Unit 10: Ecology

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What is ecology?

the study of interactions between species and between species and their environment

Why is ecology important?

* helps solves problems facing earth (ex: global warming)
* for managing growth of food to feed population
* monitoring the loss of environment to avoid extinction (like time travel butterfly affect)

What are the 2 ecological models?

1. Mathematical
2. Visual

What are ecological models used for?

To see what affects certain changes will have on the environment

Are ecological models always accurate?

No, they aren’t perfect but it’s results are better than nothing

What’s another name for producers?

Autotrophs

What are producers?

They make their own glucose/food

Who are producers?

Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria

Why are producers important?

They have a major importance in every ecosystem by providing glucose (food) and oxygen for others

What’s another name for consumer?

Heterotroph

What is a consumer?

They get energy from feeding off others

Who are consmumers?

All animals, most bacteria, and all fungus

What are the four different types of consumers?

1. Herbivore
2. Carnivore
3. Omnivore
4. Detritivore

What are herbivores?

They only eat plants

What are carnivores?

They only eat meat

What are detritivores?

They break down/finish off dead organisms

What are the two types of detritivores?

1. Scavengers
2. Decomposers

What are scavengers?

They come across dead kill and picks off the meat/flesh from the bones

What are some examples of scavengers?

Vultures, hyenas, ghost crabs

What are decomposers?

They completely break down organic matter (waste, dead body)

Who are decomposers?

Bacteria, insects, fungi, worms

What is the #1 decomposer?

Bacteria

What is a food chain?

A single pathway of energy, tracing what eats what

Where do the arrows in a food chain point to?

They point where the energy goes

What are trophic levels?

Feeding levels

What are the 5 trophic levels?

1. Producer
2. Primary consumer
3. Secondary consumer
4. Tertiary consumer
5. Quaternary consumer

How much energy is passed from each trophic level?

10% (is the average though the range is 5-20%)

What is a food web?

It shows every possible pathway of energy

What are the 3 different ecological pyramids?

1. Energy pyramid
2. Biomass pyramid
3. Numbers pyramid

What is an energy pyramid?

It shows the relative amount of energy available to each trophic level

What is a biomass pyramid?

It represents the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level

What is a numbers pyramid?

It shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level

All ecological pyramids normally have producers at the bottom, having most of what is measured. What is the exception?

It is when a numbers pyramid has a large sized producer that is able to support its consumers above (ex: large oak tree)

What are biogeochemical cycles?

It is how SCHNOP is cycled back and forth into nature (between life and not life)

What is evaportation?

A liquid turning into gas due to heat

What are clouds made of?

Water vapor

What is condensation?

Gas turning into a liquid

What are some of the different types of precipitation?

Rain, snow, ect.

What are water tables?

They store water underground

What are sink holes?

They are empty water tables

How do plants get water?

Through their roots

How do plants lose water?

Transpiration

What is transpiration?

Water loss through leaves (stoma) as heat evaporates the water

How much water do plants lose because of transpiration?

90%

How do humans/animals get water?

Drinking beverages or eating

How do humans/animals lose water?

Urine, breathing, sweat, tears, feces, vomit

About how much nitrogen gas makes up the air?

\~78% N2

About how much oxygen makes up the air?

\~21% O2

About how much carbon dioxide makes up the air?

\~

How does carbon dioxide enter the atmosphere?

Through volcanos, factory, burning fossil fuels, waste (feces), dead organisms

How do waste and dead organisms emit carbon dioxide

Bacteria decomposers break it down

How do humans/animals get carbon?

They eat for carbon

Where do humans/animals get oxygen from?

Plants

Where do plants get carbon dioxide from?

Humans/animals

What’s another name for the nitrogen cycle?

Denitrification

How do humans/animals get nitrogen?

They eat for it

How do humans/animals get rid of nitrogen?

Through urine (#1 way) or solid waste

How does nitrogen leave the cycle?

It’s extracted by other bacteria from urine, solid waste, and dead organisms

What is ammonification?

The process decomposer bacteria use of taking waste products or dead organisms to make ammonia (NH3)

What is nitrification?

The process nitrifying bacteria use of taking waste products or dead organisms to make nitrites and nitrates (NO2 and NO3)

What is assimiliation?

The process plants use of taking ammonium and nitrates to make organic molecules

What is rhizobium?

They live inside root nodules of Leguminous plants and receives food and a home while the rhizobium bacteria does N2 fixation for the plant

What is N2 fixation?

Takes the unusable nitrogen gas and turns it into nitrites and nitrates (NO3 and NO2) which can be used by the plants

What are the levels of organisations?

1. Organism
2. Population
3. Community
4. Ecosystem
5. Biome
6. Biosphere

What is a population?

A group of like organisms that live together and reproduce together in the same environment

What is a community?

All populations of life live in the same area

What is an ecosystem?

All life and physical environment

What is a biome?

A large area associated with specific climate, specific plant life, and animal life

What is the biosphere?

The entire layer of life on earth

What are biotic factors?

Living factors

What are abiotic factors?

Non-living factors

What is tolerance?

Range of conditions for survival

What is a tolerance curve?

What is graphed, shows range

What is the optimal level?

The ideal place of living conditions

What happens when an organism isn’t in optimal level?

Becomes stressed, will slowly acclimate after being at edge of tolerance to have a new tolerance range and optimal level

What is acclimation?

Adjusting to the edges of the its tolerence

What are the two kinds of acclimation?

1. Behavioral (migration)
2. Chemical (hibernation)

What is circadian rythem?

Pattern of behavior over a 24 hour period

What are limiting factors?

Something that limits the growth of a population (usually a resource)

What is a niche?

The population’s role in the eccosystem

How many populations can there be in a niche?

Only 1 population per niche

What is resource partitioning?

When in a community or ecosystem everyone has the same limiting factor that everyone has to share

What is population size?

How many organisms are in the populations

What are the 3 ways of figuring out a population size?

1. Count
2. Mark recapture
3. Population sampling

What is population density?

Number of organisms divided by unit of space

What are the 3 dispersion patterns?

1. Clumped (most common)
2. Uniform (everyone equally spaced)
3. Random (common)

What is birth rate?

Fecundity, adds to population size

What are mortality rates?

Death rates, how many deaths per season or per year?

When are survivorship curves used?

To figure out when do most deaths occur in population?

What is life expectancy?

What expected life span for particular species?

What is an age structure graph?

Breaking down population by age groups

Population growth rate =

Births + immigration - deaths - emigration

Describe exponential growth

* “J” shaped
* Not stable
* Will hit limiting factor

What causes exponential growth?

Caused by an abundance of resources

What are the two possible outcomes of exponential growth?

1. Population crash
2. Logistic growth

What is carrying capacity?

Represents the max amount of organisms the environment can support

What are density-independent factors?

These factors hurts population, drops population number (ex: forest fire)

What are density-dependent factors?

These factors depend on population size (ex: food availability)

What is mimicry?

Type of camouflage where mimic species tries to copy model with a reputation of being deadly

What kinds of mimicry are there?

Harmful (ex: cuckoo bee and yellow jacket), harmless (ex: coral snake and king snake)