Ecology Chapter 3: Individuals, Populations, and Communities

Study Notes

Ecosystems and Environment

Environment: everything that affects an organism as well as what that organism affects throughout its life.
Biotic factors: living things that an organism encounters (e.g., deer, coyote, grass, mice, grasshoppers, hawk).
Abiotic factors: non-living components that affect the distribution of organisms (e.g., temperature, light, water, soil).

Levels of Organization

Organism: an individual living thing (e.g., deer).
Population: a group of individuals of the same species living in a specific area at the same time (e.g., 200 deer in a specific valley).
Community: all the individuals in all interacting populations in a given area (e.g., deer, coyote, grass, mice, grasshoppers, hawk).
Ecosystem: a community of populations together with the abiotic factors that affect it (e.g., deer, coyote, grass, mice, grasshoppers, hawk, and the sun, water, and soil).
Biosphere: all the ecosystems in the world and their interactions.

Classifying and Naming Organisms

Taxonomy: the system of organizing and classifying organisms.
Kingdoms: the six major groups of organisms (Archaea, Bacteria, Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Protista).
Domains: the three broad categories of life (Archaea, Bacteria, Eukarya).
Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species: the hierarchical system of classification.
Binomial nomenclature: the system of naming species using a genus and species name (e.g., Canis familiarus - domestic dog).

Studying Organisms in Ecosystems

Biomes: large regions of the biosphere with specific climate, soil, and vegetation characteristics (e.g., taiga, grassland, deciduous forest).
Habitat: the specific environment in which a species lives (e.g., forest, grassland, lake).
Niche: the specific role a species plays in a community and the range of biotic and abiotic requirements it needs to survive.
Range: the geographical area where a species is found (e.g., the range of the Hoary Marmot).

Major Types of Ecosystems in Canada

Grassland: characterized by black soil with high productivity, found in the central part of Canada.
Forests - Taiga: dominated by conifers, found in northern Alberta and the mountains.
Muskeg (tundra): area of permafrost where the soil never thaws, found in the Arctic.
Lakes: divided into littoral, limnetic, and profundal zones.

Limiting Factors

Abiotic limiting factors: soil type, moisture, temperature range, amount of sunlight.
Biotic limiting factors: predators, parasites, competition (intraspecific and interspecific).

Completing a Field Study

Types of samples: transects, quadrats.
Density: the number of individuals per unit volume or area.

Description

This quiz covers the basics of ecology, including individuals, populations, and communities, and their interactions with the environment. It also explores population change and its impact on ecosystems.