Science Olympiad - Green Generation

ecology

study of how organisms interact with each other and the environment

biotic

living

abiotic

non-living

soil, water, temperature, light, atmospheric gases

Are these biotic or abiotic?

inorganic nutrients - carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and hydrogen

Are these biotic or abiotic?

inorganic chemicals - chlorophyll

Are these biotic or abiotic?

organic materials - proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, etc.

Are these biotic or abiotic?

succession

replacement of one community by another

Primary succession

ecological succession of vegetation from barren earth/water to climax community (no previous life)

Secondary succession

development of biotic communities where natural vegetation has been destroyed but there is still soil

extinction

no remaining organisms, permanent

Selection

certain traits or alleles of a species are advantageous, and individuals with these advantageous traits tend to be more successful than their peers reproductively

ageous traits tend to be more successful than their peers reproductively

Natural selection

differential survival and reproduction of organisms with characteristics that are advantageous for utilizing resources in their environment

Stabilizing selection

genetic diversity decreases, population stabilizes on a particular trait

Disruptive selection

favors individuals at both extremes of the distribution (e.g. light- and dark-colored oysters have a camouflage advantage compared to their medium-colored

counterparts)

Directional

natural selection favors one allele, allele frequency shifts in that direction

Artificial

breeders choose variants to be used to produce succeeding generations

Limiting factors

factor that limits population's growth (resources, shelter, food, disease)

Biodiversity

number and variety of organisms within a biome

Structural aspect

composition of biological community (species, numbers, biomass, life history), quantity and districution of abiotic materials, conditions

Functional aspect

rate of energy flow, rate of nutrient cycles, Biological regulation including both regulation of organisms by environment (e.g. photoperiodism) and regulation of environment by the organism (e.g. nitrogen fixing organism)

System

regularly interacting and interdependent components forming a unified whole

population

individual organisms of the same species sharing a common gene pool in the same geographic location at the same time

community

several populations of different species in the same location

ecosystem

community + abiotic factors

terrestrial ecosystems

forests, grasslands

freshwater, marine

Types of aquatic ecosystems

lotic, lentic

Types of freshwater ecosystems

lotic

running water (e.g. rivers, streams, springs)

lentic

standing water (e.g. lakes, ponds, wells, swamps, reservoirs)

domestic and industrial irrigation, navigation, fish and water fowl habitat, flood protection, recreation, generating hydroelectricity, source of water for laundry, bathing, cattle rearing

examples of lentic systems

oceans, seas

Examples of marine ecosystems

natural ecosystems

self-operating under natural conditions; no human interference

artificial ecosystems

managed and maintained by humans (e.g. crop lands)

biome

collection of ecosystems with similar climates and communities

avian, insect, bacterial, fungal, behavioral, mycorhyza

types of animal ecology

autecology

study of individual organisms

synecology

study of groups of organisms which are associated together as one unit

population ecology

study of individuals belonging to a single species and interactions between those individuals

size, density, natality (birth rate), mortality (death rate), vital index, survival rate

What are population characteristics?

population size

number of individuals in a population

population density

number per unit area/volume of environment

crude, specific/ecological

What are the types of population density?

crude density

density (number or biomass) per unit total space

specific density/ecological density

density (number of biomass) per unit habitat space that can actually be used by the population

natality (birth rate)

number of offsprings produced per female per unit time

maximum/absolute/potential/physiological, ecological

Types of natality

maximum/absolute/potential/physiological natality

theoretical maximum production of new individuals under ideal conditions

ecological natality/fertility rate

increase in population under an actual, existing specific condition

mortality (death rate)

number of deaths occurring in a given period of time

minimum mortality, ecological mortality/realized mortality

Types of mortality

minimum mortality

theoretical minimum loss under ideal conditions; constant for a population

ecological mortality/realized mortality

loss of individuals under given environmental conditions; varies with time

vital index

birth to death ration for a population (birth/death \* 100)

survival rate

(how much survive from death) is expressed as a survivorship curve

mortality is low initially until it approaches the end of maximal lifespan (e.g. deer, humans, some captive animals)

Type I

relatively constant mortality rate throughout lifespan (e.g. small short-lived animals, birds, mammals, lizards)

Type II

mortality rate is high during young stages, few survivors reach threshold sizes to then experience low mortality and reach maximal lifespan (e.g. oysters, shell fish, crocodiles, large long-lived reptiles)

Type III

sigmoidal, high initial and final mortality rates but lower mortality during their middle ages

What kind of pattern do long-lived moderate to large birds and mammals have? What kind of mortality rates do they have? How does it change later?

Type I

Red?

Type II

Blue?

Type III

Green?

pre-reproductive age, reproductive age, post-reproductive age

What are the three stages of age distribution?

* High birth rate
* Rapid growth, may be exponential
* High percentage of young individuals in the population
* Each generation is larger in size than the previous one

pyramid shaped

* Moderate proportion of young individuals to old individuals
* Pre-reproductive → reproductive → post-reproductive

bell shaped

* population is dying off
* If birth rate decreases, pre-reproductive group decreases and correspondingly the other two groups also decrease over generations
* Low percentage of young individuals in the population

urn shaped

developing and under-developed countries

What kind of countries have rapid population growth?

dispersion

spatial pattern of individuals in a population relative to one another

regular, random, clumped

What are the three types of dispersion?

* equal distance between individuals
* not common in natural ecosystems, but common in artificial, man-made ecosystems (e.g. crop lands)

regular dispersion

* individuals are not equidistant
* not common in nature

random dispersion

* results from social aggregation
* population aggregates in certain patches of the environment which are favorable to them

clumped dispersion

life tables

natality and mortality in different age groups with respect to sexes are tabulated

theoretical, simulation

What are examples of modeling?

theoretical models

population changes are expressed as equations and validity is ascertained through comparison with real populations

simulation models

future population behavior under specific environmental conditions is predicted from the data collected from real populations

births, deaths, dispersals

What is growth rate the net result of?

* population density keeps increasing exponentially/geometrically until a limiting resource runs out or the population encounters some other limitation
* Binary fission produces double the offsprings every successive generation
* J-shaped growth form

exponential/geometric growth

terrestrial, aquatic, natural, artificial

Types of ecosystems

freshwater, marine

Types of aquatic ecosystems

lotic, lentic

Types of freshwater ecosystems

running water (e.g. rivers, streams, springs)

lotic

standing water (e.g. lakes, ponds, wells, swamps, reservoirs)

lentic

domestic and industrial irrigation, navigation, fish and water fowl habitat, flood protection, recreation, generation hydroelectricity, source of water for laundry bathing, cattle rearing

examples of lentic

natural ecosystems

self-operating under natural conditions; no human interference

artificial ecosystems

managed and maintained by humans (e.g. crop lands)

biome

collection of ecosystems with similar climates and communities

avian, insect, bacterial, fungal, behavioral, mycorhyza

Types of animal ecology

autecology

study of individual organisms

synecology

study of groups of organisms which are associated together as one unit

population ecology

study of individuals belonging to a single species and interactions between those individuals