Unit 1 - The Living World: Ecosystems

Community ecology

interactions among species

Symbiosis

two species living close and long term association

Biosphere

region of planet where life resides (between deepest ocean and highest mountain)

Competition

struggle of individuals to share resources

Competitive exclusion principle

two species competing for the same limited resources can't coexist

Resource partitioning

When two species evolve to divide a resource based on differences in behavior or morphology

Temporal resource partitioning

two species with same resource but use at different times

Spatial resource partitioning

different habitat use to avoid direct competition

Morphological resource partitioning

evolution of different body size or shape

Predation

one animal kills and consumes another

Parasitoids

type of predator that lays eggs inside other organisms and cause death of host

Parasitism

an organism lives on or in another organism and no death of host; type of symbiosis

Pathogens

parasites that cause disease

Mutualism

interaction between two species where both species receive benefit; type of symbiosis

Commensalism

interaction between two species where one species benefits and the other neither harmed or helped; type of symbiosis

Native species

lives in historical range

Invasive species

exotic species that spread rapidly across large are and cause harm

Biome

The plants and animals that can be found in a particular region of the world

Climate

average weather occuring in a region over a long period of time

Weather

short-term conditions of an atmosphere in local area

Habitat

an area where a particular species lives in nature

Climate diagrams

display monthly temperature and precipitation values; help determine plant and animal species in a biome

Terrestrial biome

in a geographic region of land categorized by climate, precipitation, and plant growth forms

Tundra

Location

- Artic: Northern Hemisphere (Russia, Canada, Scandinavia, Alaska)

- Antartic: Antartica

- Alpine: high mountains

Temperature: -15 C to - 7 C (very cold)

Precipitation: 15 cm to 25 cm (small amount)

Indicator Plants: artic willow, cotton grass, small woody shrubs, mosses, etc

Indicator Animals: polar bears, arctic fox

Threat: global warming

Other: slow decomposure

Taiga (Boreal Forest)

Location: Europe, Russia, North America (between 50 N and 60 N)

Temperature: -5 C to 5 C (cold)

Precipitation: 4o cm to 100 cm (small amount)

Indicator Plants: Pine spruce, fir, birch, maple, aspen

Indicator Animals: Beavers, brown bears, wolverines

Threat: destroyed to be used for oil

Other: slow decomposure, poor soil nutrients

Temperate Rainforest

Location: Coastal (Pacific Northwest, Chile, Eastern Australia, New Zealand, Canada)

Temperature: 5 C to 20 C (moderate)

Precipitation: 140 cm to 300 cm (moderate seasons)

Indicator Plants: spruce, cedar, ferns, redwoods

Indicator Animals: Black tailed deer, pacific giant salamander, pacific tree frog

Threat: deforestation

Other: poor soil nutrients = leaching, 12 month growing season

Temperate seasonal forest

Location: Eastern U.S, Japan, China, Europe, Chile, Eastern Australia

Temperature: 0 C to 21 C (warm summer, cold winter)

Precipitation: 5 cm to 10 cm (moderate)

Indicator Plants: maple, oak, hickory, foam flower

Indicator Animals: White-tailed deer, red foxes, gray squirrels

Threat: deforestation

Other: rapid decomposition, nutrient soils, long growing season, plant productivity

Woodland/Shurbland

Location: Southern California, Southern South America, southwestern Australia, Southern Africa, Mediterranian Sea

Temperature: 10 C to 20 C (hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters)

Precipitation: 20 cm to 100 cm

Indicator Plants: yucca, oak, sagebrush

Indicator Animals: California quail, black tailed jack rabbits, coyotes, rattle snakes

Other: low soil nutrients = grazing animals, 12 month growing season, wild fires

Temperate grassland/cold desert

Location: Great Plains (praries), South America, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe

Temperature: 2 C to 75 C (hot, dry summers and cold, harsh winters)

Precipitation: 20 cm to 90 cm

Indicator Plants: grasses, non-woody flowers

Indicator Animals: Bison, prarie chickens, king snake

Other: high decomposition, nutrient soil = high productivity

tropical rainforest

Location: 20 N and 20 S of equator (Central/South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Norheastern Australia)

