living environment

-predators, prey, competitors

nonliving environment

-T, light, salinity

populations of different species in same habitat

- live together and interact

ecosystem (rocky shore of CA coast)

community (tidpool)

population (hermit crabs)

individuals (hermit crab)

-balance between generalization an specialization

-unique role in community

-describes interaction

-fastest pop. growth

-each produce 2 offspring

-2, 4, 6, 8, 16, etc...

- not sustainable, b/c resources become limited

-limit that a population can be sustained

-determined by resource availability

non genetic changes within an individual

-ie: length of sea urchin spines

genetic changes within an individual that are passed down to offspring

-ie: fighting ability of male elephant seals

-/-: resources limited, organisms compete for it

- intraspecific and interspecific

interspecific competition vs.

intraspecific competition

interspecific: members of different species

-ie: space in rocky intertidal

intraspecific: members in same species

-ie: nest sites for seabirds

-way to minimize competition

- specialization

-sharing

-ie: feed of same item, different times

-ie: nest on same island, diff. spots

-"living together" in greek

- intimate interaction btwn. partners of different species

-host= larger partner

- symbiont= smaller partner

- 3 types: parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism

+/-

- endoparasite: lives inside host

(tape worm)

- ectoparasite:lives on outside of host

(flukes, isopods)

+/0

- one partner benefits, other unaffected

-ie: barnacles on gray whales

+/+

- both benefit

-ie: zooxanthellae and coral

- describes how E flows though an ecosystem

- who eats whom

-autotrophs

-make food for higher levels

- heterotrophs

- eat food produced by primary producer

- very inefficient

-most E doesn't get to next energy level

- 10% transfer efficiency

- higher levels support few individuals

-takes a lot of phytoplankton to feed one whale

- animals that feed on lower trophic levels= bigger (blue whale vs. orca)

- AKA nutrient cycles

- nutrients limited and recycled

- water, carbon and nitrogen cycle

the hydrologic cycle

(the water cycle)

- evaporation, precipitation

- most evap @ equator

- runoff from land (nutrient/ mineral input to ocean)

- organic molecules contain C

- all C from seas from atmosphere CO2

-dissolves into sea at surface

- repiration produces CO2/ photosynthesis uses CO2

- C used by animals: skeletons made out of CaCO3 (corals, mollusks, etc...)

- dissolves into sea from atmosphere

(as N2 gas)

-nitrogen fixation

- N2 turned into nitrate + other forms and then used by autotrophs

- converts N2 to usable forms

- forms nutrients for photosynthesis

benthos: hard or soft bottom

pelagic realm:

- epipelagic zone: 0-200m

-mesopelagic: 200-1000m

- bathypelagic: 1000-4000m

-abyssal pelagic: 4000-6000m

-hadal pelagic: 6000-10000m

neritic/ nearshore:above cont. shelf

-intertidal/littoral (exposed at low tide, submerged at high tide)

-subtidal/sublittoral (cont. shelf beyond intertidal; always submerged)

oceanic: water beyond cont. shelf