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What is ECOLOGY

The study of interactions among living things (biotic factors), and between biotic factors and their environment (abiotic factors)

What is a Habitat

A place where an organism lives where an organism finds food, shelter, and mates

What is a Niche

The role an organism plays in its environment how an organism finds food, shelter, and mates

What is an Ecosystem

A geographic area where biotic and abiotic factors interact

What is a Biome

A very large ecosystem that contains a number of smaller but related ecosystems within it

What is a Community

Two or more populations of different species occupying the same geographic area at the same time.

What is a Population

A group of organisms that belong to the same species and live in a particular place at the same time

Population Density

How crowded a population is. The number of individuals per unit area or volume.

Population Size

The number of individuals a population contains

What does Population Size depend on

1. Immigration

2. Emigration

3. Births

4. Deaths

What is Population distribution

the location of individuals relative to one another

What is Exponential Growth Rate

The accelerating increase that occurs during a time when growth is unregulated (an abundance of resources and no predators)

What is the Logistic Growth Model

growth rate decreases the larger the population becomes and eventually stabilizes it

What is Carrying Capacity

The maximum population that a given area can sustain

What factors limit the size of a population

Density Independent Population Regulation and Density Dependent Population Regulation

What are Density-independent factors

• Natural or human-caused disasters

• Extreme weather

What are Density-dependent factors

• Interspecies competition for resources

• Predator-prey interactions

• Parasitism

• Disease

Coevolution

• Joint evolution of two closely interacting species

• Each is a selective agent for traits of the other

• Each adapts to changes in the other

What are the Five types of symbiotic relationships

1. Predation (+ / –)

2. Parasitism (+ / –)

3. Mutualism (+ / +)

4. Commensalism (+ / 0)

5. Interspecific competition (+ / –)

What is Predation

Members of one species (predator) capture kill, and feed on another species (prey)

What is Parasitism

One organism (parasite) lives and feeds on another organism (host)

What is Mutualis m

Two species interact in a way that benefits both

What is Commensalism

One organism benefits from another, but neither helps nor harm that other organism

Interspecific Competition

One species gains more resources (space, food, etc) than the other species

What is Biodiversity

A measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels

What are the two components of biodiversity

Species richness and Species evenness

What is Species richness

The number of species

What is Species evenness

The relative abundance of individuals of each species

How can a single species change an entire ecological community

By being a Keystone species or Invasive species

What is a Keystone species

• A species that has a disproportionately large effect on community structure

• Are often top predators

How can removing a Keystone species affect an Ecosystem

Causes a destructive domino effect that collapses the food chain, destroys habitats, and ruins the entire ecosystem.

What is a Invasive species

• A species that evolved in one community and later became established in a different one

• More than 4,500 exotic species have become established in the United States

How does an Invasive species effect the Ecosystem

Multiplying rapidly without natural predators, outcompeting native wildlife for food and water, and permanently destroying habitats

How does energy and nutrients move through ecosystems?

Energy flows through an ecosystem in a one-way path and is eventually lost as heat, while nutrients recycle continuously to be used over and over again

What are Food chains

A straight line that shows exactly who eats whom in an ecosystem, tracking how energy and nutrients move from one organism to the next

What is Trophic level

The position of an organism in a food chain (producer, consumer, decomposer)

What is a Producer(Plants)

An organism that makes its own food (organic compounds) from inorganic materials and usually the sun’s energy

What is a Primary Consumer(Herbivore)

An organism that eats producers for food

What is a Secondary consumer(Carnivore)

An organism that eats Primary Consumers for food

What is a Tertiary consumer(Apex Predator)

An organism that eats Secondary Consumers for food

What are Decomposers

Break down dead material to recycle nutrients (Without decomposers, all ecosystems would collapse!)

What is an Indicator species

A plant or animal whose health, behavior, or population size reveals the overall condition of its environment

What is a Food Web

A network of interconnected food chains that shows all the overlapping feeding relationships in an entire ecosystem

What is the Energy pyramid

A graphical model that shows how much energy is available at each trophic level of an ecosystem.  The higher you go on the pyramid, the less energy is available in the ecosystem!

What is The 10% Rule

Only 10% of the energy from one trophic level is passed up to the next level

What is the The Carbon Cycle

The continuous process by which carbon travels from the atmosphere into organisms and the Earth, and then back into the atmosphere

What is a Reservoir

Where matter is stored (ex. rocks, plants, fossil fuels, deep ocean, marine biosphere, ocean’s surface, soil, atmosphere)

What is a Flux Mechanism

How matter moves from one place to another

What is Residence Times

How long matter stays in one place

What is Global Warming

Refers to the increase in Earth’s average surface temperature due to rising levels of greenhouse gases

What is Climate Change

A broader term that refers to significant changes in global temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and other measures of climate that occur over several decades or longer

What are Greenhouse gases

Gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat from the sun

What is the Greenhouse effect

The natural process where gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat from the sun to keep the planet warm enough for life to survive

What is Net Primary productivity

The amount of plant energy that remains after plants use what they need to stay alive

What is Gross primary productivity

The total amount of solar energy that plants and other producers capture and turn into chemical energy (sugar) through photosynthesis over a specific period

State the levels of organization in the field of ecology

• Organism

• Population

• Community

• Ecosystem

• Biome

• Biosphere

Differentiate between density dependent and density-independent limiting factors.

Density-Dependent Factors change their impact based on how crowded a population is, while Density-Independent Factors strike a population with the exact same force regardless of its size

Describe examples of the five types of symbioses.

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

• Predation

• Intraspecific competition

Explain why ecosystems usually contain only a few trophic levels

Because of the inefficient transfer of energy from one level to the next

Give an example of how a single species can alter the structure of an ecological community

Sea urchins eat giant kelp, a massive seaweed that forms underwater forests, and without kelp to slow down waves, shoreline erosion increases