Chapter 1- Ecology

studied byStudied by 56 people
5.0(1)
Get a hint
Hint

Ecology

1 / 86

flashcard set

Earn XP

87 Terms

1

Ecology

study of relationships among organisms and between orgs and the physical environment (ex. sun, minerals, water, etc.) HOW IT WORKS

New cards
2

Ecology influences

distribution and abundance of organisms, variety of species living together, and transformation and flow of energy

New cards
3

Individual Ecology

organismal ecology, Physiological and behavioral ecology

New cards
4

Physiological Ecology

where they study the evolution of physiological and anatomical mechanisms by which organisms adapt to challenges posed by physical and chemical variation in the environment

New cards
5

Behavioral Ecology

they focus on the evolution of behaviors that allow animals to survive and reproduce in the face of environment variation

New cards
6

Evolution

process by which populations change over time

New cards
7

Population Ecology

centered on the factors influencing population structure and process; processes are influenced by nonbiological and biological aspects of the environment

New cards
8

Population processes

adaptation, extinction, distribution and abundance of species, population growth and regulation, and variation in the reproductive ecology of species

New cards
9

Population

group of interbreeding individuals of a single species inhabiting a defined area, and make viable offspring

New cards
10

Community Ecology

study interactions between species that live contempareously (same time & place), emphasized the evolutionary effects of the interaction ; effects population structure or properties of ecological communities, studies species richness, community change, and community structure

New cards
11

Community question

How do species interact? How do these interactions affect coexistence?

New cards
12

Population question

what factors control zebra populations?

New cards
13

Individual question

how do zebras regulate their internal water balance?

New cards
14

community

an association of interacting species

New cards
15

ecosystem

biological community together with its associated physical and chemical environment

New cards
16

Ecosystem ecology

focus on ecological processes such as energy flow and decomposition

New cards
17

Landscape ecology

study of exchanges of materials, energy, and organisms with other communities and ecosystems

New cards
18

Biosphere ecology

highest; portions of the earth that support life including the land, waters, and atmosphere

New cards
19

ecosystem question

How does the fire affect nutrient availability in grassland ecosystems?

New cards
20

Microbial ecology

study of interactions among microorganisms and between them and their environment

New cards
21

Urban ecology

study of urban areas as complex, dynamic ecological systems, influenced by interconnected, biological, physical, and social components

New cards
22

observation

collection of data in unmanipulated setting

ex: counting & describing

New cards
23

in situ

in the habitat where the organisms live

New cards
24

MacArthur

observation research, observed warblers in spruce forests of NE North America

wanted to understand how several warbler species with similar ecological requirements could live together

determined each warbler species had a distinct feeding zone (partitioning) which reduced competition between warblers

New cards
25

Nadkarni

observation research, one of the first to study the ecology of the unseen world of forest canopy

by sampling nutrients of rainforests she found that 4x the nutrient content int the tree leaves were found in epiphytes

New cards
26

epiphytes

plants like orchids, ferns, and mosses that grow on tree trunks and branches

New cards
27

stable isotope analysis

isotopes of a chemical element have different atomic masses as a result of having different # of neutrons

water and nutrients can have different isotope signatures allowing us to trace them through ecosystems

New cards
28

Whitaker

stable isotope & genetic analysis; used to identify trophic relationships of Athene usamba (butterfly) found on acacia trees, ants have mutualism with the tree

hypothesized that the butterfly larvae might feed on ants or ant regurgitations

through DNA and nitrogen isotope signatures of the gut contents of butterfly larvae they found that the butterfly was herbivores and was eating the acacia tree itself

New cards
29

experiment

tests possible phenomenons; research that involves manipulation of variables of interest while holding others constant in order to test a hypothesis

New cards
30

ex situ

not int the natural environment

New cards
31

Galen

experiment, tested importance of bees for evolution of the alpine wildflower

hypothesized that larger flowers would have more seeds because they were more attractive to bees

compared seed set in plants that were pollinated by bees vs. hand pollinated & bagged (different sized flowers)

results: seed # increased with flower size but only when pollinated by bees, Bees prefer larger flowers and influenced the evolution of larger flowers to have greater fitness

New cards
32

Galen #2

natural experiment, investigate the impact of light and temperature on bees’. behavior during solar eclipse

with audio recordings they measured bee wing movement

results: decrease in movement during eclipse (dark), decrease was primarily due to light not temperature

New cards
33

modeling

creation and analysis of representations od data or ideas to provide insight or make predictions; usually how a system works

New cards
34

conceptual models

describe systems in pictures or diagrams

New cards
35

quantitative models

mathematical and may involve complex questions

New cards
36

Davis

studied pollen in lake sediments “growth layers”, tells history of vegetation, gained evidence that during climate change plants evolve and disperse (adaptation), discovered that trees move

climate and ecological patterns of the past can be used to make future predictions

New cards
37

1960s

when declines led to the establishment of international treaties and national laws to protect endangered species

New cards
38

CITES

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (1973)- international treaty to protect endangered species from the threat of wildlife trafficking and trade

New cards
39

ESA

US Endangered Species Act (1973)- extended protection to all threatened and endangered vertebrate animals, invertebrate animals, and plants in the US and to species elsewhere around the globe listed as endangered under the CITES treaty, also identifies critical habitats

New cards
40

delisting

process to determine whether populations have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the ESA’s list of endangered species

ex. gray whale and bald eagle

New cards
41

DeGrasse Tyson’s Keystone Address

the thickness of the atmosphere around us is about as thick as the lacquer on a globe (thin); protects us from radiation

