Wildlife + Ecology Flashcards
What is an ecosystem?
A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
What are abiotic factors?
Non-living variables that can influence an ecosystem–light intensity, temperature, humidity soil.
What are biotic factors?
Interactions associated with living organisms–competition for resources, grazing, predation, pollination, seed dispersal, disease and food availability.
Define speciation.
The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
What are the three types of speciation?
Allopatric, parapatric, sympatric
What are demes?
Local interbreeding population within a species. Can cause genetic and physical variation. An isolated subpopulation subjected to selection as a unit rather than individuals.
What are ecological niches?
The role and position a species has in its environment, how it meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives and reproduces.
What is a metapopulation?
A regional group of connected populations of a species.
Provide an example of a UK species affected by fragmentation.
Dormouse, hedgehog.
What is seasonality?
A characteristic of time in which predictable changes reoccur every year. A predictable or pattern in a time series can be said to be seasonal.
What is dissolution?
The action of formally ending or dismissing an assembly, partnership, or official body.
How does dissolution affect wildlife populations?
For socially monogamous species, breeder bond dissolution has big consequences for population dynamics. For animals with complex reproductive display and rituals, pair dissolution can have a real detrimental effect on their reproductive success.
What is dispersal?
Movement of young plants and animals away from their parents.
What does EID stand for?
Emerging Infectious Disease.
What’s the difference between immigration and emigration?
Immigration means you are coming in to a different area to live. Emigration means you are exiting your current homeland.
Provide two ways in which humans influence ecosystems.
Habitat destruction, pollution, introducing species of plants and animals, hunting/poaching, agriculture.
What is in situ conservation?
The conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings.
What is ex situ conservation?
‘Off-site’ conservation means the conservation of components of biological diversity outside their natural habitats.
What is a conservation project?
Programmes undertaken by conservation and environmental organisations to protect biodiversity, wildlife, wild places or endangered species
What is divergent evolution?
The process whereby groups from the same common ancestor evolve and accumulate differences, resulting in the formation of new species.
What is convergent evolution?
The process whereby organisms not closely related independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
What is parallel evolution?
When independent species acquire similar characteristics while evolving together at the same time in the same ecospace.
What does IUCN stand for?
International Union for Conservation of Nature.
What is the cycling of lynx and snowshoe hare populations in Northern Ontario an example of?
A BOOM BUST cycle
What is symbiosis?
The close and persistent interaction between species, typically long-term.
What is mutualism?
Symbiosis in which both species benefit. E.g. clown fish and sea anemone
What is commensalism?
Symbiosis in which one species benefits and the other is unaffected. E.g. whales and barnacles
What is parasitism?
Symbiosis is which one species benefits to the detriment of the other. E.g. dog and tick
What is competitive exclusion?
Species that have the same identical niches have identical needs, meaning they would compete for the same resources
What is resource partitioning?
By evolving to use different resources, both species can avoid competitive exclusion. E.g. Puerto Rican anole lizards
What is allopatric speciation?
Also known as geographical isolation. New species are formed due to the separation of one initial species.
What is sympatric speciation?
Evolution of a new species from a surviving ancestral species, both still share the same habitat.
What is parapatric speciation?
Extreme changes in habitat cause a new species to occur.
What is batesian mimicry?
Where a species is protected by its resemblance to a potential threat.
What is an ecological trend?
A general direction in which something is developing or changing.
What year was the Wildlife and Countryside Act?
1981
What year was the Environment Act?
1995
Give two examples of how prey avoid being eaten by predators.
Chemical defence, camouflage, armour, fleeing, strength in numbers, playing dead (thanatosis), deterrent displays.
How many types of ecosystems are there?
Two, terrestrial and aquatic.
What is a BAP?
Biodiversity Action Plan
What is the purpose of the Wildlife Trusts?
‘We need nature and it needs us. We’re here to make the world wilder and make nature part of life, for everyone. We’re helping to make life better – for wildlife, for people and for future generations’
Who organises the Big Garden Birdwatch?
The Royal Society for the Protection of birds (RSPB)
