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58 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Define: Ecology
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The Study of the interactions between organisms and the environment
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Define: Population Ecology
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The studo of populations in relation to the environment including: environmental influences on density and distribution, age structure (demography) and variations in pop. size
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Population Distribution
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The pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries of a population.
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Pop. Distribution: Clumped
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individuals aggregate into patches because of specific environmental factors, mating behaviors, or the effectiveness of foraging
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Pop. Dist: Uniform
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individuals are evenly spaced because of direct interactions between individuals, alleopathy, or territoriality.
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Pop. Dist: Random
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unpredictable spacing, least common.
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Density independent limiting factors
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the number of organisms present does not influence the degree of the effect, typically abiotic such as fires, hurricanes, drought, pollution, slides, tsunamis
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density dependent limiting factors
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the number of organisms present does influence the effect, typically biotic such as competition, disease, humans, predators
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intrinsic factors
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the factors possessed by the organisms within the population suchas anatomy, physiology, behavior
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r-strategists
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allocate energy toward production of young, short lifespans, small individuals, fast maturation, many offspring, little to no care of young, common in environments with fluxuating variablesdon't go extinct,
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k-strategist
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allocate energy toward growth and survival of themselves and their young, long lifespans, large individuals, slow maturation, few offspring, much care of offspring, common in stable/predictable environments, can go extinct, Type I.
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demography
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the stuydy of the vital statistics of populations and how they change over time
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cohorts
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a group of individuals of the same age within a population (generation)
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Type I survivorship Curve
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Low death rate for early and middle life then death increases at the later years(k-strategists aka. humans)
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Type II survivorship curve
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constant death rate throughout organisms life span
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Type III survivorship curve
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high death rates at the beginning of life span with a decline later (r-strategists)
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community ecology
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assemblage of populations interacting with one another in the same habitat, focuses on community structure and interactions
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Biodiversity
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the variety of different kinds of organisms that make up a community, based on species richness, species evenness, and the variety of diversity
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species richness
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the number of different species that occupy a community
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species evenness
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the relative abundance of organisms of each species
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What is the importance of Biodiversity?
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the more diverse an ecosystem, the ore productivity there is within it (diverse ecosystems function more effectively), they are more resilient to damage (elastic)
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Dominant Species
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those populations that are the most abundant or have the highest biomass, they exert a powerful control over the occurrence and distribution of other species in the community
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Keystone Species
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not necessarily abundant in a community, but they do exert strong control because most species within the community either rely directly or indirectly on them
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habitat
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where a population lives and reproduces.
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niche
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role a population plays in its community including its habitat (abiotic) and the interactions with other populations (biotic)
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intraspecific competition
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competition between members within a population
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interspecific competition
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members of different populations utilize a limited resource (light, space, water, nutrients)
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competition exclusion principle
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-/- no two populations can occupy the same niche at the same time- eventually one population will force the other out by using the resources more efficiently
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resource partitioning
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2 or more species decrease competition by dividing a niche into separate areas
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predator prey interactions
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+/- the population of the predator is affected by the prevalence of the prey and visa-verse, results in cyclical populations instead of a steady rate where the predator is smaller in size and lags behind in time.
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camouflage
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method from hiding from predators in which organism's behavior, form, coloration, allow it to blend into the habitat (cryptic coloration and aposematic coloration)
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aposematic coloration
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bright coloration of animals with effective physical or chemical defenses that acts as a warning to predators
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cryptic coloration
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camouflage of an animal used to blend in with its surroundings
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mimicry
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when one species resembles another that possesses an anti-predator defense and expresses aposematic coloration (batesian and mullarian)
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batesian mimicry
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a mimic that lacks the defense of the organism it resembles
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mullarian mimicry
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mimics that share the same protective defense
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symbiotic relationships
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interactions where there is a close intimate relationship between members of two populations (parasitism, commensalism, mutualism)
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parasitism
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+/- similar to predation but parasitic which derives nourishment from the host, lives within the host for most of its life
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commensalism
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+/0 one species is benefited and the other is not affected (home, transportation, food)
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mutualism
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+/+ relationship where both species benefit (cleaning, symbiosis, protection)
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ecological succession
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a change within a community following a disturbance
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primary succession
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occurs in virtually lifeless area, where there were originally no organisms and where soil has not yet formed
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secondary succession
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occurs where an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact
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pioneer species
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the first species to begin succession of a newly disturbed sight (lichen, moss)
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climax community
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a community that undergoes little to no succession
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trophic structure
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the feeding relationships, flow of energy, food chain
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autotrophs
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(producers) obtain energy through inorganic substances (sun), either photosynthetic or chemosynthetic
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photosynthetic autotrophs
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autotrophs that use sunlight to transform energy
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chemosynthetic autotrophs
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use geothermal energy to transform energy
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heterotrophs
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(consumers) obtain energy through the consumption of organic substances (carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, detrivores), form food chains and food webs based on their feeding relationships
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primary productivity
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the amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs during a given time period
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gross primary productivity
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total primary production of an ecosystem, amount of light energy converted per unit time
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net primary production
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equal to gross primary production minus the energy used by the primary producers for respiration and other cellular tasks, represents storage of chemical energy that will be available to consumers
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secondary production
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amount of chemical energy in consumer's food that is converted to their own new biomass during a given time period
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CHON
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Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, the chemical elements that make up 96% of life
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1st law of thermodynamics
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energy can neither be created nor destroyed
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Water Cycle
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plants absorb water, animals drink and eat plants, respire, transpire,and evaporate puts water into atmosphere, condensation causes precipitation
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Carbon Cycle
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found in atmosphere as CO2, photosynthesis, respiration, decomp of dead materials put carbon back into soil, burning fossil fuels puts CO2 back into atmosphere
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