Temperature: 20 C+ (warm and little temperature variation)

Precipitation: 175 cm to 400 cm (high)

Indicator Plants: cecropia trees, macaranga trees

Indicator Animals: jaguars, orangutans, red eyed tree frogs

Other: high decomposition = high productivity, low nutrients, most biodiversity

Tropical Seasonal Forest (Savanna)

Location: Central America, Atlantic coast of South America, Southern Asia, Northwestern Australia, Sub-saharan Africa

Temperature: 20 C to 30 C (warm and distinct seasons)

Precipitation: 50 cm to 150 cm (low)

Indicator Plants: acacia and boabab trees

Indicator Animals: gazelles, zebras, lions, cheetahs

Other: fairly fertile soil

Hot Desert

Location: Mojave Desert, Sahara, Arabian Desert, Great Victoria Desert

Temperature: 20 C to 35 C (very hot and dry)

Precipitation: 25 cm (low)

Indicator Plants: cacti, euphoria plants, succulents

Indicator Animals: Camels, tortoises, roadrunners

Other: sparse vegetation

Aquatic biomes

aquatic region characterized by a combination of salinity, depth, and water flow

Freshwater biomes

freshwater; lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and wetlands

Streams/Rivers

- Starts from melted snow, rain, or springs

- landscape determines direction and speed of water flow

- organisms withstand current

- biological communities change

- few plants and algae

- rivers have sediment

- fast = more oxygen, vice versa

- threats are excess nutrients and pollutants

Lakes/Ponds

- inland standing water

- zones based on sunlight

- top layer freezes during winter

- limnetic zone is well lit

- thermo stratification = thermocline

Litterol Zone

the shallow zone near show with most sunlight and plants

Limnetic zone

open water as deep as sunlight can penetrate with no rooted plants and lots of phytoplankton

profundal zone

sunlight does not touch, low oxygen

benthic zone

muddy bottom

oligotrophic lake

little productivity, very clear

mesotrophic lake

moderate fertility, murkier

eutrophic lake

high fertility, green water (pea soup)

Freshwater wetlands

- submerged but shallow for vegetation

- swamps, marshes, bogs

- most productive biome on planet

- duckweed, cattails, sedges

- Florida everglades

Marine biomes

salt water; salt marshes, mongrove swamps, intertidal zones, coral reef, open ocean

Estuaries/Salt Marshes

- coast where freshwater and salt water mix

- non-woody emergent vegetation

- productive for algae that filter water

- shellfish and fish spend 2/3 of larve stages here, nurse young

- being filled in

mongrove swamps

- tropical coasts

- salt tolerant trees

- nutrient rich

- most destroyed for rice and rubber trees

intertidal zone

- narrow coastline

- rocky areas to mud flats

- low tide, high tide, mid tide

- mussels, sea stars, barnacles

Coral reefs

- most diverse

- warm shallow waters in tropical regions

- coral bleaching

- poor in nutrients and food

- sensitive to climate change and acidic water

open ocean

- deep ocean water

- photic, aphotic, benthic zones

- deepest part of ocean generate energy on own

- fish, sharks, sea turtles, whales, etc

chemosynthesis

process which bacteria in aphotic zone generate energy with methane and hydrogen sulfide

aerobic respiration

convert glucose and oxygen into energy, carbon dioxide, and water

steady state

outputs = inputs

algal bloom

rapid increase in algal production

hypoxic

low in oxygen

dead zone

oxygen so low fish die, Mississippi River into Gulf of Mexico

evapotranspiration

The combined amount of evaporation and transpiration; used as a measure of water moving through an ecosystem.

anaerobic respiration

convert glucose to energy without oxygen

primary productivity

rate of converting solar energy to organic compounds

biomass

total mass of all living matter in a specific area

standing crop

amount of biomass present in an ecosystem at a given time

scavengers

eat dead animals

detritivore

breaks down dead tissues and waste products into smaller tissues

decomposers

complete breakdown by converting organic matter into small molecules that is distributed back into ecosystem

ecological efficiency

proportion of consumed energy that can be passed down from one trophic level to next