New cards
42

environmental science

interactions between the physical, chemical, and biological components of the environment including effects on all types of organisms (HUMNA IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT)

New cards
43

Ecosystem Threats

Habitat Loss (#1), Invasive Species, Pollution, Direct Exploitation

New cards
44

habitat loss

leading cause of ecosystem threats

ex. deforestation & habitat fragmentation

New cards
45

deforestation

clearing out Earth’s forest at a massive scale

New cards
46

habitat fragmentation

don’t have to take out the whole habitat in order to make the habitat an ineffective place

New cards
47

invasive species

when new species is introduced to a new area and won’t have competition or predation Lin in their natural habitat, leads to increased reproduction, messes up balance of organisms in the new habitat and causing local organisms to go extinct

ex. Burmese python

New cards
48

pollution

substance that is added to the environment, which has a harmful or poisonous effect

ex. air and water (chemical spill, human waste, litter)

New cards
49

CO2 pollution

(air & water poll.) increase makes a change in atmospheric chemistry and climate, leads to global warming, happening rapidly, can also go in water making carbonic acid-changing the acidity (pH) of the ocean

New cards
50

Direct exploitation

ex. overfishing

New cards
51

overpopulation

makes us the problem, consuming more resources and producing more waste

New cards
52

65 mya

mass extinction (70%) due to asteroid

New cards
53

250 mya

mass extinction (95%) Pangea broke up and caused a lot of volcanic eruption ( changed atmosphere and ocean chemistry)

New cards
54

6th mass extinction

human caused; average species extinction is supposed to be 4 per year and we are losing 10-20,000 per year

New cards
55

species richness

number of species

New cards
56

succession

gradual change of plant and animal communities after a disturbance (ex. fire or hurricane) or creation of a new substrate (ex. retreat of glacier leaving bedrock)

New cards
57

food web

feeding relationships in an ecological community

New cards
58

phytoplankton

plantlike and can’t swim against water, conducts photsynthesis, primary producers

ex. diatoms & dinoflagellates

New cards
59

zooplankton

animal like, primary consumers

New cards
60

keystone species

species which despite low biomass, exerts strong effects on the structure of the communities they inhabit

New cards
61

Giant Kelp

example of keystone species Macrocystis pyrifera

sea otters live in there and feed on sea urchins, humans hunted otters leading to extirpation in certain area, which leads to increase in sea urchins overwhelming the kelp and collapsing the community

Macrocystis is brown algae (laminara) and sea urchins use their Aristotle Lantern to scrape algae off so they can chew on the holdfast (rootlike) breaking the kelp off- taking away the community

New cards
62

HIPPO

acronym for habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, population, and overharvesting

New cards
63

Anthropocene

“ Age of Man”, our current era, era affected by humans

New cards
64

epipelagic

upper ocean level

New cards
65

Decomposer

orgs that cycle nutrients - nutrients put in soil and plants take it up to be eaten by animals ( nitrogen - amino acids and phosphorus-nucleic acids)

ex. bacteria and fungus

New cards
66

entropy

energy is lost as heat as organic material is consumed and transferred from one tropic level to the next, how we maintain body temperature

New cards
67

producer

organism that can fix energy

New cards
68

consumer

organisms unable to conduct energy fixation and must consume and digest the chemical energy fixed by producers

New cards
69

Competitive Exclusion Principle

by Gause; predicts 2 or more species with the same requirements (ecological niche) can’t coexist

New cards
70

ecological niche

environments factors that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of a species (requirements and resources; can be spatial, resources, or temporal

New cards
71

niche partitioning

natural selection drives competing species into different patterns of resource use (diff. requirements)

New cards
72

carbon-14

what will radioactively decay into nitrogen-14 because it is not stable

New cards
73

carbon-12 and carbon-13

stable carbon isotopes and not radioactive, there are more 12s than there are 13, plants prefer 12 for photosynthesis while consumers don’t, the higher on the food web the greater the amount of 13 in the tissues from feeding on other organisms- determines trophic structure

same for N15/N14

New cards
74

trophic level

feeding position go an organism in an ecosystem

New cards
75

scientific method

information, question, hypothesis, and then test hypothesis, and data

New cards
76

independent variabl

factor being manipulated

New cards
77

dependent variable

what is being measured form manipulation

New cards
78

controlled variable

any other variables that could affect how the dependent variable behaves

New cards
79

experimental group

what/ who is being tested/ manipulated

New cards
80

control group

what/ who is not being exposed to manipulation

New cards
81

confounding

inability to determine if the results are due to manipulation the independent variable or other variables that was not controlled ( do replication)

New cards
82

null hypothesis

there will be no difference between the experimental and control group

New cards
83

alternative hypothesis

there will be a significant difference between the experimental and control groups

New cards
84

lab scale

highly controlled but small scale

New cards
85

field scale

manipulation of an environment in the real world

New cards
86

observational scale

no manipulation

New cards
87

natural scale

environmental change

New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 15 people
... ago
4.5(2)
note Note
studied byStudied by 26 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 175 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 12 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 112 people
... ago
5.0(2)
note Note
studied byStudied by 245 people
... ago
5.0(3)
note Note
studied byStudied by 97 people
... ago
5.0(1)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (179)
studied byStudied by 24 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (28)
studied byStudied by 2 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (32)
studied byStudied by 63 people
... ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (22)
studied byStudied by 28 people
... ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (34)
studied byStudied by 9 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (56)
studied byStudied by 21 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (121)
studied byStudied by 12 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (124)
studied byStudied by 138 people
... ago
5.0(2)
robot