Ecosystem and community ecology

what is a community

-interacting groups of species at a particular location

how are communities characterized

-species interactions (How do different populations come together)

what is community diversity

number of species present

what is community succession

change over time

what is a niche

-the total ways an organism uses resources of its environment

what is a spacial niche

-space utilization (need somewhere to burrow), temperature range (cold vs warm), moisture requirements (aquatic plant vs land plant)

what is a ecological niche

-food consumption (carnivore, herbivore), appropriate conditions for mating, trophic level

what leads to resource allocation

competition

what is INTRAspecific competition

competition WITHIN a population

what is INTERspecific competition

-competition BETWEEN populations

what are benefits

-hone abilities, survival of the fittest

what is alleviation

-making things easier

what is the competitive exclusion principal

-no two species can occupy the same niche

-one will out-compete the other

what is resource partitioning

-adapt to use different parts of the same resource

whats an example of spacial separation

-MacArthurs Warblers

whats an example of temporal separation

-birds and bees

what is a fundamental niche

-entire niche that a species is capable of using, based on physiological tolerance limits and resource needs.

what is a realized niche

-actual set of environmental conditions, presence or absence of other species, in which the species can establish a stable population.

what does predation affect and drive

-species relationships

evolution (+,-)

what does predation provide for prey population

strong selective pressure

what are examples of non-predators

-scavengers, detritivores, decomposers

what are examples of predators

-herbivores, onmivores, carnivores

what life stages does predation affect

-all life stages of predator and prey

what is predator mediated competition

-predators target a superior competitor (+)

-prevents exclusion of a weaker competitor (-)

whats an example of keystone species

-otters, urchins, kelp, tropical fig trees

what is batesian mimicry

-one harmless organism mimics an unrelated harmful organism

what is mullerian mimicry

-two harmful organisms mimic each other

what is allelopathic

-plant chemical defenses (anti-predation/competition)

what is aposomatic coloration

-warning colors indicate toxicity

what color are organisms that lack chemical defenses

bright colors with camouflage or cryptic coloration

what is mutualism symbiosis

-both species benefit

what is commensalism symbiosis

1 benefits 1 has no effect

what is parasitism symbiosis

-parasite is dependent on their host (+/-)

what is a trophic level

-energetic position at which an organism (or group of organisms) either contributes energy to or takes energy from the community

what is a producer

-contributes caloric energy to everyone else

what is a consumer

-consumes caloric energy from the trophic level below

what is a primary consumer

-consumes caloric energy from plants (herbivore)

what is a secondary composer

-consumes caloric energy from primary producers (omnivores and predators)

what is the Odum 1957 10% rule

-plants cant use all the sunshine

-consumers waste 90% of calories

What are the two types of tropic cascades

Bottom - up control, top down control

What is bottom up control

Limitation controls higher consumers

What is top down control

Predators control lower trophic levels

What are abiotic factors

Non living, light, nutrients, H20

How does top down control affect flow of energy

Carnivores will be high or low, herbivores will be low or high, producers will be high or low

How does bottom up control affect flow of energy

Carnivores, herbivores, producers, nutrients all low or high, no alternating

What is species richness

Number of different species in an area

What is species abundance

Number of individuals in a population in an area

What is evenness

Proportion of abundance to richness

What is diversity

Relationship between all of the above

What is stability

Ability to resist and recover from disturbance

What is complexity

The number of trophies levels and number of species in each in a habitat/ tropic level

Why are communities constantly changing

Time, climatic changes, species disturbance disturbance events

What is succession

Communities have a tendency to change from simple to complex, organisms gradually move into an area and change it's nature

What is primary succession

Completely bare or new land

What is secondary succession

Recovery from a disturbance

What are pioneer species

The first colonists

What are early successional species characterized by

Fast reproduction

What is facilitation

Early successional species introduce local changes in the habitat

What is tolerance

Early successional species are tolerant of harsh conditions

What is inhibition

Changes in the habitat caused by one species inhibits the growth of the original species

