BIS 2B MIDTERM 1

• ecology is the study of organisms interacting amongst themselves and the environment
• evolution are changes in heritable characteristics in population over generations
• ecology is important because it secures health, food security, and ecosystem health
• evolution is important because it secures health, food security, and climate change
• adaptations as evolution is called natural selection where those with surviving traits are more likely to reproduce
• adaptations as a trait is the development of traits to help the organism survive and reproduce
• biodiversity is organized by least to most diverse: individual, population, species, community, ecosystem
• in individual level, it is when individual traits determine responses to environmental factors
• in a population level, it is when interacting groups of individuals of the same species
• in a species level, it is a group of organisms of the same type with a common ancestor; they can interbreed
• in a community level, it is a set of co-occurring interacting species
• in an ecosystem level, this is where interacting systems of species and their abiotic environment occur; it typically has energy flow and biogeochemical cycles
• some abiotic environmental factors include climate, weather, access to water, altitude, and soil type
• some biotic factors include interactions between each species and other species
• plasticity has diversity in phenotypes but still genetically similar
• genetic diversity is when organisms have different genotypes but still the same species
• species diversity includes different types of organisms
• endemic species are organisms located only at a certain location
• higher taxa/functional group diversity are species grouped by ecological role or relatedness due to evolution
• habitat diversity is the grouping of species by physical environment
• eukaryotes are in different species ratio; ranging from mostly insects, trees/plants, fish, and lastly mammals
• heterotrophs are grouped into herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores
• herbivores eat plants and typically have long guts, detoxify enzymes, and have grinding detention (traits developed to accustom their diet)
• carnivores hunt and consume animal meat therefore they have sharp teeth, claws, and can digest meat easily
• omnivores eat both plants and animal which gives them the benefit to eat most foods and still digest fairly well
• detritivores feed on the dead or animal matter which benefits them since they can thrive on low quality food
• specialist/generalists change their eating preference so that they can maximize energy intake
• animals tend to choose prey that maximizes rewards to costs
• optimal foraging theory states that organisms maximize energy intake per unit time
• animals have other goals like avoiding predators, finding mates, and defending their territories
• performance is bad at low and high temperatures
• adaptations are necessary in order to better performance
• adaptations are changes in genotypes that occurs over populations to increase performance; over generations
• acclimation are changes in traits that are reversible to an individual to increase performance
• in order to combat abiotic stress like extreme temperature, plants and organisms develop adaptations or behaviors
• biochemical reactions increase with temperature increase but at high temperatures, proteins and enzymes denature
• ectotherms is when the organism's body temp is determined by external conditions
• endotherms is when the organism's body temp is determined by internal conditions
• in order to regulate hot temperature, ectotherm animals expose pigment to the sun (for more heat), press their body against a tree (to reduce heat)
• in order to regulate against cold temperature, ectotherms can create a protein that lowers freezing point or produce glucose to solidify their body