the movement of the ocean and atmospheric currents (when water temperature is high, it tends to expand out more, when water temperature is low, it contracts).
What are the 2 factors that have an effect on the distribution (sharing) of living things?
Altitude and Latitude
In a terrestrial (on earth) ecosystems, precipitation (rain, snow, hail, etc) and temperature are the..
main predictors of diversity
As a result, diversity is positively correlated and ends near the equator
What are the 2 factors that are the main predictors of diversity in.a terrestrial ecosystem?
precipitation and temperature
In a aquatic ecosystem, diversity can be predicted by..
vertical stratification (different levels to the earth). - Example : the deeper you go in the ocean, the less diversity you will find (determined mainly by the presence of light (if it is visible))
Abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem can also l..
limit the growth of population
abiotic limiting factors:
Nutrients, sunlight, soil, access to water, temperature, wind, landscape and precipitation
What is the 4 biotic (living) limiting factors?
InTRAspecific competition, inTERspecific competition, predation, parasitism
One of the biotic limiting factors, inTRAspecific competition is when..
when individuals of the SAME species compete for limited resources (food, water, territory, mates)
One of the biotic limiting factors, inTERspecific competition is when..
when individuals of DIFFERENT species compete for limited resources due to overlapping of niche.
One of the biotic limiting factors, predation is when..
a predator feeds upon prey ( this is a limiting factor as it reduces population - if a prey disappears, so does predator due to reduced resources)
One of the biotic limiting factors, Parasitism is when..
parasites infect and harm host but don’t usually kill them ( they limit the reproductive and survival ability of host )
When classifying organisms, Taxonomy is the practice of..
classifying living things.
Ecologists use this method to have a consistent classification
When classifying organisms, the old taxonomy method was to..
divide all living things into 5 kingdoms.
The old taxonomy method was the divide all living things into 5 kingdoms, list them..
Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae, Animalia
When classifying organisms, the new taxonomy method classify living things into 3..
major domains and subcategorize those into kingdoms
There are levels of classification, list the 8 levels from least specific to most..
domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species
A Binomial Nomenclature is a naming system to..
classify species
