Chapter 3 and 4 ecology review

Levels of organization in Ecology

1. Biosphere - This is where all living things on Earth live. Humans live in a biosphere 2. Biomes - A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat. 3. Ecosystem - A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. 4. Community - All the organisms living in a particular area or place: "local communities". 5. Populations - A particular section, group, or type of people or animals living in an area or country. 6. Individual - by itself

Consumer

A consumer is a living organism that cannot synthesize energy from the sun. Therefore, consumers get energy by eating other organisms. There are many levels of consumers that ... make up the food web. These can include primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, and sometimes quaternary consumers.

Decomposer

A decomposer is an organism that feeds on dead organisms and the waste products of other organisms. Decomposers help nutrients cycle back into the ecosystem. Some examples of decomposers are insects, earthworms and bacteria.

Food web

A food web (or food cycle) is the natural interconnection of food chains and generally a graphical representation (usually an image) of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Another name for food web is a consumer-resource system.

parasitism

A form of symbiosis in which one organism (called parasite) benefits at the expense of another organism usually of different species (called host); the association may also lead to the injury of the host

Pyramid of numbers

A graphical representation in the form of a pyramid showing the feeding relationship and the number of organisms at each trophic level. Supplement. The pyramidal shape indicates that the number of organisms or species is largest at the bottom, and is narrowing towards the apex.

ecological pyramids

A graphical representation in the shape of a pyramid to show the feeding relationship of groups of organisms, and the flow of energy or biomass through the different trophic levels in a given ecosystem

Energy transfer in a food chain

A typical food chain chain looks like this: A food chain shows how energy is transfered between organisms, in this case the rabbit is eating grass and the fox is eating the rabbit.

wetlands

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.

abiotic factors

Abiotic factors are the non-living components of a habitat. The abiotic factors in an ecosystem are grouped into soil (edaphic), air, topography, meteorology, availability of water and quality of water. The meteorological factors are temperature, wind, sun, humidity and precipitation.

Producer

An organism, such as a green plant, that produces its own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis and constitutes the first trophic level in a food chain; an autotroph.

autotroph

Autotrophs (also called producers) can form their own food either by using sunlight and photosynthesis (phototrophs) or by obtaining chemical energy through oxidation (chemotrophs). For the most part, autotrophs often make their own food by using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to form sugars which they can use for energy. Some examples of autotrophs include plants, algae, and even some bacteria.

biotic factors

Biotic factors are all of the living organisms within an ecosystem. These may be plants, animals, fungi, and any other living things.

biomes of the earth (characteristic)

Boreal Forest Biome Warm, rainy summers; very cold winters with heavy snow; trees produce cones with seeds that are eaten by many animals. Deciduous Forest Biome Warm summers, cold winters; receives at least 50cm of rain each year; trees shed their leaves and grow new ones each year. Desert Biome Hot during the day, cool and cold during the night; very dry; organisms are adapted to extreme dry conditions. Grassland Biome Receives between 25 and 75cm per year; populated by grasses and large herbivores. Rain Forest Biome Warm temp. all year; very wet and humid; greatest amount of species in any biome. Tundra Biome Extremely cold winters, warmer summers; windy; very dry; no trees, only low-growing plants.http://samanthaapes.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/4/2/23426248/2127726_orig.jpg

climate zones

Climate Zone: are divisions of the Earth's climates into general climate zones according to average temperatures and average rainfall. The three major climate zones on the Earth are the polar, temperate, and tropical zones.

climate

Climate is the statistics (usually, mean or variability) of weather, usually over a 30-year interval. It is measured by assessing the patterns of variation in temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, precipitation, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological variables in a given region over long periods of time.

competition

Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food, water, and territory) used by both can be a factor. Competition both within and between species is an important topic in ecology, especially community ecology.

Nitrogen denitrification

Denitrification is a microbially facilitated process of nitrate reduction (performed by a large group of heterotrophic facultative anaerobic bacteria) that may ultimately produce molecular nitrogen (N 2) through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products.

ecological succession

Ecological succession is the observed process of change in the species structure of an ecological community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire), or even millions of years after a mass extinction.

Ecology

Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their environment, such as the interactions organisms have with each other and with their abiotic environment.

