Ecology FInal

Biology

Ecology

Ecology

The study of interactions of organisms with each other and their environment.

Biotic Factor

Living things

Abiotic Factor

non-living things

Habitat

Where an organism lives, it’s adress

Niche

an organisms’ role in its environment, what they eat, what they do, who they interact with

Fundamental Niche

All the resources and places a species could potentially use

Realized Niche

What a species actually uses.

Competitive Exclusion Principle

No 2 species can occupy exactly the same niche at exactly the same time.

Biosphere

Anywhere that life exists on Earth

Biome

Specific area with similar vegetation, similar animals, similar climate, precipitation

Ecosystem

Both biotic and abiotic factors in a biome in one specific area at one specific time.

Community

Just the living things in one ecosystem

Population

One specific species in an organism

Resources

Anything an organism needs to survive

Tolerance Curve

Curve that shows an organisms’ ability to withstand an abiotic factor

Acclimation

Slowly getting used to an abiotic factor

Tundra

• temperature is not above freezing for long

• permafrost

• treeless

• snowshoe hare, caribou, penguin and bears

• Artic

Taiga (boreal forest)

• located just south of tundra

• coniferous-needle trees, doesn’t lose leaves

• long cold winter and short mild summer

• Canada

• moose, wolves, deer, and squirrels

Desert

• Driest of all biomes

• Scarce vegetation, cactus

• some animals are nocturnal

• lizards, armadillo, snakes, mouse

Temperate grasslands

• Largest land biome

• Rich fertile lands for farming

• animals with hooves, bison, horses

• grass

• On every continent except Antartica

Temperate Deciduous Forest

• Crystal Lake IL

• 4 distinct seasons

• trees lose leaves in the fall-deciduous

• oak trees, walnut trees, maple trees

• raccoon, possum, deer, squirrel

Tropical Rainforest

• Biologically diverse, insects, plants, animals

• 5 layers of canopy, lots of vegestation

• near equator

• lots of rain-200 cm a year

Savanna

• Africa

• Tropical Grassland

• 2 distinct seasons (dry and wet)

• zebras, lions, giraffes

autotroph

makes its own food-producer

heterotroph

rely on autotrophs or other heterotrophs for food

Carnivore

Only eats meat, lion, tiger

Herbivore

Only eats plants, girafe, horse, panda

Omnivore

Eats both plants and meat, humans, bears

Scavenger

Eats meat that was killed by something else, scraps

• raccoons

• vultures

• hyenas

Decomposer

Breaks down dead organic material and releases nutrients into soil, mushrooms, bacteria

Detrivore

Eats dead stuff (soil) and grind it up into smaller pieces, worm

Symbiosis

Close relationship between two species

Mutualism

Both benefit

• Termite and bacteria

• bird on capybara

• bird that cleans gator teeth

• remora and shark

• bee and flower

Commensalism

One benefits while the other is neither benefitted nor harmed

• moss on tree

• shark and leftover fish

• whale and barnacle

Parasitism

host is harmed and the parasite benefits

Ectoparasite-outer, lice, tick, leeches

Endoparisite- inside, tapeworm, new guinea worm

Predation

One organism captures, kills, and consumes the other

Anti predator defense mechanisms

• camoflage

• spines

• venom

• mimicry

Predator adaptations

• venom

• heat vision

• echolocation

Plant adaptation

thorn

keystone species

A single species that is not usually abundant in a community, yet exerts strong control on the structure of the community. Removing a brick from an arch will ruin it.

Food chain

A simple linear representation of how energy moves through an ecosystem

Food web

A complex, better representation showing how organisms eat and are eaten by many different things.

Trophic level

An organism’s position in a sequence of energy transfers

10% rule

Only 10% of the available energy is passed from one trophic level to the next.

What happens to the other 90% of the energy that isn’t passed to the next trophic level.

• Some energy is lost as heat and it heats up the environment

• We don’t eat every part of the organism

• Digestion takes energy

• We lose energy getting food

• We don’t eat every piece of food available

• Digestive system can’t break down everything

Demography

Study of characteristics of human population

Properties of populations

• size

• density

• dispersion

Dispersion types

• Clumped-penguin and geese

• Even-wolves, spider

• Random-seeds

Population Dynamics

• Birth rate

• death rate

• life expectancy

• age structure

Type 1 survivorship curve

Low chance of dying as a child and live to be pretty old-humans

Type 2 survivorship curve

Equal chance of dying entire life-birds, insects

Type 3 survivorship curve

High chance of dying during childhood, but then live to be pretty old

Rate of population growth

natality - mortality

4 factors of population growth

• natality

• mortality

• immigration

• emigration

Carrying Capacity

Maximum amount of organisms an environment can withstand for a long period of time.

Exponential Growth Model

• describes a population that increases rapidly after only a few generation

• the bigger it is the faster it grows

• bacteria

• not realistic

Logistic

Accounts for limiting factors, any factor that restricts the existence of reproduction distribution

K selected

Few offspring, heavy parental care to protect them

They usually reproduce many times(not just one litter)

Long life span, long time to sexual maturity, low biotic potential

slow population growth rate

more likely to be disrupted by environment

R selected

quantity

many offspring with little to no care

may reproduce only once (large litters)

shorter lifespan, quick to sexual maturity

high biotic potential

more likely to be invasive

better suited for rapidly changing environment

Invasive species

• Species not native to an area

• Often introduced by human transport

• no natural predators to control population

• Highly competitive for resources

• highly adaptable

Causes for being endangered

• Poachers-hurting animals for their resources, like tusks

• Special food or habitat needs-niche specialists are more likely to be endangered

• Invasive species can outcompete natives for resources

• Climate change

Specialist

• more likely to be endangered or become extinct

• less likely to move to a new habitat or adapt to new conditions

• disadvantaged by rapidly changing habitat conditions

Generalist

• Least likely to be endangered or become endangered or become extinct

• More likely to move to a new habitat or adapt to new conditions

Competition (population regulation)

intraspecies-same species

interspecies-different species

Predation (population regulation)

african wild dogs, keeps population in check

Limiting factors (population regulation)

density dependent-depends on how densely populated an area is -lack of food, lack of water, disease

Density independent- doesn't matter how dense the population is, fire, flood, natural disasters, drought, tornado

Carrying Capacity impacts…

• organisms that can’t move (plants)

• humans

• animals that live in a confined area (fish in a pond)

• small animals like mice and squirrels

Interdependence

organisms rely on other organisms and their environment to survive

Redwood trees flourish in the foggy climate in California.  This is a description of

habitat