Artificial selection is the process where humans decide which individuals breed and which do not in an attempt to create a population with desired traits.
A keystone species is a species that impacts its community more than its abundance would predict and can alter ecosystem structure. An example would be sea otters. If sea otters were to die off or become very low in quantity, sea urchins would become too abundant and eat away at kelp forests faster than they can regenerate, causing the sea urchins to begin dying off as well.
A food web is a linkage of all food chains together that shows the connections within a community.
The ecosystems that have the most biologic power are
An autotroph is an organism that can form nutritional organic substances from inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide. An example would be a plant.
A saprotroph is an organism that feeds on nourishment from decomposing organic matter. An example would be fungi.
A heterotroph is an organism that gets its nutritional requirements from complex organic substances. An example would be a lion.
Primary succession is ecological succession that happens in an area where no ecosystem has existed before, such as on bare rock with no soil. Secondary succession is ecological succession that happens in an ecosystem that has been disturbed, such as a forest that has recently had a wildfire.
The difference between photosynthesis and respiration is that photosynthesis is when plants absorbing sunlight in order to create energy and respiration is when plants absorbs oxygen to create water, energy, and carbon dioxide.
Traits associated with r-adapted species are short life span, early maturity, and high fecundity. An example would be a rabbit.
Ecosystem diversity is the variety within an ecosystem, like communities, habitats, niches, and trophic levels. An example would be a rain forest. Genetic diversity is the heritable variation among individuals of a single population or within an entire species. An example would be the different genetics within a species. Species richness is the total number of different species in a community. An example would be an island filled with multiple species.
An invasive species is a non-native species whose introduction causes harm to the environment or human health. Examples would be the New Zealand mud snail and Quagga mussel. An endangered species is a species that faces a high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Examples would be the kit fox and the green sturgeon.
A conservation practice that enhances biodiversity would be large protected areas, specifically having such a large protected area that there are multiple ecosystems for many different species. Another practice would be to introduce new animals to an area that would not become an invasive species, such as adding a specific species that would not harm other species or the environment. Also, not destroying ecosystems, like deforestation, could help improve biodiversity by allowing species to immigrate into the area.
Parasitism is a relationship between two organisms where one benefits while the other is harmed. An example would be a parasite. Commensalism is a relationship between two organisms where one benefits while the other is unharmed. An example would be remora with sharks. Mutualism is a relationship between two organisms where both benefit. An example would be the oxpecker and a zebra.
Genetic drift is that random mating may increase or decrease the frequency of a particular trait. An example would be a group of genetically diverse individuals, but some don’t find mates so generations have different genes. The bottleneck effect is when population is drastically reduced because of genetic variation loss. An example would be when a natural disaster wipes out a part of the population and the few survives begin mating, causing there to be less genetic diversity. The founder effect is when a small group that contains only some of the gene variants found in the original population becomes physically isolated from the rest. An example would be storm winds blowing a small part of a population onto a neighboring island.
Natural selection is the process by which organisms best adapted to the environment survive to reproduce, leaving more offspring than less well-adapted individuals. Better-adapted organisms would have traits like the ability to eat a more variety of food, being able to withstand a habitat’s weather conditions, and the ability to hide from other predators. Less well-adapted organisms would have traits like a very small variety of food, only able to withstand one certain weather condition, and not being able to hide from predators.
The 1st Law of Thermodynamics is energy cannot be created or destroyed, it is transformed from one form to another. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is the quantity of usable energy decreases as energy changes forms, it is downgraded into heat. Entropy is the measure of the Randomness or Disorder in a system. The first law explains how the other 97% of energy is not lost, but rather it is turned into another form that is not light. The second law explains how the other 97% is downgraded into heat, which is a less useable form of energy.
Traits that make species more vulnerable to extinction would be being a large carnivore, being a habitat specialist, having a slow reproduction rate, and number of offspring. Being a large carnivore like a lion relies on other animals to eat, so if other smaller animals begin to die off, it is more difficult for the lion population to stay stable. A habitat specialist would be more susceptible because it needs a specific area to survive, rather than being able to survive in different areas. Having a slow reproduction like an elephant makes it difficult to keep population high, especially if there is already a low quantity. Also, an elephant only has one offspring rather than many offspring, so that makes them even more susceptible to extinction.
Nitrogen fixation is a continuous series of natural processes by which nitrogen passes from the air to soil, to organisms, and then returns back into the air or soil. Denitrification is the loss or removal of nitrogen, specifically reduction of nitrates and nitrites that usually results in the escape of nitrogen into the air. Nitrification is the oxidation of ammonia or ammonium to nitrite followed by the oxidation of the nitrite to nitrate. Ammonification is the decomposition with production of ammonia or ammonium by the action of bacteria on organic matter.
In the phosphorus cycle, abiotic and biotic matter is cycled within the environment. Starting from the bottom, bacteria starts decomposition of phosphorus in soil and organic matter, such as waste from an animal or litterfall from trees, and transfers them to roots of plants and trees. The phosphorus re-enters the cycle from the plants when an animal like a rabbit consumes the plant, and then the feces on the ground begins the decomposition part all over again. Apart from that, soil erosion under a rock could make the rock break onto the ground or into water, then being absorbed back into the soil and given to roots. Along with this, the rock form naturally underground also contributes to phosphorus given to roots.
The brown tree snake is an invasive species that was introduced into Guam and it is killing off the native animal species on the island. The snake population grew to a very high amount and they began to eat the eggs of native birds in high quantities, causing the bird species population to drop. The native birds were able to thrive in Guam before the snakes because they were not introduced to such a threatening predator. Once the brown tree snake began to become more abundant, the birds took a heavy loss with their eggs and offspring. Along with that, there were also some flightless birds that were native to the island, so they had no way of defending themselves from the brown tree snake. So far since the snakes started to take over, they have caused twelve native bird species to go extinct on the island.
One of the main human causes of species endangerment and extinction is the removal of ecosystems. Habitats and whole ecosystems are being destroyed because of human deforestation, or clearing area in order to build homes or businesses. When species begin to lose their homes in huge quantities, it can makes a species extremely endangered, or even make them go extinct of conditions are horrible. We could address this by creating more and bigger protected areas in order to help preserve ecosystems for species. Humans also pollute a lot of our environment, and that also harms and puts species at risk. In the situation of Bristol Bay, if the mining does begin in the area, it will pollute the water in the bay and harm the salmon species that currently inhabit it. The mining project could possibly make the species go extinct from the area too. We could address this situation by completely stopping the mining project, saving the fish from harm.
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