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Ecology
intro + physical enviroment/climate + evolution
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Ecology definition | The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their enviroment (it is NOT a political viewpoint) |
| Ecological levels (in order small to big) | Organism, population, community, ecosystem + biosphere |
| Individual definition | basic unit of ecology- about physiology, behaviour + form help an organism to survive + reproduce within a specific enviroment |
| Population definition | a group of individuals of the same species that occupy the same area |
| Community definition | alll populations of different species interacting within an ecosystem |
| Ecosystem definition | the biotic community and its abiotic enviroment acting as a system |
| Landscape definition | the area of land or water that is composed of different communities + ecosystems |
| Biome definition | geographic regions with similar geological + climatic conditions ex. tropical rain forest, desert, grasslands |
| Biosphere definition | all enviroments/ecosystems on earth |
| Emergent properites ecology definition | each subsequent level in the hierarchy has properties that are unique and are not observable in lower hierarchical levels. ex flocking in birds (an individual bird cannot flock) |
| What governs ecological systems | conservation of matter + energy, dynamic steady states (ex. homeostasis) and evolution |
| Climate definition | The large scale variation of solar energy and water availability across the earth |
| Solar radiation defintion | Energy emitted by the sun, availability varies due to the curvature of the earth and tilt of the earth |
| Angle of incidence definition | The angle that the sun is hitting the earth at. Oblique angle farther away from equator (larger area + less warming) Perpendicular angle at eq, more concentrated/warming |
| Variation in temperature in south vs. North hemisphere | Greater variation in north hem. Because the land cools + heats faster. More variation in temperature farther from equator in general. |
| Seasonality cause | The tilt of the earth on its axis causes seasons (north + south hemisphere. receive diff. amount of sunlight at specific times. Tropic of cancer at summer solstice, and capricorn at winter solstice |
| Hadley cells | Large air circulation where warm tropical air rises near equator, then cools and releases water and rises further towards poles, warm air rising causes cool air to move north + south, cooler air sinks + cycle repeats |
| Rain shadow | Occurs because of mountains, winds pick up moisture from oceans, go up mountains cooling causing rain to fall, creating temp rainforest (ex coastal vs interior BC) the then warmer air wants to hold all moisture creating dry desert area |
| ? | |
| Other topography impacts | Soil on slope drains well + lacks stability, temp + moisture decrease w/ altitude, wind speed increase w/ altitude |
| Ocean currents | surface winds, ocean topography, water temp + salinity determine water movement. Upwelling occurs near continents bringing nutrients to the surface |
| Aspects of the physical environment | atmosphere, water, rocks + minerals (soil) and solar energy |
| Water properties | cohesion/adhesion, high heat capacity, universal solvent, less dense when it freezes into ice |
| Water balance in organism | Water moves from areas of low solute concentration to areas of high solute concentration (osmosis) |
| Challenges for organisms in freshwater organisms | gains water from the environment but loses salt |
| Challenges for organisms in marine + terrestrial organisms | loses water to the environment - marine takes in excess salt. Terrestrial must excrete excess nitrogen |
| How is soil a source of water and nutrients | soil comp. and structure determine both water holding ability + nutrient availability, soil holds and attracts water in spaces between particles. Diff parent materials are more abundant in diff. Minerals |
| Light energy overview | Energy source for primary producers, photosynthetic organisms capture light energy with pigments |
| Light in water/algae | water absorbs longer wavelengths so shorter wavelengths go deeper (color is what is reflected not absorbed) red algae absorbs the short/mid wavelengths |
| Different photosynthesis types | C3 is regular, C4 is for hot and dry weather, cam is for water stressed environments (C4 is separated in diff cells and cam in night vs. day) |
| Evolution definition | Change that occurs in the genetic compositions of populations over time/generations |
| Natural selection definition | Individuals with favorable traits for their environment will survive, reproduce and pass on their traits/genetics to their offspring. |
| Mechanisms of evolution (3). | Genetic drift, gene flow + mutations |
| What do mutations do? | Mutations add genetic variation to the population and allow for natural selection to happen, therefore evolving the species. No genetic variation = no evolution |
| Adaptation definition | A trait that will increase an organisms probability of survival/reproduction within a specific environment (as a result of natural selection) |
| What does natural selection require | Phenotype variation among individuals, inheritance of the variation + differential survival + reproduction related to the variation |
| Gene flow definition | The transfer of alleles from one population to another ex. Seeds travelling on the wind or migration |
| Genetic drift definition | The frequency of alleles changes due to random chance, not natural selection. Ex. The bottleneck effect + the founder effect |
| Genotype definition | The genetic makeup/alleles present in an individual |
| Phenotype definition | the way the genes are expressed, giving the physical description of the individual. Can also be affected by the environment |
| Fitness definition | An individuals ability to survive + reproduce in a niche compared to others of the same species. |
| 3 types of phenotypic selection | Stabilizing (middle phenotype), directional (to one extreme or the other) + disruptive selection (to both extremes, away from the middle) |
| Peppered moth example | Because of the increased air pollution from the industrial revolution, the melanistic/darker form of the moth was now harder to spot by predators, so they started to be selected for because the lighter ones were now all getting eaten |
| Selective compromises or trade offs meaning | improving one trait means neglecting another as one organism only has so mcuh energy to spend. ex. protection vs. mobility or reproduction vs. survival |
| Species definition Allopatric vs. Sympatric speciation | allo = differernt, geogrphic isolation leads to diffs. in pop. over time sym = the same, comp. among individuals leads to divergence in behaviors leads to divergence in pheno/genotypes |
| Phenotypic plasticity definition | when an organism can change its phenotypes in response to the environment while keeping its genotype the same |
| Non-plastic vs. Plastic genotypes | non plastic will always stay the same where as plastic can change its appearence based on the environment |
| Pepperweed vs. Aphids example | |
| Reversability of plasticity? | behaviroral/physiological is fairly reversible, where as morphological is no so reversible ex. locusts being diff colors during the year depending on the season |
| Importance of temperature to the distribution of life | very important; physiological processes operate optimally in certain temp. ranges: metabolism + development/growth |
| How organisms maintain thermal homeostasis | thermal inertia (heat exchanged w/environment) ectothermy, endothermy + countercurrernt heaat exchange |
| How do archaea/bacteria live in extremes? | amino acids w/ very strong bonds; ex. phtosynthetic bacteria + archaebacteria |
| How do organisms survive the cold? | uses antifreeze molecules; glycoproteins or glycerol added to water in the cells in reptiles/invertabrates/marine fish OR freeze tolerance grafual freezing of ECF for reptiles/amphibians |
| Species definition | group of organisms with a certain degree of genetic similarity capable of interbreeding + producing viable offspring |
Created by:
every_august
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