Ecology Flashcards

What types of human activity are most likely leading to extinction?

Overharvesting & habitat destruction

What is the difference between in situ and ex situ?

In Situ: preservation in their actual habitat

Ex Situ: preservation of species outside of their natural habitat

2 ways plants can survive in dry conditions

Thick waxy cuticle that reduces water loss; deep root systems that access underground water.

What do transects do?

Transects reveal correlations between plant species.

What does coral contain?

It contains mutualistic zooxanthellae(algae)

What does the formation of coral require?

-Shallow depth

-High clarity (low turbidity)

-Slightly basic (high Carbon dioxide levels)

-High salinity

-A temperature 23-29 degrees Celcius

What is the vine that ate the south?

Kudzu

What is an ecological niche?

Every species in an ecosystem fufills a unique role

Is euglena an autotroph or heterotroph?

They are actually both. They are what is called a mixotroph.

What is bigger the realized niche or fundamental niche bigger?

The fundamental niche is bigger.

What is competetive exclusion

The fundamental niches of two species overlap, one species is expected to exclude the other from that part of its range by compeition.

What are some examples of density-independent factors?

Seawater flooding & forest fires

What are some examples of density-dependent factors?

Competition & predatation

What is a population?

A population is a group of individuals of the same biological species that live in the same area.

What is a community?

A group of populations living together in an area

What is intraspecific relationship?

One that exists between individuals of the same species—usually within the same population of a species.

What is interspecific competition?

Two or more species using the same resource, dimenshing the amount available to the other species.

What is herbivory?

primary consumers feeding on producers

What is predatation?

One species kills and eats another consumer species

What does Rhizobium do for plants?

Provides the plant with absorption of N₂ supplies ammonium to the plant

How can invasive species take out a population of a different species?

They have no natural predators and they can reproduce quickly.

What are chemoautotrophs?

Cells that create NRG from inorganic chemicals

How much energy is avaible for the next level in the NRG Pyramid?

10 percent

Why do tertiary consumers have to eat more food?

They have to gain enough energy to live becase their prey has a low amount of NRG

Can more or less humans be fed through plant products?

More

When is it a carbon sink vs. a carbon source?

In a carbon sink, photosynthesis exceeds respiration. In a carbon source, respiration exceeds photosynthesis.

How were coal and natural gas created?

They came from partially decomposed organic matter under sediments

What is needed for stability in ecosystem?

High genetic diversity/biodiversity

_logging→_ forest cover →_ plant transpiration →_cloud formation →_ rainfall → fires →_ forest cover

up, down, down, down, down, up, down

What is eutrophication?

Happens when nitrates & phosphates leach into lakes

_N&P →_Algal growth →_ light availability → _algae death → _bacterial decomposition →_O₂

up, up, down, up, up, down

Why is biomagnification a problem?

Toxins that are fat-soluable, thus not easily excreted

What happens when there are more forest fires?

There is a higher release of CO₂ and less absorption of CO₂. This causes higher temperatures.

What makes oceans more acidic and decreases the calcium carbonate for coral skeletons?

High CO₂ levels

What makes coral eject their algae symbiotes?

High ocean temps

What happens when coral eject their algae?

It leads to a bleached appearances.

What is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment?

Ecology

Are temperature, water, light, pH, salinity and nutrients biotic or abiotic?

Abiotic

Are pathogens, parasites, predators, competitors, and food availabilty biotic or abiotic?

Biotic

Why is it colder in the winter and warmer in the summer?

-Tilted towards sun in the summer (Northern Hemisphere)

• This was because of the axis

• Longest days and shortest night

-Tilted away from the sun

• Shortest days and longest nights

Why do oceans and lakes have moderate climate compared to nearby land?

Specific heat capacity

Which side gets the most rain?

Windward (winds hits this side 1st)

What does it mean if water is “marine”?

Salt concentrations average 3%

What has “permafrost”?

