ecology unit test

ecology

how organisms interact in an environment

how orgs affect each other in the world

ecosystem

* combo of abiotic and biotic factors
* energy flow (nitrogen cycle, photosynthesis, cellular respiration)
* usually some kind of unit (woods,swamp, lake, etc)

niche

* what a species eats
* where a species lives
* physical and invisible spaces a species inhabits in an ecosystem

population

group of organisms of the same species in the same place at the same time

energy

the ability to do work

* usually measured in calories

producer

* an autotroph
* convert sunlight into chemical energy

photosynthesis

* plants use CO2 during process to make glucose
* removes CO2 from the atmosphere

consumer

* eat producers
* need to consume other organisms for their energy
* whatever they don’t use for energy they store or use as heat

trophic level

a level in an ecosystem

* consumer
* producer
* primary consumer
* etc

biomass

* mass of biotic factors in an environment
* typically looked at in individual trophic levels
* pyramid used by ecologists to determine if an ecosystem is able to support itself

why does water cycle matter

* plants
* plants = unable to grow w/o water
* habitats
* bodies of water are used as habitats and breeding ground for things born in water
* life
* water provides essential nutrients and minerals for physical life

evaporation

turning liquid into gas

transpiration

evaporation from plants and leaves

condensation

turning gas into a liquid

precipitation

rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.

infiltration

water trickling into soil

groundwater

water is located in the ground in aquifers

runoff

water that collects on top and runs into streams, oceans, rivers, etc.

aquifers

bodies of saturated rock and sediment thru which water can move

why is carbon cycle important

* energy
* carbon provides energy that fuel global economy
* temperature
* carbon creates greenhouse effect in order to regulate the Earth’s temperature
* food
* carbon makes up food we eat

cellular respiration and equation

* process that produes CO2
* done by animals
* glucose used to make ATP which is a usable form of energy

fossil fuels

things like coal, oil, and gas are made of them

decomposition

process of rotting and decay

* turns organisms into fossils

atmosphere CO2

carbon exists in the atmosphere as CO2

why do we care about nitrogen cycle and nitrogen

* nitrogen makes up proteins and nucleic acids

limiting factor

* the amount of nitrogen we have in the global ecosystem limits how much we can grow

nitrogen fixing bacteria

* usable nitrogen only enters the ecosystem through plants
* we can’t breath it in or use it if not usable
* creates usable nitrogen for producers and then consumers eat the plants

atmosphere N2

* unusable because it’s triple bond is too strong to break down easily
* it is 80% of available nitrogen

Biosphere

all of Earth and the atmosphere

biome

a large area with same climate patterns

ecosystem

all of abiotic and biotic factors in a location

community

a group of dif species living together

population

a group of the same species living together

individual

a single organism

primary consumers

* consume producers
* whatever they dont’t use they store or use as heat

secondary consumers

* eat another consumer
* omnivore or carnivore
* predator or scavenger

tertiary consumers

* eat secondary consumers
* omnivore or carnivore
* predator or scavenger

decomposers

consumer that eats dead and rotting things

* returns nutrients to the ground for the producers to use

where does energy that isn’t used go?

* is stored for the next level to use when the organism is consumed
* is released as heat

10% rule

* each level only gets 10% of the energy from the level below it
* makes ecosystems have a lot of producers and not as many consumers
* as you go up the pyramid there are less organisms bc there is not enough energy at that level to sustain more organisms

energy flow and energy flow pyramids

* energy enters an ecosystem through the sun
* w/o sun we wouldn’t have energy and we would be mega cold
* only flows in 1D
* producers use photosynthesis to turn light energy into sugar and oxygen
* consumers use cellular respiration to convert O2 from breathing and glucose from consuming into ATP

competition

* 2 species have the same limiting resource
* limiting resource = a resource species have in common that is limited (food, water, space, etc.)

predation/defense mechanisms

* predator hunting down prey
* eat live organisms
* controls amount of prey
* drives evolution (coevolution)
* defense mechanisms
* animals
* skunks spray predators
* porcupines have quills
* camouflage
* venom/ poison
* plants
* throns
* causes rashes

symbiosis

a long-term close relationship between 2 species

* mutualism
* positive relationship between two species where both benefit
* sometimes they can’t live w/o each other
* parasitism
* one sided relationship
* one organism benefits while the other one is harmed
* commensalism
* one sided relationship
* one organism benefits while other isn’t affected

biodiversity

* total number of organisms
* relative abundance
* variety of all living things and their interactions

why is biodiversity important?

we need it for a balanced healthy ecosystem

threats to biodiversity: natural causes

* disease
* often occur naturally and can wipe out portions of a population
* predators
* naturally control the population of prey
* geographic change
* natural disasters affect habitats and therefore what can survive
* natural erosion also affects habitats

threats to biodiversity: pollution

* man made elements and items make their way into the environment
* fossil fuels
* litter
* oil spills

threats to biodiversity: habitat destruction

* loss of habitat usually cue to human involvement
* logging
* deforestation
* farming

threats to biodiversity: global climate change

* both natural and human induced changes to climate
* natural
* natural disasters
* natural drying
* natural erosion
* human
* fossil fuel emissions
* over-use of resources

threats to biodiversity: human activity

* any human activity that destroys or changes the environment
* deforestation
* industrial fishing
* industrialization
* farming
* overharvesting
* habitat fragmentation

threats to biodiversity: invasive species

* species that aren’t native to an area move there
* some introduced accidentally
* some introduced on purpose but not always ill intentioned
* species ultimately take over an ecosystem

carrying capacity

* maximum population a particular environment can sustain
* when we exeed carrying capacity the environment breaks down →decreases carrying capacity

carrying capacity: birth rate

how many organisms are born each year

carrying capacity: death rate

how many organisms die each year

carrying capacity: migration

* movement of organisms into (immigration) or out of (emmigration) an ecosystem