Ecosystems 1
Large area with similar climate conditions that determine plant & animal species
What is a biome?
Rule that states the percentage of energy that is available to the next trophic level.
What is the 10% rule?
The total number of different species found in an ecosystem.
What is species richness?
A measure of how all of the individual organisms in an ecosystem are balanced between the different species
What is species evenness?
Type of species with smaller range of tolerance, or narrower ecological niche makes them more prone to extinction
What are specialists?
Relationship that benefits both organisms
What is mutualism?
Shows how matter & energy flow through an ecosystem, from organism to organism.
What is a food web?
An env. disturbance (natural disaster/human hab. destruction) that drastically reduces pop. size & kills organisms regardless of their genome.
What is a bottleneck event?
A measure of how different the genomes (set of genes) are of the individuals within a population of a given species
What is genetic diversity?
Type of species that have few offspring, heavy parental care to protect them
What are k-selected species?
Areas where rivers empty into the ocean, mixture of fresh water and salt water.
What are estuaries?
This biome has the highest net primary productivity, in part because of consistently warm temperatures and abundant sunlight.
What is the tropical rainforest?
Range of conditions such as temperature, salinity, pH, or sunlight that an organism can endure before injury or death.
What is ecological tolerance?
The ability of an ecosystem to return to its original conditions after a major disturbance
What is ecosystem resiliance?
The max. Number of individuals in a pop. that an ecosystem can support (based on limiting resources)
What is carrying capacity?
A carbon reservoir that stores more carbon than it releases.
What is a carbon sink?
Process that removes CO2 from the atmosphere & converts it to glucose
What is photosynthesis?
A measure of an organism's ability to survive and reproduce.
What is fitness?
Name of the type of time frame of ecological disturbances that occurs with regular frequency (ex: dry-wet seasons)
What are periodic disturbances?
The number of individuals per unit of area in a population.
What is population density?
Rate that solar energy is converted into organic compounds via photosynthesis over a unit of time.
What is Primary Productivity?
Process plants use to draw groundwater from roots up to their leaves
What is transpiration?
Type of succession that starts from already established soil, in an area where a disturbance (fire/tornado/human land clearing) cleared out the majority of plant life
The type of species that appear first, when the ground is simply bare rock, or bare soil after a disturbance
What are pioneer species?
The maximum potential growth rate, with no limiting resources.
What is biotic potential?