Biology Unit 2 Exam (Ecology)

last minute cram :( (this is without the cycles of matter... (too lazy to input it)

Biotic factors

living

Abiotic factors

non-living

sequence of living beings

organism → population → community → ecosystem → biosphere

predator-prey

+/- (when one eats the other)

competition

-/- (fighting for resources)

parasitism

+/- (when one benefits and harms the other)

mutualism

+/+ (when both benefit)

Commensalism

+/- (when one benefits without bothering the other)

Symbiosis

“to live together”

All living things need to live on…

Matter and energy (law of conservation of mater/energy)

Matter and energy must flow through ecosystems on a cycle

Their forms may change but the total amount is retained in the system

Matter is limited therefore…

it must be reused, moved, recycled through ecosystems

Matter and energy move through inorganic and organic forms (biochemical cycles)

Carbon, phosphorous, water, and nitrogen

Food web

A complex diagram showing the interconnected feeding relationships of organisms (energy flow)

Trophic level

Where organisms fit in a web based on feeding patterns (their distance from plants)

Autotrophs

primary producers that make energy by themselves

Heterotrophs

Consumers in general

Primary consumers

animals that eat primary consumers (herbivores)

Secondary consumers

Animals that eat primary consumers (omnivores and carnivores)

Tertiary

Animals that eat secondary consumers

Decomposers (detritivores)

breaks down dead organisms and releases energy back into the environment

Organisms use most of the energy from the food they eat first before being eaten

lost as heat (cellular respiration), activities/growth, not all food matter is digested for energy

What percent of energy is being transferred?

10%

Energy in its bonds can’t be recycled, only: transferred or changed

2nd law of thermodynamics: things become more disordered overtime (entropy)

Energy enters as…

the sun

energy exits at each trophic level as…

heat or waste that cannot be used again

Trophic cascades

Powerful indirect interactions that controls ecosystems

Trophic cascades occur when…

Key organisms limit density/behavior of other organisms at lower trophic levels (domino effect)

Niche

the way of life a species or it's role in an ecological community (sum of (a)biotic resources that a species uses within its larger habitat)

Specialists

Eats only certain types of food

Generalist

Eats a wide range of food

Environments hold onto key element biochemical cycles in reservoirs

cycles through (non)living parts

Inorganic reservoirs

atmosphere(air), hydrosphere(water), and lithosphere(land)

organic reservoirs

biosphere (animals and plants)

evaporation

liquid water that changes into water vapor (gas), (sublimation: solid-gas)

Transpiration

water vapor released from plants through their leaves

Condensation

water vapor that cools and changes back to liquid droplets

Precipitation

Water falls down from the atmosphere as rain, snow, sleet, or hail

Runoff

Water flowing over land to a body of water

infiltration

water soaks into the soil

melt

solid ice or snow turns into liquid water

freeze

liquid water turns into solid ice

Perlocation

water permeates the soil and reaches underground sources

carrying capacity

The max number of individuals of a certain species that a habitat can support (can change overtime)

Resource

anything that’s useful to people (can be (a)biotic)

natural resources

Naturally occurring in the environment

artificial resources

resources that people make

renewable

can be replenished (can be exhausted)

non-renewable resources

available at a fixed amount (can be exhausted)

limiting factor

anything that slows/limits population growth

density independent

same impact no matter how large or small the population

density dependent

higher impact as the population is more dense

Carrying capacity graph

1. population increases using resources (exponential growth)

2. slows down, environment can no longer provide for species (limiting factors)

3. As environment recovers, species population is able to increase (less limits)

4. fluctuations between population and environment

A carrying capacity graph can be represented as…

the shape of an S or J