Core Ecological Definitions
- Ecosystem: Biocenosis + biotope + their interactions.
- Biotope: The physical environment of an ecosystem.
- Biocenosis: All living organisms inhabiting an ecosystem.
- Population: A group of individuals of the same species inhabiting an ecosystem.
- Ecological Niche: The specific function of a species within an ecosystem.
Biomass and Productivity Metrics
- Biomass: The mass of living material present at a specific moment in a specific space.
- Production: The amount of biomass produced in a specific time at a specific trophic level.
- PPN (Net Primary Production): Biomass increments of producers.
- PPB (Gross Primary Production): Total energy fixed by plants minus respiration.
- PSN (Net Secondary Production): Biomass increments of consumers.
- PN Ecosystem: Total photosynthesis minus total respiration.
- Productivity: The relationship between production and biomass.
- Efficiency: The percentage of net production transferred to the next trophic level.
Species Adaptations and Strategies
- Stenoece: Individuals with low tolerance to environmental changes.
- Euryoecious: Individuals with high tolerance to environmental changes.
- r-strategists: High biotic potential, high birth rate, many offspring with little care, high mortality, generalist species.
- k-strategists: Low birth rate, few offspring with parental care, low mortality, specialist species.
Biological Relationships
Intraspecific Relationships
- Family: Parents and offspring.
- Gregarious: Individuals grouping for protection or migration.
- Colonial: Permanent groups resulting from asexual reproduction of a progenitor.
- State: Hierarchy and division of labor.
- Territoriality and Competition: Resource defense and rivalry.
Interspecific Relationships
- Mutualism: Both species benefit; non-permanent or non-obligatory.
- Symbiosis: Both species benefit; permanent and obligatory.
- Competition: Rivalry for resources.
- Parasitism: One benefits at the expense of another.
- Predation: One organism consumes another.
- Commensalism: One benefits, the other is unaffected.
- Inquilinism: One organism lives inside or on another for shelter.
- Amensalism: One species produces substances that harm another without benefit to itself.
Energy and Trophic Structures
- Endosomatic Energy: Energy within cells, transferred through nutrition.
- Exosomatic Energy: Energy used outside the body for movement, heat, etc.
- Trophic Chain: An ordered set of living beings where each serves as food for the next.
- Food Web: A representation of the complex trophic relationships among populations.
- Trophic Pyramid: A schematic representation of feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
- Pyramid of Power: Shows energy flow between levels (10% efficiency).
- Pyramid of Numbers: Number of individuals at each trophic level.
- Pyramid of Biomass: Amount of biomass at a specific moment in an ecosystem.
