Populations Flashcards
Give a definition for a species
A group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring
What is a population?
All the organisms of a particular species living in a habitat at a particular time
Define community
All living organisms of all species found in a habitat at a particular time
Define ecosystem
All the living organisms found in a self contained area and their interactions with the non-living abiotic factors.
What is an abiotic factors and give two examples?
None living feature of an ecosystem
Light intensity, temperature, pH, wind speed, water availability, mineral availability, wavelength of light, oxygen concentration
What is a biotic factor and give two examples?
Living features of an ecosystem
Predators, food availability, pathogens
What is a habitat?
The place where an organism lives within an ecosystem
What is meant by the term niche
The role of a species in a habitat consisting of both its biotic interactions eg what it eats and abiotic interactions eg time of day it is active
Two species can not occupy the same niche
What is meant by carrying capacity
The maximum size of population an ecosystem can support
What is meant by intraspecific competition?
Competition for resources between organisms of the SAME species
What is meant by interspecific competition?
Compensation for resources between organisms of DIFFERENT species.
Name three resources organisms might compete for.
Food, water, space/territory/shelter, minerals, light, mates (intraspecific only)
Describe how you would use a quadrat to estimate the size if a non-motile species
Two tape measures placed at 90 degrees to each other to form a grid
Random number generator used to identify coordinates
Quadrat placed at coordinates
Count the number of species
Repeat large number of times to gain a representative sample
Calculate mean number of the species
Carry out appropriate calculations to estimate the population in the whole area under surveillance
Describe how to carry out mark release recapture for estimating the size of a motile population
Capture a sample of the population and count
Mark the organisms
Release back into the habitat
After a period of time capture another sample of the population and count the number of marked and unmarked organisms
Use a formula to estimate the population size
What is the equation for estimating the population size using mark-release-recapture?
Population =
no. of organisms in first sample x total no. of organisms in second sample
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No. of marked individual recaptured