populations in ecosystem Flashcards
population
all the organisms of one species occupying the same habitat at the same time.
community
all the populations of different species in a habitat at a point of time.
ecosystem
a community of populations plus all the non-living (abiotic) conditions in the area which it lives. Ecosystems can be small, e.g. a pond, or large, e.g. an entire ocean.
abiotic conditions
non-living feature of an ecosystem, e.g. temp and availability of water.
biotic conditions
The living features of the ecosystem, e.g. the presence of predators
environment
The biotic and abiotic conditions that surround an organism
Niche
The role of a species within its habitat, e.g. what it eats, where it lives, when and where
it feeds etc
Adaptation
A feature which some members of a species have that increases their chance of
survival and reproduction.
what are the 3 types of adaptations?
behavioural
anatomical
physiological
what does a behavioural adaptation refer to?
the way an organism acts
what does an anatomical adaption refer to?
the physical/structural features of their body
what does a physiological adaptation refer to?
the processes inside their body
What is the carrying capacity of an ecosystem?
What is the carrying capacity of an ecosystem?
The carrying capacity is the maximum stable population size (of a particular species) that can be supported by the ecosystem
What factors influence the size of a population or carrying capacity?
The effect of abiotic factors – climate, amount of light, availability of water,
air/water quality etc
Biotic interactions including:
a) Interspecific competition – competition between species
b) Intraspecific competition – competition within a species
c) Predation - the preying of one animal on others.
what are 3 sampling methods that can be used to investigate populations?
– Mark-release-recapture
– Random sampling
– Systematic sampling (Transects)
Quadrats and Transects are used to Investigate what type of organisms?
Non-motile = non-mobile organisms
what is a quadrat?
A quadrat is a square frame, usually divided into a grid of 100 smaller squares by strings attached across the frame.
when using a quadrat to estimate the size of a population of flowers in a filed, how should the area of land that is going to be measured be calculated?
a random number generator should be used to generate the grid reference to be sampled. Repeat to get a number of different sample locations.
after using a quadrat, what should be calculated?
the mean should be calculated and then the results should be ‘scaled up’ to the area of the filed.
