GEOL 1340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 38: Primary Succession, Ecological Succession, Ecological Niche

• School: University of Houston
• Department: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
• Course: GEOL 1340
• Professor: Lytwyn Jennifer

Document Summary

Lake ecosystem: communities, changes through mutations, evolution and natural selection, biological evolution delivers biodiversity. Nice: function or occupation of life form in community. Competitive exclusion principle: no two species occupy same niche successfully. Characteristics of environment that determine distribution and population size. Members that can reproduce sexually and make viable offspring. Each inherited trait guided by gene that is segment of dna. Large populations tend to be genetically stable and slow to evolve. Allopatric speciation: larger population is split into subpopulation occupying different. Peripheral isolates eventually evolve into new species. Persisted until great permian extinction 250 mil years ago. Inertial stability: tendency of species populations to resist low level disturbance. Humans eliminate biodiversity by simplifying agricultural ecosystems into single crops. Makes vulnerable to failure: ecosystems and biodiversity, ecosystem stability, ecosystem resilience, genetics and population, how new species originate ecological niche, agricultural ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, three waves of evolution. Loss of biodiversity due to climate and humans irreversible.