BIOS 230 Lecture Notes

Flashcards about Ecological Succession and Ecosystem Ecology

Ecological Succession

The process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time.

Primary Succession

Ecological succession that occurs on a site previously unoccupied by a community.

Secondary Succession

Ecological succession that occurs on previously occupied (vegetated) sites after a disturbance.

Old-Field Succession

The process of abandoned agricultural fields gradually transforming from grassland to forest.

Ecological Disturbance

Events that alter ecosystem structure and function, which can be biological (e.g., mountain pine beetle) or physical (e.g., wildfire).

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

The concept that the highest levels of diversity occur at intermediate levels of disturbance.

Organismic Concept of Communities

The view that communities are integrated and discrete entities, like organs within an organism.

Individualistic Concept of Communities

The view that species distributions represent the independent responses of species to the environment; also known as the Continuum Concept.

Ecosystem

A community of organisms (biotic factors) interacting with their physical environment (abiotic factors).

Autotrophs

Primary producers in an ecosystem, such as green plants and algae.

Heterotrophs

Organisms in an ecosystem that can be decomposers or consumers.

Inputs (Ecosystem)

Exchanges from the surrounding environment into the ecosystem.

Outputs (Ecosystem)

Exchanges from inside the ecosystem to the surrounding environment.

Respiration

The process by which plants use a proportion of the energy of gross primary productivity to fuel physiological and morphological activities.