Ecosystems and Environment Chapter 3

Study Notes

Individuals, Populations, and Communities

Environment: everything that affects an organism and what the organism affects throughout its life.
Biotic factors: living things that an organism encounters.
Abiotic factors: non-living components that affect the distribution of organisms.

Levels of Organization

1. Species: organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. (e.g., deer)
1. 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)
1. Community: all the individuals in all interacting populations in a given area.
1. Ecosystem: a community of populations together with the abiotic factors that affect it.
1. Biosphere: all the ecosystems in the world and their interactions.

Classifying and Naming Organisms

Taxonomy: the study of the classification and naming of organisms.
Kingdoms:
- 1. Archaea (archaebacteria): often live in extreme environments.
- 1. Bacteria (eubacteria): very diverse, live everywhere.
- 1. Animalia: ingest their food, most are mobile, multicellular, and have specialized cells.
- 1. Plantae: photosynthesize, multicellular, sessile, and have complex and specialized cells.
- 1. Fungi: multicellular, absorb food, and do not photosynthesize.
- 1. Protista: unicellular or multicellular, photosynthesize or are heterotrophs through absorption.
Domains:
- 1. Archae: single-celled, prokaryotic, chemosynthetic, and have unique rRNA base sequence.
- 1. Bacteria: single-celled, prokaryotic, chemosynthetic or photosynthetic, and move by flagella.
- 1. Eukarya: eukaryotic, unicellular or multicellular, have sexual reproduction, and are each unique.

Studying Organisms in Ecosystems

Biomes: general trends in soil, temperature, plants, and animals.
Climate zones: determined by mean levels of precipitation and annual temperature.
Habitats: places or areas with a particular set of characteristics, both biotic and abiotic.
Ranges: geographical areas where a population or species is found.
Niches: the role a species plays in a community and the range of biotic and abiotic requirements its members need to survive.

Major Types of Ecosystems

Grassland: central part of Canada, characterized by black soil with high productivity, supports deer, squirrels, and many bird species.
Deciduous Forest: dominated by trees, aspen, balsam poplar, and birch.
Forests - Taiga: found throughout northern Alberta, dominated by conifers, many different ecosystems due to position in the mountains.
Muskeg (Tundra): area of permafrost, unique part of ecosystem that supports caribou.
Lake:
- Littoral zone: area extending from lakeshore until rooted plants can no longer exist.
- Limnetic zone: area of open lake where photosynthesis can occur in plankton but also contains zooplankton and detritus.
- Profundal zone: where there is not enough light for photosynthesis and an abundance of detritus.

Limiting Factors

Abiotic Limiting Factors:
- Soil type
- Moisture (rainfall, groundwater levels, humidity)
- Temperature range
- Amount of sunlight
Biotic Limiting Factors:
- Predators
- Parasites
- Competition (intraspecific and interspecific)

Completing a Field Study

Involves taking samples (small portions or subsets of the entire population) and extrapolating the results to the larger population.
Types of samples:
- Transects: long rectangles where all individuals are counted.
- Quadrat: area of same size is marked out and the number of individuals is counted.

Description

This quiz covers the basics of ecosystems, environments, and their impact on populations and communities. It explores how organisms interact with their surroundings and affect each other. Topics include population change and the interconnectedness of ecosystems.