Populations Flashcards
What is a population?
A group of organisms of the same species living in the same habitat
What is a habitat?
Part of an ecosystem where particular organisms live
What is a community?
All the populations of different species in the same area at the same time
What is an ecosystem?
Community and abiotic factors of an environment
What is a niche?
organisms role in an ecosystem like position in the food web and habitat
What is the carrying capacity?
The maximum population size a habitat or ecosystem can support
What are abiotic factors?
Non-living conditions of an ecosystem
What are biotic factors?
Living components of an ecosystem interacting together e.g competition and predation
Abiotic factors - 5
- temperature
- oxygen/CO2 concentration
- light intensity
- pH
- soil conditions
Abiotic factors in relation to biotic factors
- plants + animals are adapted to the abiotic factors within their ecosystem
- adaptations develop through the process of natural selection
- the less harsh the abiotic factor the larger the range of species and the larger the population sizes
Biotic factors - 3
- interspecific competition
- intraspecific competition
- predation
Interspecific competition
Between 2 different species usually for habitat, food, water or space
The individual better adapted to the environment is more likely to survive
Intraspecific competition
Between members of the same species for space, resources or a mate
Individual better adapted to the environment is more likely to survive and reproduce
Predator-prey relationships
The size of the predator and prey population both fluctuate but there’s always a higher peak of prey than predators
The population size will always change in prey before predators due to a lag time
