Ecology and Geology: Key Concepts and Relationships

Interspecific Relationships in Communities

Interspecific relationships within communities include:

• Predation: One organism kills and feeds on another.
• Competition: Organisms compete for the same resources (can be interspecific or intraspecific).
• Parasitism: One organism benefits at the expense of another.
• Social Parasitism: One species uses another for its own purposes (e.g., mosquito eggs).
• Commensalism: One organism benefits from another's actions without affecting it (e.g., beetles or vultures benefiting from excrement).
• Mutualism: Two organisms live in harmony (e.g., clownfish and anemones).
• Inquilinism: One organism finds protection from another (e.g., coral).
• Symbiosis: Two species live together to survive (e.g., bees and flowers).

Trophic Levels in a Food Chain

Trophic levels in a food chain include:

• Producers: Convert inorganic matter into organic matter (e.g., algae and microorganisms).
• Primary Consumers: Feed on producers (e.g., zooplankton).
• Secondary Consumers: Feed on primary consumers (e.g., lions and cheetahs).
• Tertiary Consumers: Feed on secondary consumers (top carnivores).
• Decomposers: Break down organic matter into inorganic matter (e.g., fungi).

Types of Plate Boundaries

Types of plate boundaries:

• Divergent Boundaries: Separation of plates.
• Convergent Boundaries: Collision of plates.
• Transform Boundaries: Plates slide past each other (passive).

Major Tectonic Plates

Major tectonic plates include:

1. Juan de Fuca Plate
2. Pacific Plate
3. Cocos Plate
4. North American Plate
5. Nazca Plate
6. South American Plate
7. African Plate
8. Eurasian Plate
9. Arabian Plate
10. Indo-Australian Plate
11. Philippine Sea Plate
12. Antarctic Plate

Adaptations to Food Scarcity

Adaptations to lack of food:

• Storing energy reserves in their body.
• Storing food in hidden places.
• Migrating to find food.

R-Strategists vs. K-Strategists

R-Strategists (many descendants, no care, grow fast, emigrate, wait for optimal conditions).

K-Strategists (few descendants, ecosystem with more variations, take care, high probability to live).

Types of Populations

Types of populations:

• Invertebrate Colonies: Connected and related to each other, asexual reproduction.
• Family Groups: Come from a pair of animals whose offspring stay together with the family unit.
• Caste System of Social Insects: Come from one mother.
• Social Groups: Tend to live together, sometimes are transitory.

Soil Horizons

Horizons of the soil:

• Bedrock
• Horizon C (fragment from bedrock)
• Horizon B (light color with no humus)
• Horizon A (dark color with humus)
• Rocks

Spanish Ecosystems

Ecosystems in Spain:

• Macaronesian: Mild temperatures year-round, scarce rainfall year-round, volcanic and very infertile soil (e.g., Canary Islands pine).
• High Mountain: Low temperatures year-round, scarce rainfall (snow), rocky and infertile substrate (e.g., brown bear).
• Atlantic: Constant temperatures year-round, abundant rainfall, acidic soil (e.g., laurel).
• Mediterranean: Hot summers and cold winters, seasonal rainfall, fertile and basic substrate (e.g., wild boar).

Impact of Human Activity

Human activity impacts:

• Pollution
• Overexploitation
• Uncontrolled construction
• Waste production

Ecosystems and Ecological Pyramids

An ecosystem is a combined group of living things and physical factors where they live, and the biotic or abiotic relationships between them.

Types of ecological pyramids: Energy pyramids, biomass pyramids, number pyramids.

Types of Faults

Types of faults:

• Dip-Slip Faults: Normal, reverse, vertical fault.
• Strike-Slip Faults: Left lateral or sinistral tear fault, right lateral or dextral tear fault.

Types of Volcanic Eruptions

Types of eruptions:

• Hawaiian Eruption: Few lava and gases but frequently.
• Vulcanian Eruption: Dense lava, dangerous explosion.
• Plinian Eruption: Frequent emission of ash and clouds of gas.

Aquatic Ecosystems

Aquatic ecosystems:

• Fluvial ecosystem
• Wetlands
• Coastal ecosystem
• Marine ecosystems

Marine Biomes

Marine biomes:

• Plankton
• Nekton
• Benthic organisms