Tundra

What is an estuary?

Transition area between a river and the sea

What are is dominated by shrubs and small trees along with many grasses?

Chaparral

What is the benethic zone?

Made mostly of the sediment (or soil)

What explains a coral reef?

Formed from the calcium carbonate skeletons of Cnidarians

What explains a savanna?

Mostly grassland with scattered trees (often thorny); warm year-round

What explains the intertidal zone?

Periodically submerged and exposed by tides

What is the pelagic zone?

Open areas of the ocean

What biome covers the highest percentage of Earth?

Aquatic biome

What are the three types of dispersion?

Uniform, random & clumped

What of the three types of dispersion is most common?

Clumped

What type of survivorship curve does clams & dandelions have?

Type three

What type of survivorship curve does squirrels have?

Type two

What type of survivorship curve does humans have?

Type one

What is the maximum population size that can be supported by a certain environment called?

Carrying capacity

What shape does an exponential growth curve?

J-shape

What shape does a logistic growth curve?

S-shape

What is mutualism?

Both organisms benefit

What is parasitism?

One benefits/one is harmed

What is commensalism?

One benefits/one is unaffected

What is competitive exclusion?

2 species compete for the same resource and a reproductive advantage in one species leads to the elimination of the other species

What is considered as a organisms proffesions or how it fits into an ecosystem?

Organism’s niche

Which niche is always larger?

Fundamental

What is aposematic coloration?

Warning coloration to ward off predators

What is batesian mimicry?

A harmless species mimics a harmful one

What is cryptic coloration?

Camouflage

What are keystone species?

They aren’t the most abundant organisms and have a vital role in controlling the ecosystem.

A volcano or glacier retreat brings about new rock, what succession is this?

Primary succesion

When a farm land is abandoned and becomes a forest within 100 years, what succession is this?

Secondary succession

What pathogens are transferred from other animals to humans?

Zoonotic pathogens

What flows through ecosystems and what cycles within an ecosystem?

Flows=NRG

Cycles=Chemicals

What is the general name for decomposers?

Detrivores

Why is net primary productivity always less than gross primary productivity?

NPP is total amount of productivity minus the GPP

What causes algal blooms?

Sewage and fertalization

What limits global plant growth the most?

Nitrogen

How is most NRG lost?

Heat

Does water runoff increase or decrease when trees are cut down?

Increase

Why are some plants use for “bioremediation”?

Adapted to soils containing heavy metals can accumulate high concentrations of toxic metals

What is the benefit of planting lupines(soybeans)?

Raise nitrogen concentrations in soils disturbed by mining & other activites

What is the scientific name of the psychedelic rock gecko?

Cnemaspis psychdelica

What are the five main human activities that lead to the most habitat loss?

-Agriculture

-Urban development

-Forestry

-Mining

-Pollution

What is created when sulfur and nitrogen oxides react with water in the atmosphere?

Acid rain

What provide the largest additional nitrogen source to Earth?

Industrial fertalizers

What is uncovered when there is more snow and ice melt

Darker & more absorptive surfaces which leads to more warming

What is the energy source for most food chains?

Light

What is simple & points to what’s gaining NRG (whose mouth it’s going to)?

Food chain

What shows all relationships, network or interconnected food chains?

Food web

What are superfund sites?

Government money spent on cleaning hazardous sites

What is a pioneer organism and what are examples of it?

First to colonize a new site ex. moss(bryophyte) and lichen

What is a climax community?

Stable, mature & undergoes little to no succession

Who is Rachel Carson?

Jumpstated modern environmental movement with protesting DDT

What is a saprotroph?

Live on or in non-living organic matter

True or false: All detritvores are saprotrophs

False

What is the mass of all(dried) organic matter?

Biomass

What is a limiting factor?

restricts organisms in a specific environment

What is it called when two species living together?

Symbiosis

True or false: We can use the N₂ in the air

False