ESS ecology

What is a Species?

A group of organisms that share common characteristics and can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.

What is a Population?

Organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time and interacting with one another.

What is a Habitat?

The environment where a species normally lives (its physical home).

What is an Ecological Niche?

The specific role an organism plays within its habitat, including where, when, how it lives, what it feeds on, and its interactions.

What are the three key criteria for defining a species?

Common characteristics, ability to interbreed, and production of fertile offspring.

What is the difference between Fundamental Niche and Realized Niche?

Fundamental Niche is the full range of conditions in which a species can survive; Realized Niche is the actual conditions where a species exists due to biotic interactions.

What are Abiotic Factors?

Non-living physical elements that influence organisms and ecosystems, such as temperature, sunlight, pH, and salinity.

What are Biotic Factors?

Interactions between organisms, such as predation, competition, and mutualism.

What does Carrying Capacity mean?

The maximum population size that can be sustainably supported by available resources.

What is Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)?

Total biomass produced through photosynthesis.

What is Net Primary Productivity (NPP)?

The actual growth available to other organisms, calculated as NPP = GPP - R (where R is the respiration of producers).

What is Biomagnification?

The increase in concentration of persistent pollutants as they move up the food chain.

What is Succession?

Temporal change in communities as they evolve and change over time.

What is Primary Succession?

Succession that starts from bare rock or substrate with no prior soil development.

What are R-Strategists?

Species that thrive in unstable environments with frequent disturbances, producing many offspring that mature quickly.

What are K-Strategists?

Species found in stable environments, producing fewer offspring and investing more resources in their survival.

What is the Lincoln Index?

A method for estimating populations based on capture-mark-recapture, defined as Lincoln Index = (Number caught in first sample) x (Number caught in second sample) / (Number marked in second sample).

What is the Simpson Diversity Index?

A measure of species diversity; higher values indicate greater diversity and are useful for comparing similar habitats.

What is an Ecosystem?

A community and its physical environment interacting together.

What is the difference between Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling?

Energy flow is unidirectional, transferring from producers to consumers, while chemical cycling involves matter that recycles within the ecosystem.

What is the 10% Rule in energy transfer?

Only about 10% of the energy available at one trophic level is transferred to the next level, with 90% lost as heat.

What is a Trophic Level?

A hierarchy of feeding relationships, including primary producers, consumers, and decomposers.

What is Zonation?

The spatial arrangement of different communities or ecosystems within a landscape, often due to environmental gradients.

What are the different types of Succession?

Succession can be classified into primary succession, which occurs in lifeless areas, and secondary succession, which occurs in areas where a disturbance has cleared an ecosystem but soil remains.

What is Secondary Succession?

Succession that follows a disturbance that destroys a community without destroying the soil.

What is Climax Community?

A stable community that no longer goes through major ecological changes and is the final stage of succession.

What factors influence Zonation?

Factors such as elevation, temperature, moisture, and soil type can influence zonation by affecting the types of organisms that can thrive in specific areas.

What role do disturbances play in Succession?

Disturbances, such as fires or hurricanes, can reset the ecological succession process and lead to the development of new communities.