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ecology - study of interactions of organism with other organisms and with the physical environment
habitat - place where an organ lives
population - organisms within an area belonging to the same species
community - consists of all the various populations interacting at a location
ecosystem - contains a community of populations and also, the abiotic environment
biosphere - zones of the earth's soil, water, and air where living organisms are found
modern ecology describes and ________ predicts distribution of an abundance of organisms
population density - number of individuals per unit area or volume.
population distribution - pattern of dispersal of individuals within the area of interest
limiting factors - factors that determine whether an organism can live in an area
population size - number of individuals contributing to the gene pool.
intrinsic rate of natural increase - allows us to calculate the growth and size of a population (births/deaths; immigration/emigratoin)
discrete breeding - they only have one reproductive event in their life (insects / annual plants)
continuous breeding - their entire lifes, they continue to invest energy in reproducing again (vertebrates, bushes, trees)
exponential growth - when reproduction accelerates
biotic potential - the maximum population growth that can possibly occur under ideal circumstances
environmental resistance - environmental conditions that prevent populations from achieving biotic potential (no food, predators)
logistic growth - growth when considering environmental resistance
carrying capacity of an environment is _________ maximum number of individuals of a given species the environment can support
cohort - all the members of a population born at the same time
survivorship - the probability of newborns of a cohort surviving to a particular age
a population contains 3 major age groups: ________,_______, and ______. prereproductive, reproductive, postreproductive
density independent factors - abiotic factors such as weather and natural disasters (# of organisms present does not influence the effect of the factor)
density dependent factors - biotic factor such as parasitism, competition, predation.
r strategy - produce large numbers of offspring when young (many offspring, little parental care)
k strategy - produce few offspring, and lots of parental care
equilibrium species - (the k strategy)
opportunistic species - (the r strategy)
doubling time - length of time it takes for population size to double (approx 53 years for humans)
more developed countries (mdc's) North America and Europe, population growth low, good life
less developed countries (ldc's) latin america, africa, asia; population grows rapidly, poverty
demographic transition - decreased death rate followed by decreased birthrate
ways to reduce expected increase in population - 1. family planning programs (birth control) 2. educate to reduce desire for large families 3. delay onset of childbearing (early babies)
zero population growth - no increase in population size.
replacement reproduction - having 2 babies to replace the parents (will still increase population due to longer lives)
environmental impact (e.i.) (population size) x (resource consumption per capita) = pollution per unit of resource Used
community - an assemblage of populations interacting with one another within the same environment.
the composition of a community is... simply a listing of the various species in the community
diversity of a community includes... both A. species richness (# of species) and B. species evenness (the relative abundance of individuals of different species)
individualistic model - suggests that each population in a community is there because its own particular abiotic requirements are met by a particular habitat.
interactive model - communities are the highest level of organization (cell -> tissue -> organ -> organism -> population -> community
modern ecologists support individualistic or interactive model? individualistic
community composition is composed of... abiotic gradients( climate,inorganic nutrients) biotic interactions (organic food source)
Created by: brn2plyhcky7