Introduction to Ecology Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, concepts, and definitions from the 'Introduction to Ecology' lecture notes, including levels of ecology, biome definitions, and environmental factors.

Ecology

The scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms, and their interactions with the environment.

Oikos

A Greek word meaning 'house', from which part of 'ecology' is derived.

Logos

A Greek word meaning 'to study', from which part of 'ecology' is derived.

Equilibrium paradigm

The idea that natural ecosystems are usually in a state of equilibrium and will return to equilibrium if disturbed, which has been challenged by new evidence.

Individuals (in ecology)

Single, discrete organisms, which can sometimes be difficult to define due to interconnections (e.g., aspen trees, fungal mycelium).

Organismal ecology

The study of how an individual organism interacts with its environment, such as a cave cricket finding its way.

Populations (in ecology)

Groups of organisms of the same species living in the same place, where individuals interact with one another.

Population ecologist

An ecologist who studies questions related to abundance, density, population growth, and limits to growth of groups of the same species.

Communities (in ecology)

Assemblages of populations of different species living in the same place.

Community ecologist

An ecologist who studies questions about interactions between different species within an assemblage of populations, such as predator-prey relationships.

Ecosystems

Interacting assemblages of living things in a particular area, including nonliving components like light, water, nutrients, and soil.

Ecosystems ecologist

An ecologist who studies questions about the role of nutrient and energy flows within a system, including both living and nonliving components.

Replication (experimental design)

The inclusion of multiple experimental units receiving the same treatment to ensure reliable results, important in hypothesis testing.

Control Treatments

Experimental setups that isolate the effect of the variable being tested, such as 'control trees' without exclusion cages or incomplete cages to account for cage presence.

Ecological Time Scales

Time frames for ecological processes, ranging from days to millennia, shorter than evolutionary time scales but with some overlap.

Weather

The particular set of abiotic conditions (rainfall, sunlight, temperature, humidity) affecting an area at a particular time, changing daily.

Climate

The overall long-term pattern of weather in an area, changing over decades, hundreds, or thousands of years.

Alexander von Humboldt

An early explorer and naturalist who promoted a view of the living world as a holistic system with interconnected components.

Biomes

Broad assemblages of plant and animal communities generally defined by the dominant vegetation, an old concept in ecology.

F.E. Clements and V.E. Shelford

Terrestrial plant ecologists who first established the concept of biomes.

Hadley Cells

Global circulation cells resulting from rising air at the solar equator shedding moisture, which descends to create dry zones and deserts near 30 degrees N and S.

Tundra

A biome characterized by the lack of trees, with dominant vegetation like lichens and grasses, occurring in polar climates and at high elevations with short growing seasons.

Taiga or Coniferous Forest

A biome dominated by cone-bearing trees like pine, spruce, and fir, common at high latitudes or elevations, with cool to warm summers and cold dormant winters.

Desert

A biome characterized by low rainfall (less than 30cm/year), often with dramatic day-night temperature differences, and vegetation adapted for water saving like succulents and shrubs.

Grasslands

A biome dominated by grasses and forbs, where fire and grazing prevent the establishment of shrubs and trees, found in moderate to low rainfall areas with wide temperature ranges.

Temperate Deciduous Forests

A biome found at mid-latitudes with moderate rainfall, mild to warm summers, and cool to cold winters, supporting dense stands of trees that shed leaves in winter.

Tropical Rain Forests

The most productive and biodiverse biome, located near the equator with warm, constant temperatures and high rainfall, dominated by broad-leafed evergreen trees and epiphytes.

Epiphytes

Plants that live on other plants, usually trees, found in tropical rainforests, examples include orchids and mistletoe.

Intertidal zone

The area where ocean meets land, between high and low tide, characterized by specially-adapted organisms due to fluctuating abiotic factors.

Wetlands

Areas covered in water that support aquatic plants, ranging from periodically flooded regions to permanently saturated soils.

Estuaries

A type of wetland that occurs at the mouths of rivers.

Swamps

A type of wetland characterized by flooded areas dominated by trees.

Marshes

A type of wetland characterized by flooded areas dominated by sedges and grasses.

Bogs and Fens

Types of wetlands with distinctive vegetation due to very acidic (bogs) or very alkali (fens) soil.

Pelagic Zone

The upper part of the open ocean where light penetrates the top few meters, supporting photosynthetic algae.

Abyssal Zone

The deep part of the open ocean where light is absent and nutrients arrive by falling from above, supporting a variety of specially-adapted organisms.

Open ocean gyres

Vast areas of the open ocean with rather low productivity per unit area due to limited nutrients at the surface, but with specially adapted organisms.

Anthromes

Human-dominated ecosystems that reflect the previously existing biome to some extent, varying in modification from moderate to extreme, recognizing human influence on Earth's surface.

Why are aspen trees a challenging example for defining an "individual"?

Because a single aspen clone can consist of many seemingly individual trees connected by an underground root system, making them genetically identical and part of one large organism.

What is the effect of the descending dry air from Hadley Cells?

It creates high-pressure zones around 30^{\circ} N and S latitudes, leading to low precipitation and the formation of the world's major deserts.

What adaptations do organisms in the intertidal zone need?

Adaptations to withstand desiccation (drying out) during low tide, strong wave action, and extreme temperature fluctuations.

What are the two primary abiotic factors that define terrestrial biomes?

Temperature and precipitation.