Ecology

• Structural Adaptations


  A body part that helps an organism to survive
• Behavioural Adaptations


  An organism's habits, actions or way of life that helps it to survive
• Functional Adaptations


  A process/particular mechanics of an organism's body
• Examples of Adaptations

  • ducks have webbed feet to swim (structural)

  • owls are nocturnal to obtain prey (behavioural)

  • snakes produce venom to kill organisms/prey (functional)
• Biotic Factors


  • includes all living organisms, and their interaction with one another

  Examples:

  • predation

  • parasitism/disease

  • competition
• Abiotic Factors

  • non-living factors in the environment that affect organisms

  Examples:

  • sunlight availability

  • topography/landforms

  • soil pH
• Habitat

  • a particular area or location where an organism lives, feeds and reproduces (as well as supply all its needs to survive)
• Symbiosis

  The long-term relationship between two organisms of different species

  
  

  Examples:

  • mutualism (both organisms benefit)

  • commensalism (one organism benefits, the other is unaffected)

  • parasitism (one organism known as the 'parasite' benefits, the other known as the 'host' is harmed)
• Biome (i'm sick of hass yk)

  Regions of the world with similar climate, animals and plants
• Community

  • a group of populations of different species interacting with each other within a particular area
• Predation

  An organism (predator) eating a smaller organism (prey) as a source of energy for survival

  
  

  Examples:

  • sharks and fish

  • shrews hunting worms and insects
• Competition


  Occurs when organisms of the same/different species share a limited resource

  • both organisms may be harmed

  Examples (of resources):

  • food

  • space

  • shelters
• Biosphere


  Any area on Earth that living things inhabit; includes most regions of land + most bodies of water

  Examples:

  • atmosphere (air)
  • hydrosphere (water)
  • lithosphere (earth)
• Desert

  Abiotic Factors:

  • low rainfall
  • temperature extremes
  • low humidity

  Biotic Factors

  • predators (dingoes eating marigold daisies)
  • parasitism (kangaroos being susceptible to ticks)
  • commensalism (dung beetle gets food from manure, the animal that defecated is unaffected)
• Coral Reef


  Biotic Factors:

  • competition of sea animals (sharks and dolphins) eating the same type of fish
  • commensalism (fish hiding in the tentacles of jellyfish)
  • parasitism (fish lice feeding off the bodily fluids of small fish hosts)

  Abiotic Factors:

  • light intensity
  • water salinity
  • nutrients/minerals (in sea water)
• Ecosystem


  An area with abiotic and biotic factors interacting with each other
• Community


  A group of populations of different species interacting with each other in a particular area
• Habitat


  An area/location that provides an organism's needs to live, feed and reproduce
• What are the key points of the capture-recapture method?


  • Used for population estimation
  • Involves sampling the population multiple times
  • Based on the proportion of marked individuals recaptured
• What does the letter 'C' represent in the capture-recapture procedure?


  'C' represents the count of individuals captured and marked initially.
• What does the letter 'R' represent in the capture-recapture procedure?


  'R' represents the total number of individuals captured in the second sample.
• What does the letter 'M' represent in the capture-recapture procedure?


  'M' represents the number of marked individuals found in the recapture sample.
• What is the capture-recapture method?


  It is a statistical method used to estimate the size of a population.
• What is the quadrat method?

  The quadrat method is a sampling technique used in ecology to study the distribution and abundance of organisms.
• How does the quadrat method work?


  It involves placing a square frame of a known size in a study area and counting the organisms within that frame.
• Quadrats

  • Used to study plant population in particular
  • Used on immobile populations