Ecology 5.0

Ecology

Study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment.

Biotic factors

Living organisms

Abiotic factors

Nonliving entities

Global Systems

Influence life on Earth, no sphere stands alone.

What are the four Earth Spheres and what are they?

Lithosphere (solid Earth), Hydrosphere (all water on Earth), Atmosphere (the gases that surround the Earth), and Biosphere (all life on Earth).

The Biosphere

A closed system where matter is continually recycled. And the organisms within the biosphere are influenced by antibiotic factors.

Biota

Plants and animals in a particular area.

Ecosystems

Made up of biotic and abiotic componentsand refer to specific environments. The abiotic factors control what organisms live in the area and are more specific than biomes.

Communities

All of the various organisms living in a single ecosystem, consists of many individuals from many different species and abiotic factors are not included.

Species

A single type of organism.

Populations

All the members of the same species living in a specific area.

What is the difference between species and population?

Species have no geographic boundaries while populations do.

Biomes

One of the highest levels of ecological organization and are repeated geographic regions.

What types of Biomes are there?

Aquatic and Terrestrial.

Terrestrial Biomes

Defined by their climate (average annual rainfall and mperature) as well as their flora (plant) and fauna (animal) communities, land based.

Aquatic biomes

Are defined by salinity (the saltiness of the water), depth and water flow, water based.

What are abiotic factors in an ecosystem?

Rock placment, how much sun the environment gets, the amount of water, ect.

What are biotic factors in an ecosystem?

The plants, animals, cells, bacteria, ect.

Biome

A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms.

Niche

An organism's particular role in an ecosystem, or how it makes a living, "it's job".

What are major biomes around the world?

Rainforest, Grassland, Desert, Temperate Forest, Boreal Forest, Tundra, Polar, and Chaparral.

What is the order of ecology?

Organism, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Biosphere

What types of niches are there?

Autotrophs (Producers) & Heterotrophs (Consumers)

Autotrophs (Producers)

Makes their own food from inorganic sources.

Heterotrophs (Consumers)

Consume organic tissues for energy and carbon.

What types of autotrophs are there?

Photoautotrophs & Chemoautotrophs

Photoautotrophs

Produce organic molecules via photosynthesis using sunlight for energy and CO2 for carbon.

Chemoautotrophs

Produce organic molecules via chemosynthesis using inorganic compounds for energy and CO2 for carbon.

What types of heterotrophs are there?

Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, Scavengers, Decomposers, Detritivores.

Herbivore (Primary consumers)

Have wide set eyes and flat brawd teeth.

Carnivore (Secondary consumers)

Eats primary consumers.

Carnivore (Tertiary consumer)

They have canines and incisors and binocular vision, nothing hunts them besides themselves.

Omnivore

Eat both plants and animals, are considered opportunists, and have a wide variety of teeth.

Scavenger

Feeds on dead animals.

Detritivore

Feeds on dead organic matter (plants and animals).

Decomposer

Breaks down matter to recycle nutrients or carbon & nitrogen.

Food Chain

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten, and is straight forward.

Food Webs

Summarizes the interactions between the various species of an ecosystem which help illustrate energy flow in an ecosystem. Autotrophs are positioned near the bottom with apex predators at the top. Arrows show the movement of energy.

Trophic Levels

Energy moves through ecosystems just as matter (like carbon and water) does. As organisms consume one another, energy moves through various trophic levels with about 90% of the starting energy "lost" between trophic levels.

Trophic Pyramid

The reduction in available energy between trophic levels means that fewer and fewer organisms can be sustained in higher trophic levels compared to the lower ones. Prey organisms will always outnumber predators because of this.

What is the formula of the energy loss?

/10

Why is energy loss?

Energy is loss as you go higher on the trophic pyramid because the organisms use whatever energy they eat for cellular respiration, travel, combat, and reproducing.

How can competition be reduced if two species share the same habitat.

When the two different populations go after different sorceress or by having a different niche.

What factors can regulate population growth?

Population size (N), the number of births (B), the number of deaths (D), immigration rate (I), emigration rate (E), time (year) (t).

