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Definition
| group of species that coexist and interact with one another within a defined geographic area |
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| the liviing together of two or more species in a prolonged and intimate relationship |
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| use of the same resource by two or more species when the resource is present in insufficient supply for the combined needs of the species |
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a type of interaction between species that benefits both species
(+/+) |
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Definition
type of interaction between species in which one participant benefits while the other is unaffected
(+/0) |
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parasitic organism consumers part of a host individual (larger than itself) but usually does not kill it
*consumer-resource interactions (+/-) |
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Definition
an individual of one species (predator) kills and consumes individuals of another species (prey)
*consumer-resource interactions (+/-) |
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| intERspecific competition |
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Definition
interactions in which members of two or more different species use the same resource
* -/- interactions |
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Definition
| direct form of competition where an organism actively interferes with another organism's ability to obtain it's resource |
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Definition
indirect form of competition where there is a limited resource controlling the situation
*ex: trees; the older, taller trees create a canopy effectively absorbing the available light, thus, the younger, smaller trees do not have access to that resource and are less likely to survive |
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Definition
| situation in which selection pressures resulting from interspecific competition cause changes in the ways in which the competing species use the limiting resource, therby allowing them to coexist |
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| aposematic (defensive) coloration |
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Definition
| bright colored organisms warn other organisms to stay away because they are poisonous or dangerous |
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Definition
Coloration that allows an organism to match its background and hence become less vulnerable to predation or recognition by prey
*camouflage |
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Definition
| the similarity of one species to another which protects one or both |
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Definition
one organism resembles a more dangerous organism for protection
*a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator |
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Definition
a group of organisms all mimic each other for group protection
ex: wasp, bee, yellow jack, etc. all have black and yellow stripes meaning they sting; stay away
*natural phenomenon when two or more poisonous species, that may or may not be closely related and share one or more common predators, have come to mimic each other's warning signals |
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Definition
| organisms of a particular habitat, such as a pond or forest, together with the physical environment in which they live |
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Definition
| set of physical and biological conditions a species requires to survive, grow, and reproduce |
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| where a species CAN live, negating the effects of predation, resource limitation, etc |
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| where the species DOES live, because the factors mentioned above have forced it to retreat from parts of the fundamental niche |
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Definition
| total number of species living in a region |
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| measure of species diversity that reflects the distribution of the species' abundances in a community |
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| organism that requires preformed organic molecules as food |
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| organism that is capable of living exclusively on inorganic materials, water, and some energy source such as sunlight (photoautotrophs) or chemically reducted matter |
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Definition
| organism that uses carbon dioxide as a carbon source and obtains energy by oxidizing inorganic substances from its environment |
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Definition
| organism that obtains energy from light and carbon from carbon dioxide |
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Definition
| group of organisms united by obtaining their energy from the same part of the food web of a biological community |
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Definition
| photosynthetic or chemosynthetic organism that sunthesizes complex organic molecules from simple inorganic ones |
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Definition
| organism that eats the tissues of some other organism |
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Definition
animal that eats plant tissues
*primary consumer |
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Definition
| organism that eats animal tissues |
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Definition
organisms that consumer herbivores
*secondary consumer |
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Definition
organisms that consume primary carnivores
*tertiary consumers |
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Definition
| organism that eats both animal and plant material |
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Definition
| an organism that eats the flesh of its own species |
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Definition
| organism that obtains its energy from the dead bodies or waste products of other organisms |
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Definition
how much biomass the producers are laying down in a given area
*measured in g C/m^2/yr
(grams of Carbon per meter squared in a given year)
*production of organic compounds from atmospheric or aquatic carbon dioxide *may occur through the process of photosynthesis or chemosynthesis *almost all life on earth is directly or indirectly reliant on primary production
*organisms responsible for primary production are known as primary producers or autotrophs, and form the base of the food chain |
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Term
gross primary productivity
(GPP) |
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Definition
rate at which the primary producers in a community turn solar energy into stored chemical energy via photosynthesis
*total amt of energy that primary producers capture and convert to chemical energy during some period of time |
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Term
net primary productivity
(NPP) |
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Definition
rate at which energy captured by photosynthesis is incorporated into the bodies of primary producers through growth and reproduction
*total energy that is contained in the tissues that primary producers have produced and what is available for consumption |
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Term
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Definition
| progression over successively lower trophic levels of the indirect effects of a predator |
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Term
| interspecific interactions |
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Definition
| interactions between members of different species |
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Term
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Definition
resource in shortest supply relative to demand
*could be water, food, space, sunlight, etc. |
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Term
| consumer-resource interactions |
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Definition
organisms gain their nutition by eating other living organisms or are eaten themselves
* +/- interactions |
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Term
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Definition
an animal consumes part or all of a plant
*consumer-resource interactions (+/-) |
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Term
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Definition
interactions in which one participant is harmed while the other is unaffected
(-/0) |
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Term
| intRAspecific competition |
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Definition
| competition among members of the same species |
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Definition
| particular mix of species communities contain and the relative abundances of those species |
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Definition
the 10% energy available to each successive trophic lecel
*limits the # of trophic levels a community can support
*few communities support more than 4 |
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| reasons for lost energy in trophic levels |
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Definition
1) not all the biomass at one trophic level is ingested by the next one
2) some ingested matter is indigestible and is excreted as waste
3) consumers as well as primary producers use much of the energy they assimilate to fuel their own metabolism, rather than add biomass through growth or reproduction |
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