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Populations and Ecosystems (The Structure of Ecosystems (Trophic Levels…
Populations and Ecosystems
Plants in Relationship to Their Habitats
Habitats
Abiotic Components of the Habitat
Climate
Climate is critically important to all organisms.
Climate itself has many components
Temperature
Between the low and high extremes is the tolerance range of the organism.
Rainfall
Relative Humidity
Winds
Soil Factors
Soils are formed by breakdown of rock.
Pioneers are the first plants that invade a new soil.
A horizon is uppermost and is sometimes called the zone of leaching.
B horizon is the zone of deposition
C horizon composed mostly of parent rock and rock fragments.
Latitude and Altitude
Latitude contributes many factors to the abiotic environment.
Disturbance
Disturbances are phenomena such as:
Fires
Landslides
Snow Avalanches
Floods
Biotic Components of the Habitat
The Plant Itself
Modifies the habitat and is a part of it.
Other Plant Species
When the interaction is basically beneficial to both organisms.
Mutualism
When the interaction is disadventageous
Competition
Competitive exclusion
Whichever species is less adapted is excluded from the ecosystem by superior competitors.
A niche is a set of conditions that a species is adapted to
Organisms Other Than Plants
Commensal relationships one species benefits and the other is unaffected.
Predation is a relationship in which one species benefits and the other is harmed.
Herbivores
Animals that eat plants.
The process is called herbivory
More often browsing or grazing.
Habitats are the set of conditions in which an organism completes its life cycle.
Aspects of the habitat that definitely affect a plant constitute its operational habitat.
The Structure of Populations
Geographic Distribution
Limiting factor
The determining factor of the health of the plant.
The ability of a plant species to spread throughout a geographic area is a result of its adaptations to components of that area.
Random distribution is when there is no pattern of position of individuals.
Clumped distributions are those in which the spacing between plants is either small or large.
Uniform distributions are the types that occur in orchards and tree plantations.
Age Distribution: Demography
Generation Time
The length of time from the birth of one individual until the birth of its first offspring.
Intrinsic rate of natural increase
Or Biotic potential
The number of offspring produced by an individual that actually live to reproduce.
r- and K-Selection
K is the carrying capacity
r is biotic potential
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r selection is a disturbance producing r conditions.
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The Structure of Ecosystems
Physiognomic Structure
The physical size and shape of the organisms and their distribution in relation to each other and the physical environment
Temporal Structure
The changes that an ecosystem undergoes with time
Species Composition
Refers to the number and diversity of species that coexist in an ecosystem
Trophic Levels
Basically feeding levels
