Introduction to Ecology and Ecological Principles

Fill-in-the-blank practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts from Lecture 1: Introduction to Ecology, including abiotic vs. biotic factors, reciprocal selection and coevolution, hierarchical scales of ecological organization, the scientific method, the hippo pool hypoxia study, and human medicinal benefits from nature.

___ is defined as the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment.

ecology

The non-living chemical and physical factors of an environment—such as temperature, light, water, wind, and pH—make up the __________ component.

abiotic

The biota or living organisms that interact with each other and influence species survival, reproduction, and the environment make up the __________ component.

biotic

The coevolutionary dynamic between newt toxicity and garter snake resistance—where increases in prey defense select for higher predator resistance and vice versa—is driven by __________ selection.

reciprocal

what are the 5 scales of ecological organization

organism → population → community → ecosystem → biosphere

At the __________ scale of ecological organization, researchers study individual survival, reproduction, and behavior.

organism

Population dynamics and demography—including size, growth rate, and age distribution—are studied at the __________ scale of ecological organization.

population

Interactions among different populations, species diversity, trophic dynamics, competition, and succession are examined at the __________ scale of ecological organization.

community

Energy flux, nutrient cycling, primary productivity, and material fluxes are the primary focus of the __________ scale of ecological organization.

ecosystem

The broadest scale of ecological organization, which encompasses global processes and interactions among biotic systems, oceans, atmosphere, and geology, is the __________.

biosphere

In the standard scientific method framework, forming a hypothesis occurs directly after asking a __________ and prior to designing an experiment.

question

In the Mara River hippo pool research conducted by Dutton et al., an event was defined as hypoxic when dissolved oxygen levels dropped below $2\,\text{mg L}^{-1}$. Over 3 years of monitoring, they documented __________ such hypoxic events.

13

Over a period of 5 years in the Mara River study system, researchers documented __________ distinct fish kill events associated with flushing flows.

9

To experimentally test the mechanisms of downstream hypoxia, researchers built 12 stream mesocosms, each containing $60\,\text{L}$ of stream water propelled by __________.

paddle wheels

Additions of hippo pool water into experimental mesocosm channels produced a rapid drop in dissolved oxygen with recovery in two days, indicating the decline was driven by a __________ process.

chemical

Illustrating the importance of biodiversity to human health, approximately __________ percent of all new drugs developed in the last 25 years have originated from nature.

70

Two examples of life-saving medicines derived from nature include the heart medication digitalis and the anti-cancer drug __________.

taxol

what is a biological community?

A group of populations of different species living close enough to interact (predation, competition, etc.)

___ ___ is the study of the distribution and abundance of populations of coexisting species and their interactions

community ecology

what is mutualism in terms of symbols?

+/+

what is mutualicommensalism in terms of symbols?

+/0

what is predation in terms of symbols? same for parasitism and herbivory.

+/-

what is competition in terms of symbols?

-/-

what is amensalism in terms of symbols?

-/0

a limiting resource is

In an ecological network, what is a node?

A species

what type of diversity means diversity at one site?

alpha diversity

what type of diversity means comparing species composition between sites?

beta diversity

what does low beta diversity mean?

the sites share a lot of the same species

what does high beta diversity mean?

the sites share very different species between sites

what type of diversity is the product of alpha and beta diversity?

gamma diversity

what does the species-area curve say?

more land area results in more species (rule of thumb; 10x the space, double the species)

what counts as an “island” according to

a habitat patch surrounded by a sea of unlike habitat

an island’s species count levels off where ___ equals ___

immigration equals extinction

immigration rate on an island is highest when how many species are on an island?

low amount of species

immigration rate on an island is lowest when how many species are on an island?

high amount of species

extinction rate on an island is lowest when how many species are on an island?

low amount of species

extinction rate on an island is highest when how many species are on an island?

high amount of species

why does extinction rates increase as an island becomes more crowded? (two reasons)

1) interspecific competition is higher

2) lower population per species makes species more susceptible to ___ extinction

what term describes the rate

a small island that is far away from the mainland has more or less species than a large island that is also far?

less species

what type of island has the most species?

large, close island

what type of island has the least species?

small, far island

does a small island have more or less extinctions that a large island?

more

what term describes how immigrants of a species mto an island can reduce the risk of its extinction, as new individuals replenish 7