Introduction to Ecosystems Quiz and Flashcards

Study Notes

Ecosystem: A community of living organisms, their interactions, and their physical environment, functioning together as a system.
Organism: Any individual living entity that can respond to stimuli, reproduce, grow, and maintain homeostasis.
Interspecific: Refers to interactions, relationships, or competition occurring between different species within an ecosystem.
Population: A group of individuals of the same species living in a specific area, capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
Ecological Niche: The role and position a species has in its environment, encompassing its habitat, resource use, and interactions with other organisms.

Characteristic of a Niche: Includes resource availability, habitat requirements, behaviors, and the interactions with other species, which together define how an organism fits into its environment.
Specialist Species vs. Generalist Species: Specialist species thrive in a narrow ecological niche, relying on specific resources; generalist species can adapt to a variety of environments and resources.

Example of Commensalism: A barnacle attaching to a whale, benefiting by gaining mobility and access to food without impacting the whale.
Driving Force of Evolution: Natural selection, whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce.

Term for Long-term Biological Interactions: Symbiosis, which describes the close, long-term interaction between two different biological organisms.
Term for Harmful Interaction: Parasitism, where one species benefits at the expense of the other, often harming the host.

Law of Tolerance: A principle stating that the existence, abundance, and distribution of a species are determined by environmental conditions; species can thrive only within a certain range of these conditions.