Vocab - Ecology

Question 1

Survivorship curve

Answer 1

Curve/table showing number or percentage of survivors of a generation over a period of time.

Question 2

r (in growth equation)

Answer 2

Intrinsic rate of growth (rate of growth per member of population)

Question 3

K (in growth equation)

Answer 3

Carrying capacity.

Question 4

Iteroparity / Iteroparous

Answer 4

Life strategy where an organism repeatedly create offspring throughout its life.

Question 5

Semelparity / Semelparous

Answer 5

Life strategy where an organism reproduces only once in its lifetime.

Question 6

r vs K selection

Answer 6

r - more offspring, less investment per offspring
K - less offspring, more investment per offspring

Question 7

Density-dependent population regulation factors

Answer 7

Factors impacting birth, death, immigration & emigration rates that is influenced by population density.

Eg. territoriality increases death rate at high densities

Question 8

Two types of population growth

Answer 8

Exponential & Logistic

Question 9

Foundation vs Keystone species

Answer 9

Foundation - dominant and common.
Keystone - important to ecosystem without being particularly common.

Question 10

Community structure

Answer 10

Three factors:
- Number of species
- Which particular species
- Abundance of each species

Question 11

Competitive exclusion

Answer 11

Theory that if two species with identical niches, one will always eventually outcompete the other.

Question 12

Resource partitioning

Answer 12

Partitioning of resources to different species with slightly different niches.

Question 13

Aposematic colouration

Answer 13

Unpalatable, toxic organisms exhibiting bright, vibrant colours.

Question 13

Batesian vs Mullerian mimicry

Answer 13

Batesian - a harmless species mimics an unpalatable one.
Mullerian - unpalatable species mimic eachother.

Question 14

Commensalism

Answer 14

Interaction where one species benefits without much impact on the other.

Question 15

Shannon diversity index (H)

Answer 15

H = -(pA ln(pA) + pB ln(pB) + pC ln(pC) …)

where pA is abundance of species A, pB is abundance of species B, etc.

Question 16

Energetic hypothesis

Answer 16

Theory that food chains usually don’t have very many ‘links’ because of the ~10% conversion between trophic levels.

Question 17

Bottom-up vs Top-down control

Question 18

Ecological succession

Answer 18

After a disturbance, the progression of different species that colonise the disturbed area.

Question 19

Primary succession

Answer 19

Ecological succession on a bare, new habitat (eg. new volcanic island or empty land left by retreating glaciers)

Question 20

Detritus

Answer 20

Non-living organic material - eg. carcasses, leaf litter.

Question 21

NPP

Answer 21

Net primary production. Amount of energy produced by autotrophs, minus energy used by these autotrophs for cellular respiration.
Can be described through biomass accumulation.

Question 22

GPP

Answer 22

Gross primary production. Total primary production.

Question 23

NEP

Answer 23

Net ecosystem production. Total primary production minus energy spent by ALL ORGANISMS in the ecosystem for cellular respiration. Describes total biomass accumulation or loss in a whole ecosystem.

Question 24

Production efficiency

Answer 24

Percentage of energy in ASSIMILATED food (so excludes waste) that is used for growth or reproduction.

Question 25

Three levels of biodiversity

Answer 25

Genetic - within a population
Species - within an ecosystem
Ecosystem - how many ecosystems

Question 26

Two factors in species diversity

Answer 26

Number of species & Relative abundance of each species.

Question 27

Extinction vortex

Answer 27

A small population going down a ‘vortex’ into extinction caused by loss of genetic diversity.

Question 28

Biological magnification

Answer 28

Accumulation of toxic compounds on higher trophic levels.