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Definition
| Abiotic components are the nonliving components of the biosphere. Chemical and geological factors, such as rocks and minerals, and physical factors, such as temperature and weather, are referred to as abiotic components. |
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Definition
| Biotic, meaning of or related to life, are living factors. Plants, animals, fungi, protist and bacteria are all biotic or living factors and other stuff like competition, disease, and overpopulation are all biotic factors |
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| Significance of introduced Species |
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Definition
A species that does not occur naturally in a given area, though has been introduced to it.
It can cause the populations of species to increase or decrease exponentially |
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| Factors that can influence species distribution |
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Definition
1 Clumped distribution
2 Regular or uniform distribution
3 Random distribution
4 Species distribution models
5 Abiotic and biotic factors
6 Species Distribution Grids Project
7 Statistical determination of distribution patterns
8 Global warming effects |
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Definition
Least amount of Rainfall
Considerable amount of specialized vegetation,
Specialized vertebrate and invertebrate animals.
Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little or no organic matter. |
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Definition
Extremely cold climate
Low biotic diversity
Simple vegetation structure
Limitation of drainage
Short season of growth and reproduction
Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material
Large population oscillations |
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Term
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Definition
The photic zone is the depth of the water in a lake or ocean that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. The depth of the photic zone can be affected greatly by seasonal turbidity.
Hold 90% of marine life |
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Definition
| Other section where 10% of marine life lives, not sufficient light |
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Definition
Relatively low in plant nutrients and containing abundant oxygen in the deeper parts.
Cannot sustain life. |
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Definition
| Rich in nutrients and so supporting a dense plant population, the decomposition of which KILLS animal life by depriving it of oxygen |
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Term
| Why does pollution cause Eutrophication |
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Definition
| Any factor that causes increased nutrient concentrations can potentially lead to eutrophication. I |
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Term
| Describe why temperate stratification in lakes is important |
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Definition
Temperate lakes tend to stratify, with cold water sinking to the bottom and warm water floating on top
Important as without it, fish can die due to thermal gradients, stagnation, and ice cover. |
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Term
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Definition
| Behavior determined by the "hard-wiring" of the nervous system. |
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Definition
Fixed-action Pattern
is an instinctive behavioral sequence that is indivisible and runs to completion. Fixed action patterns are invariant and are produced by a neural network known as the innate releasing mechanism in response to an external sensory stimulus known as a sign stimulus or releaser (a signal from one individual to another). A fixed action pattern is one of the few types of behaviors which can be said to be hard-wired and instinctive. |
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Definition
| Maturation is the process of learning to cope and react in an emotionally appropriate way. |
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Term
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Definition
| abituation is a decrease in an elicited behavior resulting from the repeated presentation of an eliciting stimulus (a simple form of learning). |
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Definition
| A form of learning in which a very young animal fixes its attention on the first object with which it has visual, auditory, or tactile experience and thereafter follows that object. |
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Definition
| A movement that is a response to a stimulus but is not oriented with respect to the source of stimulation.A relatively unspecialised response by organisms that do not re-orientate themselves in response to stimulus, an example being an organism not moving directly away from a hot fire. |
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Term
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Definition
| A response in which the direction of movement is affected by an environmental cue. Should be clearly distinguished from a kinesis. |
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Term
| Explain some factors that influence parental investment in raising offspring |
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Definition
| Parental investment (PI), in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, is any parental expenditure (time, energy etc.) that benefits one offspring at a cost to parents' ability to invest in other components of fitness |
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Term
| Hamiltons Rule regarding altruism and natural selection |
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Definition
Formally, such genes should increase in frequency when
rB>c
where
r = the genetic relatedness of the recipient to the actor, often defined as the probability that a gene picked randomly from each at the same locus is identical by descent.
B = the additional reproductive benefit gained by the recipient of the altruistic act,
C = the reproductive cost to the individual of performing the act. |
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Term
| What factors determine K for a particular environment |
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Definition
K=Carrying Capacity
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment. |
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Term
List the characteristics of K-selected organisms
List the characteristics of r-selected organisms |
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Definition
K: Slower Development, Excellent Competitor, Larger body size, Longer lived
r: Rapid development, short lived, numerous offspring |
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Term
| What factors prevent unlimited population growth? |
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Definition
| There is never, and never will be, unlimited resources |
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Term
| Describe some animal defenses against predation |
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Definition
| Toxic chemicals, camouflage, mimicry |
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Term
| Why is there a limit to the number of links in a food web/chain |
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Definition
| Due to loss of energy in between links |
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Definition
| Ecological succession is the phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following disturbance or initial colonization of new habitat. |
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Definition
| When a forrest burns down and the soil is still left intact |
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| Pioneer plants take uninhabitable land and create soil |
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