1409 Exam 2 Review Flashcards

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering ecology levels, biomes, population dynamics, and community interactions based on the Exam 2 Review.

Population

A single species in an area.

Community

Multiple populations in an area.

Ecosystem

A community plus the non-living environment.

Biome

A collection of similar ecosystems.

Biosphere

All life on Earth.

Biome Determinants

The amount of sunlight and moisture available.

Desert

Dry all year round, can have large temperatures fluctuations between seasons and day vs night, mostly smaller animals and succulent plants.

Tropical rainforest

Wet and hot all year round; the most diverse and densely packed Biome on the Plant.

Tundra

Very cold all year round with a very short growing season; contains Permafrost and mostly hibernating or migratory animals with low-lying vegetation.

Taiga

Very cold most of the year with short mild summers, featuring tall coniferous forests and lots of oxygen production.

Grassland

Very seasonal temperatures and rainfall, though dry overall; contains few trees and shrubs with large herbivores and carnivores.

Mediterranean

Mostly shrubs and browsing herbivores, very seasonal temperatures and rainfall, but usually a little dryer than grasslands.

Temperate forests

Very seasonal temperatures and rainfall, relatively high rainfall, and high diversity in animals.

Exponential growth

Assumes unlimited resources and cannot continue forever; it gives a J-shaped graph.

Logistic growth

An S-shaped graph that considers the maximum number of individuals in a population that can be supported based on resource availability.

Boom and Bust

Often seen in predator/prey relationships, it involves exponential growth followed by a crash, which repeats.

Population Stability Condition

Birth and death rates must be equal.

Random distribution

The most common distribution pattern; often occurs if resources are evenly distributed.

Clumped distribution

Occurs when resources are NOT evenly distributed or when predator/prey clump for survival strategy.

Uniform distribution

A rare distribution pattern that occurs when population density is very high (ex. Penguins).

Immigration

Moving into a population.

Emigration

Moving out of a population.

Life expectancy

The average lifespan of individuals in a population.

Ecological footprint

The amount of resources used per unit of a population.

Altricial

Offspring that are very dependent on the parent.

Precocial

Offspring that are not very dependent on parents; often associated with polygamy.

Type $1$ Survivorship Curve

Characterized by few young with lots of care; most are expected to survive until old age.

Type $2$ Survivorship Curve

Characterized by less care and more young produced.

Type $3$ Survivorship Curve

Characterized by lots of young with little to no care; most are expected to die before old age.

Population Density Regulations

Factors including disease, predation, territoriality, waste build up, and competition.

Developed Country Fertility Rates

Currently below the replacement value of $2.1$ and still declining.

Keystone species

Species that all the rest of the populations depend on for survival, such as bees and bison.

Colony collapse disorder

The mass dying of the bee population, probably due to varroa mites, habitat loss, and pesticide use.

Producers

Plants, algae, and bacteria that photosynthesize and produce carbon compounds for the rest of the food web.

Consumers

Heterotrophs.

Decomposers

Heterotrophs that feed on the remains of dead organisms.

Mutualism

A symbiotic relationship denoted as $(+,\text{ }+)$.

Commensalism

A symbiotic relationship denoted as $(+,\text{ }0)$.

Parasitism

A symbiotic relationship $(+,\text{ }-)$ where parasites don't normally consume their hosts.

Predation

An interaction $(+,\text{ }-)$ that usually involves the purpose to kill and eat/consume.

Competition

An interaction denoted as $(-,\text{ }-)$.

Ecological succession

The process where ecosystems change over time, finalizing in a wooded forest of deciduous trees unless stopped by a disturbance.

Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

The idea that just the right disturbance will keep an ecosystem healthy and stop succession; too little will not stop it, and too much will kill everything.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

Two species cannot be strongly competing for the same resources in an area without one going extinct.

Niches

Compartmentalized roles in the greater habitat formed by species to avoid direct strong competition.

$10\,\%$ rule

The principle used to calculate energy transfer within food chains and food webs.