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| one group of organisms of the same type interacting together |
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- eat each other: carnivory + herbivory
- live together = symbiosis
- competition
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| All the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving (abiotic) factors with which they ineract; a biological community and its physical environment. |
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| The variety of species that make up a community; includes both species richness (the total number of different species) and the relative abundance of the different species in the community. |
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| In ecology, a force that changes a biological community and usually removes organisms from it. |
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| Keep dominant species from taking over...maintaining diversity in the community |
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| Prokaryotes and fungi that secrete enzymes that digest nutrients from organic material and convert them into inorganic forms. |
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| In the trophic structure of an ecosystem, an organism that eats plants or algae |
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| The amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy (in organic compounds) by autotrophs in an ecosystem during a given time period. |
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| An organism that eats primary consumer |
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| An organism that eats secondary consumers. |
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| The use and reuse of chemical elements such as carbon within an ecosystem. |
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| A close association between organisms of two or more species. |
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Describe the 4 properties used to describe or define a community? |
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| Populations may be linked by competition, predation, mutualism, and commensalism. Trophic structure is a key factor in community dynamics. Dominant species and keystone species exert strong controls on community structure. The structure of a community may be controlled bottom-up by nutrients or top-down by predators. There importance? These are all parts of a community, removing one will change the structure. Competition cocurs when 2 populations require the same limited resources. Mutualism benefits both partners. The strongly negative effects of predation and herbivory have selected for protective adaptations in prey and plants. |
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| Explain how a keystone predator maintains diversity within a community |
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| A keystone species is a species whose impact on its community is much larger than its biomass or abundance indicate. A keystone species occupies a niche that holds the rest of its community in place. For example, some sea stars may perform this function by preying on sea urchins, mussels, and other shellfish that have no other natural predators. If the sea star is removed from the ecosystem, the mussel population explodes uncontrollably, driving out most other species, while the urchin population annihilates coral reefs |
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| Describe the three types of symbiosis |
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- Mutualism: Any relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals derive a benefit. Generally, only lifelong interactions involving close physical and biochemical contact can properly be considered symbiotic. Mutualistic relationships may be either obligate for both species, obligate for one but facultative for the other, or facultative for both.
- Commensalism: describes a relationship between two living organisms where one benefits and the other is not significantly harmed or helped. Commensal relationships may involve one organism using another for transportation or housing.
- Parisitsm: relationship is one in which one member of the association benefits while the other is harmed
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| What is succession? Example. |
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usually following some disturbance, the disturbed area may be colonized by a variety of species that are gradually replaced by other species, which in turn are replaced by other species.
A good example is a "nurse log" in a forest. A mature tree falls, and begins to decay. Other forms of plant life start to make use of the tree. Mosses, lichens, ferns, fungi, and even young tree seedlings can grow there. I see these a lot in the Pacific Northwest because of our abundant rainfall; it's hard to STOP things from growing here! |
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