What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Communities experiencing moderate amounts of disturbance will have higher levels of species richness than communities experiencing either little or great amounts of disturbance

what is tolerance

Early successional species are tolerant of harsh conditions

what is facilitation

early successional species introduce local changed in the habitat

what is inhibition

changes in the habitat caused by one species inhibits the growth of the original species

what are two things an ecosystem includes

abiotic and biotic environments

what is the ecosystem process

the physical chemical and biological actions or events that link organisms and their environment,

Includes Production,decomposition,cycling and fluxes, and resiliance

what is resiliance

least abiotic and most biotic

high biodiversity high resiliance

what are the two types of primary production/producers

gross primary production GPP

net primary production NPP

what is gross primary production

-total plant biomass created in a given time period, usually over one year

what is net primary production

total plant biomass created in a given time period minus what is consumed by heterotrophs

what is secondary primary production

biomass made by heterotrophs

takes predation into account

what are cycles and fluxes

basically just stoichiometry and sources and sinks

what are the three types of mobility

recalcitrant

labile

transformation

what is reCALCItrant movement

No bioavailable. Either currently in use by an organism or locked in a difficult form (very hard to move)

what is LABile movement

bioavailable. either a loose molecule in the environment (soil, water, air) or a discarded organismal unit (feces, corpse) very easy to move them

what is transformation movement

conversion of one form to another (the nitrogen cycle)

what are ecosystem services

many and varied benefits that humans gain from natural environment and from properly functioning ecosystems

what do ecosystem services support

provisioning

regulating

cultural

what are the 4 things an ecosystem needs in order to not fall apart

production

decomposition

cycling and fluxes

resilience

what are regulating services

benefits humans obtain from regulation of ecosystem processes

indirect benefits humans do not put extra effort into (pollination, carbon sequestration, purification of water and air)

what are provisioning services

tangible products that humans obtain from ecosystems (food, raw materials, genetic resources, medicinal, energy)

what are cultural services

nonmaterial benefits people obtian from ecosystems (cultural, spiritual, historical, science and education)

what are biogeochemical cycles

living geologic (rock) or geographic (abiotic and biotic) chemical cycles

they impact ecosystem processes

chemicals moving theough ecosystems usually across the boundaries of ecosystem

what is the carbon cycle

very important

does respiration and photosynthesis

what are sources of carbon

inorganic: graphite, diamonds, limestone, CO2

organic: organisms, fossil fuels

what is carbon fixation

one way carbon can be changed

metabolic reactions that make non-gaseous organic compounds from gaseous inorganic ones (photosynthesis)

what is cellular respiration

another way carbon can be changed

releases CO2 from organic compounds

what are methanogens

another way carbon can be changed

produce methane (CH4) by anaerobic cellular repsiration

what is the hydrologic cycle

how we distrubute H2O

water availability determines the nature and abundance of organisms present

how can water be synthesized

cellular respiration

dehydration synthesis

how can water be broken down

photosynthesis

hydrolysis

what are aquifers

permeable underground layers of rock, sand, and gravel saturated with water. Like a dry sponge but one drained of water

what are continental shifts

changed in the supply of water that radically alter the nature of the ecosystem

what is the nitrogen cycle

occurs in 3 major forms in nature

N2, NH4, NO3

transitions between forms is the heart of the nitrogen cycle

how much of the atomospher is N2 and why is that bad

80%

most organisms cant do anything with this

what is nitrogen fixation

N2 —> NH3 (nitrogen fixating bacteria)

what is nitrification

NH3 —> NO3

what is denitrification

NO3 —> N2

what is the phosphate cycle

occurs in organisms in the form of nucleic acids, membranes, ATP

no gas form

exists as the inorganic phosphate (PO4) in rocks and soil

how do organisms obtain phosphorous

plants and algae: absorb free inorganic phosphate from rock/sediment/H2O

animals: eat plants/animals to obtain their phosphorous, excrete much of it

eventually gets washed to the ocean