Organisms and the Environment:
Niche:
Habitat:
Competitive Exclusion Principle:
The Ecosystem:
Ecosystem Classification:
Types of Ecosystems:
Physical Factors:
Inorganic Substances:
Organic Compounds:
Classified into different groups:
Producers:
Consumers:
Decomposers:
Ecosystem Dynamics and Food Chains
Food Chain
Trophic Levels in Food Chain
Types of Food Chains
Food Web
Energy Flow and Ecological Pyramid
Types of Ecological Pyramids
Nutrient Cycling (Biogeochemical Cycles)
Types of Nutrient Cycles
The Carbon Cycle
Processes in the Carbon Cycle
Human Impact on the Carbon Cycle
The Nitrogen Cycle
Water Cycle (Hydrological Cycle)
Phosphorus Cycle
Phosphorus in the Environment
Ecological Succession and Definitions
Dynamic Nature of Biotic Communities
Changes during Succession
Sere and Seral Stages
Types of Successions
Primary Succession
Climax Community
Types of Successions based on Moisture
Secondary Succession
Causes of Ecological Succession
Homeostasis of Ecosystem
Productivity of Ecosystem
Primary Productivity
Secondary Productivity
Net Productivity
Ecosystem Overview:
Interconnected Components: Biotic and abiotic elements within the biosphere's ecosystem are closely related, facilitating energy, water, chemical, and sediment transfer via large-scale cyclic mechanisms.
Sustained Life and Ecosystems: Sustained life is a characteristic of ecosystems rather than individual organisms or populations.
Environmental Principles: Holliman's four environmental principles emphasize material cycles, interrelatedness of systems and problems, finite Earth resources, and nature's refinement of stable ecosystems.
Uniformitarianism in Processes: Physical and biological processes follow the principle of uniformitarianism, operating similarly across time periods but with varying rates due to human-induced environmental changes.
Natural Hazards and Biological Communities: Natural hazards affect biological communities, often creating severe risks to both wildlife and humans.
Organism-Environment Interactions: All living organisms and the physical environment mutually react, with interactions at different levels - positive, negative, or neutral.
Solar Radiation and Energy Flow: Solar radiation, harnessed via photosynthesis by green plants, drives ecosystem energy flow following thermodynamic laws.
Trophic Levels and Energy Transfer: Energy moves from lower to higher trophic levels, but higher levels often receive energy from multiple sources.
Trophic Level Relationships: Principles highlight the relationship between trophic levels, energy transfer, efficiency, and food chain length.
Biogeochemical Cycles: Inorganic and organic substances circulate via closed biogeochemical cycles among biosphere components.
Ecosystem Productivity: Ecosystem productivity relies on solar radiation availability and plant efficiency in converting it to chemical energy.
Ecosystem Stability: Self-regulating mechanisms maintain ecological stability through diversity, complexity, and homeostatic mechanisms.
Ecosystem Instability: Ecosystems become unstable when unable to adapt to environmental changes.
Dynamic Nature of Ecosystems: Charles Darwin's evolutionary concepts exemplify the dynamic nature of ecosystems.
Evolution and Mutation: Concepts of species evolution were challenged by mutation theory, proposing inheritable variations via spontaneous change.
Sere and Climax Vegetation: Transitional stages of vegetation changes culminate in a stable climax community through succession.
Successional Changes: Ecological succession and ecosystem development involve changes leading to increased complexity, structure, productivity, soil maturity, and stability.
Human Impact on Ecosystems: Human activities reduce ecological diversity and complexity by exploiting natural resources.
Preserving Ecosystem Diversity: Urges the application of ecological knowledge to preserve diversity in a world facing rapid resource depletion.
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1. What is ecology and how does it relate to geography? |
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4. How do human activities impact the ecological dynamics of different geographic regions? |
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