What is the population size formula?

Nt = (Bt +It) - (Dt + Et)

Immigration

Moving into an area.

Emigration

Moving out of an area.

What are limiting factors?

Factors that limit the growth of a population

What are some examples of a limiting factor?

The amount of nutrients in the area, amount of space in an area, precipitation, weather ect.

Density-Dependent limiting factors

Limiting factor that depend on the population's density.

What are examples of Density-Dependent limiting factors?

Competition, predation, parasitism, and disease.

Density-Independent limiting factors

Limiting factor that affects all populations in similar ways, regardless of population size.

Examles of Density-Independent limiting factors.

Human disturbances, drought, and other climate extremes.

Exponential growth

When a population is provided unlimited resources and the growth rate is proportional to its size and continually increases. Also referred to as a "J" shaped curve.

Logistic growth

The rapid growth of a population that is limited by the carrying capacity of the environment. Also referred to as a "S" shaped curve

What are the similarities and differences between Exponential and Logistic growth.

Both have a rapid growth after the lag phase, however where exponential growth keeps growing and is "J" shaped, logistic growth will reach its limited and be "S" shaped.

What is a carrying capacity of an environment?

The maximum number of organisms that an environment can sustainably support.

What determines the carrying capacity of an ecosystem?

Available resources such as water, physical space and soil.

Overshoots

When the population expanded rapidly until it exceeded carrying capacity.

Die-off

Where the population will rapidly decline.

Population oscillations

Changes the population size (the boom and bust cycle). Repeated cycles of growth (boom) and decline (bust).

The Boom and Bust Cycle

Typical of predator-prey interactions. Repeated cycles of growth (boom) and decline (bust).

Survivorship Curves

Summarize the patterns of survival for a species as the organisms age.

What are the three distinct types of curves exhibited by organisms?

Type I, Type II, and Type III

Type I

Indicate high survival and rapid die of in old age.

Type II

Indicate constant decline in survivorship.

Type III

Exhibit rapid die off in early life followed by high survivorship.

Interspecific competition

Competition between members of different species.

Intraspecific competition

Competition between members of the same species.

r selected species

High intrinsic growth rates. Follow type III survivorship Quantity vs. quality of offspring.

K selected species

Low intrinsic growth rates and maintain their population size at carrying capacity. Follow type I survivorship and invest heavily into offspring to ensure survival.

Uniform dispersion

Individuals of a population are spaced more or less evenly.

Random dispersion

Individuals are distributed randomly, without a predictable pattern.

Clumped dispersion.

Individuals are clustered in groups.

What major nutrients flow through living systems?

The hydrogen cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle.

The Hydrogen Cycle

The cycle of water thought condensation, precipitation, (river flow, surface run off, soil moisture), ground water flow- transpiration, evaporation. Basically the water cycle.

The Carbon Cycle

The organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again.

The Nitrogen Cycle

The transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere.

What happens in the hydrogen cycle?

Water comes down in the form of precipitation, and then evaporates or transpiration takes place and the water returns to the atmosphere.

What seven processes drive the carbon cylce.

Photosynthesis, respiration, decomposition, ingestion, excretion, combustion, and exudation.

How does carbon dioxide get into the atmosphere.

Cellular resperation, fires, escaping the water, ice and soil, weathering, volcanic eruptions, and subduction.

How does the nutrient cycle interact?

By exchanging elements and compounds between different parts of an ecosystem, primarily from dead things.

Why do elements change form as they move threw the cycles of the environment?

They change to make moving to the next stage easier.

How can humans interfere in the nutrient cycles.

Chemically alter nitrogen and a over abundance of nitrogen oxides returns to the atmosphere.

Keystone species

Plays a vital and unique role in maintaining structure, stability, and diversity in an ecoystem.

Symbiosis

A particularly close, interdependent relationship between two species.

Commensalism

A realationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Multualism

A relationship between two species in which both species benefit.

Parasitism

A relationship in which one organism lives inside or on another organism and harms it.