Science Ecology Flashcards
Ecology
Ecology is the study of the relationships between living things and their surroundings, or environment
Community
it includes all the populations in a specific area at a given time. A community includes populations of organism of different species. A great community usually includes biodiversity.
Population
A group of individuals of a given species that live in a specific geographic area at a given time. Individuals in the population can have different genetic makeups.
Individual
Species or organism. It is any living thing or organism. Individuals do not breed with individuals from other groups. Animals unlike plants, tend to be very definite with this term because some plants can crossbreed with other fertile plants.
Ecosystem
Ecosystems include more than a community of living organisms (biotic) interacting with the environment (abiotic). The interaction between living and non-living things.
Biome
A biome in simple terms is a set of ecosystems sharing similar characteristic with their abiotic factors adapted to their environment.
Biosphere
A biosphere is the sum of all ecosystems established on planet Earth. It is the living (and decaying) component of the earth system.
Factors affecting a community
Biotic factors
Availability of other organisms for food.
The arrival of new predators : in balanced ecosystems, predators and prey have evolved together.
New diseases: when organisms are brought into new ecosystems, they often bring new pathogens.
Abiotic factors:
Temperature
Species
In living things, a species is a group of similar individuals that are able to reproduce. Species, in biology, classification comprising related organisms that share common characteristics and are capable of interbreeding.
Genetic variation
Genetic variation refers to diversity in gene frequencies. Genetic variation can refer to differences between individuals or to differences between populations. Mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation
Growth curve
A growth curve is a graphical representation of how a particular quantity increases over time.
Biotic factors
Biotic factors are living or once-living organisms in the ecosystem
Abiotic factors
Abiotic factors refer to non-living physical and chemical elements in the ecosystem
Biological diversity
It refers to all the variety of life that can be found on Earth (plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms) as well as to the communities that they form and the habitats in which they live.
Food chains
A food chain is the path by which energy passes from one living thing to another. Showing the flow of energy.
Food webs
A more realistic way of looking at the relationship of plants and animals in an environment. It is several food chains linked together. A predator from one food chain may be linked to the prey of another food chain.
Producers
Producers are the organisms that are producing their own energy. Green plants use energy from the sun to make food. Producers are on the bottom of the food chain.
Consumers (primary, secondary and tertiary)
Consumers are eating the producers and other organisms. Consumers hunt, gather, and store food because they cannot make their own. There are four types of consumers: Herbivores, Omnivores, Carnivores and the decomposers.
Primary consumer
The first individuals that are eating the producers herbivores
Secondary consumer
Carnivores that eat herbivores.
Tertiary consumer
Carnivores that eat other carnivores
Carnivores
Organisms that only eat other animals. Examples: tigers, lions, wolves and hawks.
Herbivores
Organisms that only eat the plants. Examples: Rabbits, deer, pandas, and squirrels.
Omnivores
These are organisms that are able to eat both meat and plants. Examples: Humans and bears.
Decomposers
Decomposers eat dead organisms. Decomposers return the nutrients that are in a living thing to the soil (nitrogen to soil).
How different species affect one another.
Predator-prey. In a food web if a prey or a predator for a species became extinct multiple species will be affected because they need food for survival.
mutualism
Mutualism is a relationship between organisms of different species in which both benefit from the relationship. For example, bees and flowers.
commensalism
Commensalism a relationship between two different species in which one of them benefits from the relationship and the other is not harmed or benefiting from the association.
parasitism
Parasitism is a relationship between two living things. In this kind of relationship, one member benefits (the parasite) and the other member is usually harmed (the host).
Climate changes
The temperature of the Earth is changing (high and low). The Earth is getting hotter. Some people call this “global warming”. Climate change is cause by a combination of factors: Natural changes (volcanoes, lightning, forest fires), Deforestation (less forests and plants), Using fossil fuels (oils), Aerosols.
Greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere.
Global warming
Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released as people burn fossil fuels.
Climate gases
Water vapor (H. 2O)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Methane (CH. …
Nitrous oxide (N. 2O)
Greenhouse gasses
Greenhouse gases are gases in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings from leaving the atmosphere.
Consequences of climate changes (include humidity, storms hurricanes, floods, droughts, temperature, rainfall, snowfall, extreme weather etc.)
Increased heat, drought and insect outbreaks, all linked to climate change, have increased wildfires. Declining water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, health impacts in cities due to heat, and flooding and erosion in coastal areas are additional concerns.
Some examples of species that are vulnerable to climate changes
POLAR BEAR.
SNOW LEOPARD.
GIANT PANDA.
TIGER.
Insects importance to the planet
Insects are very important as primary or secondary decomposers. Without insects to help break down and dispose of wastes, dead animals and plants would accumulate in our environment and it would be messy indeed.
Consequences of climate changes in Norway
The effects of the climate change may be that extreme weather such as flooding, heat waves and droughts occur more often and with greater intensity. Exposed areas of land will be flooded and may be lost when sea levels rise.
Carrying Capacity
The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific environment, given the food, habitat, water, and other resources available.
Environmental Resistance
The sum of the environmental factors (such as drought, mineral deficiencies, and competition) that tend to restrict the biotic potential of an organism or kind of organism and impose a limit on numerical increase.
Lag Phase
Lag time is defined as the initial period in the life of a bacterial population when cells are adjusting to a new environment before starting exponential growth
Biotechnology in life
The application of biological processes to solve or design solutions and/or products. Used in engineering, the medical industry, food industry, agriculture, infrastructure, etc. Biotechnology is the use of an organism, or a component of an organism or other biological system, to make a product or process.
Advantages:
Improve the efficency, performance, effect, and reduce prices of production.
Disadvantages:
Biotechnology can threaten the survival of certain species.
Natural Selection
Natural selection is the idea of “survival of the fittest”. It is the concept that in nature all organisms want to reproduce offspring that will eventually live and carry on the genetics of the species. It naturally eliminates less desired traits and eventually the species will evolve to have the favorable traits in the environment
Artificial Selection
it is when we as humans select which species to breed in order to get an ultimate species with desirable traits. Darwin investigated that Finches (a type of bird) were actually a result of artificial selection as there were many people in England at that time breeding different pigeons (some with big beaks, different feathers etc) in order to get the “best” pigeon which would be beneficial for them.
Breeding
Mating of two organisms to produce some kind of offspring. It is when you selectively breed certain organisms together in order to get desirable phenotypes or genotypes.
DNA profiling
DNA profiling is when you extract a specific pattern of a DNA sequence called the DNA profile which is just a region of polymorphism. This pattern of DNA polymorphism is analyzed for DNA profiling in order to identify a person. DNA profiling is mainly used in crime scenes in order to identify the murderer.
Cloning
Cloning is a process used to make genetically identical copies of a specific organism. There are. Three main types of cloning which are: Gene cloning, Therapeutic cloning and Reproductive cloning. The process of gene cloning involves the isolation of a certain gene segment in DNA in order to copy and clone that desired gene.
Stem cells
Stem cells are often known as the body’s raw material because they are the ones that generate other cells with specialized functions such as heart muscle tissue cells and etc (Mayo Clinic). Stem cells are monitored in laboratories where they will divide into daughter cells. These daughter cells can either be stem cells themselves or they can turn out to be specialized cells
