Week 1 Biodiversity Flashcards
Ecology is the study of
Distribution and abundance of living organisms. Interactions between organisms and their environment.
Ecosystem
Place where living organisms and physical surroundings form an environment different to all others. Exist and run on it’s own. Biotic + Abiotic factors together yay
Biotic factors
producers
consumers
Decomposers
Competitors/Pathogen
abiotic factors
temperature rainfall wind light intensity humidity soil type water landform
pH of water or soil
salinity
amount of oxygen in water
Biosphere
entire volume of earths surface where organisms can be found. Depths of ocean to highest plant communities
Biome
makes up biosphere. Classified by major vegetation types. E.G tundra or tropical rainforest
Community
set of interacting organisms within environment
group of populations
Multiple different species but organisms of a particular kind`
Population
all the members of 1 species living together same place at same time. E.G all ash trees in a wood.
Species
any group of individuals that share characterisics and can interbreed with each other and not with members of other species - reproductive isolation
breeding
ability of two parents to produce fertile offspring
whether offspring of parents can reproduce when it reaches sexual maturity is fertility
Producer/Autotroph
An organism that makes its own food. Source of food for communities.
Photosynthesis to
convert carbon dioxide, water + energy for glucose.
Consumer/Heterotroph
animals and fungi that need ready made sources of food.
need to eat for respiration and do so by eating primary producers or lower order.
Interspecies
relationships between different species
Intraspecies
relationships between same species
Competition
2 organisms competing for same resources (food, mates, water, habitat) (buffalo and zebra)
Predation
An interaction in which one organism kills another for food. (shark and seal)
Mutualism
A relationship between two species in which both species benefit. (red panda and evergreen tree)
parasitism
one organisms benefits from living off other. Doesn’t kill but harms host. (tick on dog)
Commensalism
one benefits, other not harmed. Barnacles on a whale tail.
Biodiversity
variety of species of living organisms in their natural environment.
3 different levels of biodiversity
genetic diversity (molecular) species diversity (population) Ecosystem diversity
organisms sharing similar physical characteristics
phenotypes
Genotype
Genetic makeup of organism
genetic diversity
variety of genes and forms of the genes that occur within a particular living place
why do individuals within a species have slightly different forms of genes?
random mutations
what do genetic variations change
genotype + phenotype in a population
why is genetic variation necessary
so species can produce healthy and fertile offspring, resist diseases + change over time when adapting to changing environmental conditions - more likely to survive these changes
natural selection
process where genes may be selected to continue in a population as conditions change
genetic drift
variation in the frequency of genotypes (when individuals die or lost from pop)
bottle neck effect
decrease in gene pool of population causing drastic reduce in population size
Species diversity
number of individuals in population
number of species in given ecosystem
Distribution of living organisms influenced by
abiotic factors
species diversity is high in
tropical rainforests, places with favourable abiotic conditions unlike arctic
ecosystem diversity
describes the variety of biological communities and associations with ecosystem they live in
species richness
the number of different species in a community
decomposers produce
CO2, water, nutrients and oxygen autotrophs need
The limit of these requirements will cause a species to not survive in an ecosystem:
Abiotic factors
biotic factors
Impacts from human activity
changes in climate
high degree of biodiversity =
more stability, have the ability to recover from distasters more easily, highly interconnected food webs
