Environmental Science Ch. 5

List three abiotic and three biotic factors of your environment.

Abiotic: temperature, water, air. Biotic: animals, plants, insects.

Describe a primary limiting factor for reptiles.

Temperature is a primary limiting factor for reptiles because they are cold blooded

How is an organism's niche different from its habitat?

An organism's habitat refers to the type of ecological community that organism lives, whereas, the organism's niche refers to the interaction and role that organism plays within the ecological community

Describe, in detail, the niche of a human.

A niche is the functional role of an organism in its environment. The role of humans is one of consumer, specifically omnivore. Humans modify their surroundings, harness energy, produce waste, and control their population.

How are the concepts of population and species similar?

A species is a group of organisms that can and do interbreed and produce viable offsprings. A population is a group of inter-breeding species.

Describe how genetic differences, number of offspring, and death are related to the concept of natural selection.

Genetic differences can lead to a survival advantage or disadvantage over competing organisms. The organism who can survive to produce the most successful offspring will pass that genetic advantage to its offspring who in turn produce successful offsprings.

How is natural selection related to the concept of niche?

Natural selection is the process whereby successful organisms pass on the characteristics which made them successful to their offspring. In this way, each organism is finely tuned to a particular habitat and niche, and unfit organisms are removed from the population.

What is speciation and why does it occur?

Speciation is when a new species emerges due to a genetic isolation from the main population. It can occur due to physical or behavioral reproductive barriers.

Why does extinction occur?

It occurs when a species no longer has the genetic resources to adapt to a changing environment.

Give an example of coevolution.

Bees and any plants they pollinate. Bees get the food and the plants are pollinated.

List five predators and their prey organisms.

Predator/prey relationships: lion/zebra, eagles/mice, osprey/fish, robins/worms, frogs/insects, baleen whales/zooplankton.

Describe the difference between interspecific and intraspecific competition.

Interspecific competition: refers to resource competition among different species. Intraspecific competition: refers to resources competition among the same species.

What do parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism have in common? How are they different?

They are all forms of symbiosis or a close ecological relationship between two different species. Parasitism: one species benefits and the other is harmed. Communalism: one specie benefits and the other is not harmed. Mutualism: both species benefit.

How do the concepts of ecosystem and community differ?

A community is composed of interacting populations of organisms in a given area and an ecosystem is composed of interacting groups of organisms and their physical environment. (Community and its non living surroundings)

Ecosystem

organisms living in an area together w/ their physical environment

Biotic Factor

living factors w/in an environment

Abiotic Factor

environmental factors that are not living

Organism

independent living things, this includes everything in a species, dead or alive

species

groups of organisms that are closely related can mate to produce fertile offspring

community

groups of various species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other

population

groups of organisms of the same species

habitat

places where organisms live

natural selection

a process in which individuals that have certain traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits

evolution

a change in the characteristics of a population from one generation to the next.

Adaptation

the process of becoming adapted to an environment. is an anatomical, physiological, or behavioral changes

Artificial Selection

the selective breading of organisms, by humans in order to get desirable traits

Resistance

the ability of an organism to tolerate a chemical disease-causing agent

niche

the unique position occupied by the species both in terms of its physical use of its habitat and its function within an ecological community

competition

the relationship between two species in which both species attempt to use the same limited resource such that both are negativelyan affected by the relationship

predation

an interaction between species in which one species, the predicator, feeds off the other species, the prey

parasitism

a relationship between two species, the parasite, benefits from the other species, the host, and usually harms the host

mutualism

a relationship between species in which both species benefit

commensalism

a relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

symbiosis

a relationship in which two different organisms live in close association to each other

Limiting Factor

anything that constrains a population's size and slows or stops it from growing.

Range of tolerance

the range between the minimum and maximum limits to which organisms can tolerate certain changes in their environment to survive.

coevolution

when two or more species have an effect upon one another.