2.5 natural disruptions to ecosystems

natural disruption examples

tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, forest fires, pests, disease

periodic disruptions

disruptions that occur on a regular cycle

periodic disruption example

tides

episodic disruptions

disruptions that occur somewhat regularly

episodic disruption examples

el niño and la niña

random disruptions

disruptions that have no regular pattern

random disruption examples

hurricanes, volcanic eruptions

duration

length of time a disruption lasts

spatial

area affected by a disruption

ecosystem resistance

measure of how much a disruption can affect the flows of energy and matter

high resistance = disruption has no overall effect

ecosystem resilence

rate at which ecosystems return to their original state after disruption

high resilience = returns to original state quickly

earth's climate is a composition of...

forminifera, ice cores, CO2 level, oxygen

as CO2 increases, temperature...

increases (greenhouse gas)

as temperature increases, CO2...

increases (released from ocean)

intermediate disturbances lead to

higher species diversity

intermediate disturbance hypothesis

ecosystems experiencing intermediate levels of disturbance are more diverse than those with high or low disturbance levels