APES Unit 3 Study Guide

Cooper Krings

Know the definition of ecology.

The environment as it relates to living organisms

Know the definition of population, community and ecosystem.

Population: a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a

given area

Community: In ecology, a community is an assemblage of two or

more populations of different species occupying the same geographical
area. This term is used only to describe biotic factors.

Ecosystem: a system formed by the interaction of a community of

organisms with their physical environment

Know the definition of habitat and niche.

Habitat: the type of environment in which an organism or group

normally lives or occurs.

Niche: The functional role the organism plays in its community,

including its habitat as well as the interactions with other organisms.

Know the differences between decomposer, omnivore, carnivore, dentrivore,

autotroph, heterotroph, producer and consumer.

Decomposer: Any organism that feeds off decomposing organic

material, especially bacterium or fungi.

Omnivore: An animal which is able to consume both plants (like a

herbivore) and meat (like a carnivore).

Carnivore: Meat eater.

 Dentrivore: An organism that feeds on large bits of dead and
decaying organic matter. What detrivores leave behind is used by
decomposers.

Autotroph: plant capable of synthesizing its own food from simple

organic substances.

Heterotroph: An organism which requires an external supply of

energy in the form of food as it cannot synthesize its own.

Know how to draw food webs and food chains.

Understand about energy loss between trophic levels and be able to apply
them to the first and second laws of thermodynamics.

Generally Tropic levels loose about 90% of their energy.

First Law: Energy cannot be created or destroyed (Heat)

Second Law: Energy transformation tends to loose energy to heat.

Know the difference between functional, genetic, ecosystem and species

diversity.

Functional Diversity: The biological and chemical processes such as

energy flow and matter recycling needed for the survival of species,
communities, and ecosystems

Genetic Diversity: Genetic variability present in a population or in a

species.

Ecosystem Diversity: The diversity of biological communities and

their physical environment. Diversity is determined by the species
composition, physical structure and processes within an ecosystem.
This is the highest level of biodiversity. See also biodiversity; compare
species diversity, genetic diversity.
Know the defintions for natural selection, adaptation, genetic drift, founder
effect, bottleneck effect and mutation.

Natural selection: A process in nature in which organisms possessing

certain genotypic characteristics that make them better adjusted to an
environment tend to survive.

-differences in the trait must be heritable

-differences in the trait must cause differences in fitness.

Fitness depends on the environment

Local adaptation.

Points to remember about natural selection

Populations evolve, but individuals do not. Natural selection acts

on the level of the individual, but populations are the smallest
unit that can evolve

Natural selection only works on heritable variations, not

acquired traits

Adaptation: The adjustment or changes in behavior, physiology, and

structure of an organism to become more suited to an environment.

Genetic drift: The process of change in the genetic composition of a population due to
chance or random events rather than by natural selection, resulting in changes in allele
frequencies over time.

Founder effect The establishment of a new population by a few

original founders (in an extreme case, by a single fertilized female)
which carry only a small fraction of the total genetic variation of the
parental population [Ernst Mayr, 1963]. The result is that a given allele,
gene, chromosome, or part of a chromosome found in members of the
population can be traced back to one ancestral individual.

Bottleneck effect: Genetic drift that occurs as a result of a drastic

reduction in population by an event having little to do with the usual
forces of natural selection.
 Mutation: 1. A change in or the process of changing. 2. A permanent,
heritable change in the nucleotide sequence in a gene or a
chromosome; the process in which such a change occurs in a gene or
in a chromosome.

Understand evolution

the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a

species or taxonomic group of organisms DARWIN DARWIN
DARWIN.

Evolution is a change in the number of times specific genes that code

for specific characteristsics occur within an interbreeding populations

What is a habitat and a niche

Habitat: Place where an organism or a biological population normally

lives or occurs.

Niche :

(1) The specific area where an organism inhabits.

(2) The role or function of an organism or species in an

ecosystem.

(3) The interrelationship of a species with all the biotic and

abiotic factors affecting it.

Know about broad niches, endangered species, specialist species, native

species, invasive species and generalist species. Be able to look at a graph
and tell the difference between and generalist and specialist species.

Broad niches: GENERALISTS

Endangered species: species whose numbers are so small that the

 species is at risk of extinction

Specialist species: The ability to live in only one type of habitat, eat
only a few types of food, or tolerate a narrow range of climatic or
environmental conditions

Native species: a species that normally lives and thrives in a

particular ecosystem.

Invasive species: Any species that has been introduced to an

environment where it is not native, and that has since become a
nuisance through rapid spread

Generalist species: the ability to live in many different places while

tolerating a wide

range of environmental conditions

Be able to draw a food web from scratch.

Mutations, Genetic Shift,

Bottle neck – random species survival, cataclysmic effect.

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