APES UNIT 1.1

Ecosystem

A community of living (biotic) organisms interacting with the non living (abiotic) components of their environment as a system through various nutrients and energy cycles

Organism

A living thing that can function on its own

Species

Organisms that resemble each other; are similar in genetic makeup, chemistry, and behavior; and are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring

Interspecific

Means between different species

Population

organisms of the same species that interact with each other and occupy a specific area

Community

population of different species

Ecological niche

a particular area within a habitat occupied by an organism as well as the function of that organism within its ecological community

physical environment

it influences how organisms affect and is affected by resources and competitors

niche

it reflects the specific adaptations that a species has acquired through evolution

symbioisis

a term used to escribe any type of close and long term biological interaction between 2 differnt biological organisms of the same or different species

amensalism

the interaction between 2 species whereby one species suffers and the other species is not affected

ex: black walnut tree releases a chemical that kills neighboring plants

commensalism

interaction between 2 species whereby one ogranism benefits and the other species is not affected

ex: using another organism for transportation, using another organism for housing, using something that another organism created

intraspecific competition

competition between members of the same species

interspecific competition

competition between members of different species

mutualism

the interaction between 2 species whereby both species benefit

parasitism

the interaction between two species whereby one species is benefited and the other species is harmed

predation

predators hunt and kill their prey

opportunistic predators

kill and eat almost anything

specialist predators

only prey upon certain organisms

saprotrophism

saprotrophs obtain their nutrients from dead or decaying plant sor animals through the absorption of soluble organic compounds

law of tolerance

states that the existence, abundance, and distribution of species depend on the tolerance level of each species to both physical and chemical factors

limiting factor

any abiotic factor that limits or prevents the growth of a population

ex terrestrial: level of soil nutrients, avaiable amount of water and light, temperature

ex aquatic: pH of water, amount of dissolved o2, light, degre of salinity

predator prey cycle

feeding relationship between 2 species. if prey species rapidly multiply, the number of predators increases until the predators eventually eat so many of the prey that the prey population dwindles again

mophological partitioning

occurs when two species share the same resource but have evolved different sturctures to ulitize the same resource

spatial partitioning

when competing species use the same resource by occupying different areas or habitats within the range of occurence of the resource

temporal partitioning

occurs when 2 species eliminate direct competition by utilizing the same resource at different times