Heterotroph

Heterotrophs cannot produce organic compounds from inorganic sources and therefore rely on consuming other organisms in the food chain

Food chain

In a typical food chain, plants are eaten by herbivores, which are then eaten by carnivores. These carnivores are in turn eaten by other carnivores. ♦ Many species of animals in an ecological community feed on both plants and animals, creating a complex system of interrelated food chains known as a food web.

predation

In an ecosystem, predation is a biological interaction where a predator (an organism that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of the prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption.

competitive exclusive principle

In ecology, the competitive exclusion principle, sometimes referred to as Gause's law of competitive exclusion or just Gause's law, is a proposition that states that two species competing for the same resource cannot coexist at constant population values, if other ecological factors remain constant.

marine ecosystem

Like all ecosystems, marine ecosystems are mostly self-sustaining systems of life forms and the physical environment. In these ecosystems materials are cycled and recycled. All ecosystems have certain things in common and marine ecosystems have a few unique twists to these cycles. We can begin this discussion with describing the make-up of life forms (critters).

matter recycling in a food chain

Matter is also being passed through the food chain, but just like energy, some matter is lost in the form of waste products.

Nitrogen Fixation

Nitrogen fixation is a process in which nitrogen (N2) in the atmosphere is converted into ammonia (NH3). Atmospheric nitrogen or molecular dinitrogen (N2) is relatively inert: it does not easily react with other chemicals to form new compounds. The fixation process frees nitrogen atoms from their triply bonded diatomic form, N≡N, to be used in other ways.

aphotic zone

The aphotic zone is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates. Consequently, bioluminescence is essentially the only light found in this zone. Most food in this zone comes from dead organisms sinking to the bottom of the lake or ocean from overlying waters.

Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.

greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be in the absence of its atmosphere. If a planet's atmosphere contains radiatively active gases (i.e., greenhouse gases) the atmosphere radiates energy in all directions.

Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle is the process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms. This transformation can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and denitrification.

niche

The specific area where an organism inhabits. (2) The role or function of an organism or species in an ecosystem. (3) The interrelationship of a species with all the biotic and abiotic factors affecting it.

Trophic level

The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food chain. The word trophic derives from the Greek τροφή (trophē) referring to food or feeding. A food chain represents a succession of organisms that eat another organism and are, in turn, eaten themselves. The number of steps an organism is from the start of the chain is a measure of its trophic level.

unequal heating of the earth's

The unequal heating of the earth produces wind....Differences in air pressure are caused by uneven heating of the Earth's surface. Therefore, the sun (solar energy) is the ultimate cause of wind.... The uneven heating is caused by the earth's rotation.....

water Cycle

The water cycle, also known as the hydrological cycle or the H2O cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth. The mass of water on Earth remains fairly constant over time but the partitioning of the water into the major reservoirs of ice, fresh water, saline water and atmospheric water is variable depending on a wide range of climatic variables.

Ecological methods

a single flower head to entire ecosystems with thousands of species. Although both the scale and the questions a study is designed to answer can vary greatly, there are certain key components that are always present in a well‐designed ecological study. First, ecological studies involve setting objectives and formulating a sampling programme. Second, there is often a practical component involving measurement and sampling in the field, which frequently includes sorting, identifying and measuring the organisms retrieved. Third, there is data analysis and reporting. The results can be used to derive absolute or relative population abundance measures, construct life tables, probe population dynamics and estimate biodiversity.

algal bloom

algal blooms are overgrowths of algae in water. Some produce dangerous toxins in fresh or marine water but even nontoxic blooms hurt the environment and local economies.

Carnivore

an animal that feeds on flesh

herbivore

an animal that feeds on plants

Biogeochemical cycles

any of the natural pathways by which essential elements of living matter are circulated. The term biogeochemical is a contraction that refers to the consideration of the biological, geological, and chemical aspects of each cycle.

limiting nutrients

ecosystems limiting factors include the temperature of the water, sunlight, the amount of nutrients, and dissolved oxygen content, which is the amount of oxygen gas dissolved in a given volume of water at a particular temperature and pressure. The salinity can also be a limiting factor in aquatic ecosystems. This is the amounts of various inorganic minerals or salts dissolved in a given volume of water.

symbiosis

interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both. Compare with antibiosis

omnivore

is a consumption classification for animals that have the capability to obtain energy and nutrients from materials originating from plant and animal origin. Often, omnivores also have the ability to incorporate food sources such as algae, fungi, and bacteria.

biome

is a formation of plants and animals that have common characteristics due to similar climates and can be found over a range of continents. Biomes are distinct from habitats, because any biome can comprise a variety of habitats.

Photosynthesis vs Chemosynthesis

occurs in plants and some bacteria, wherever there is sufficient sunlight - on land, in shallow water, even inside and below clear ice.the use of energy released by inorganic chemical reactions to produce food. Chemosynthesis is at the heart of deep-sea communities, sustaining life in absolute darkness, where sunlight does not penetrate.

ponds and lakes

pond is a body of water shallow enough to support rooted plants. Many times plants grow all the way across a shallow pond. lake is bigger than a pond, and is too deep to support rooted plants except near the shore. Some lakes are big enough for waves to be produced.

habitat

the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism

weather

the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.: