Broadly, a community is any group of two or more species co-existing in the same geographic location. Communities exist on many scales, and the natural resources necessary to support communities are a vital key to their survival. In the same way that communities exist at different scales, natural resources exist and must be studied to discover how they are used by all … [Read more...]
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are ecological functions or processes that produce life-generating resources, such as fresh water and food. Ecosystem services are performed at no cost to humans, but without them, we would not survive. Examples of ecosystem services include: pollination, the hydrologic cycle, carbon sequestration, and more. The services provided by organisms either are or … [Read more...]
Biomagnification
Biomagnification is the increase in concentration of a chemical or substance in a population as trophic levels increase. This occurs when chemicals are persistent and cannot be broken down easily in the environment. An example of biomagnification is the increase in concentrations of toxic pesticide, DDT, as it moves up the food chain. DDT enters freshwater through agricultural … [Read more...]
Connectivity-Naghavi
Landscape connectivity refers to how connected fragments of land, with resources, are to one another, and how this level of being connected facilitates or impedes an organism's movement to patches of resources. This affects the resource use and gene flow of a population. Source: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol6/iss2/art10/ Picture … [Read more...]
Source-sink dynamics
Source-sink dynamics involve habitats that are population “sources,” where birth rates exceed death rates, and habitats that are population “sinks,” where death rates exceed birth rates. Ideally, populations would inhabit source areas until it reaches maximum population size. Then, populations would inhabit sink areas until it reaches maximum population size. Then, … [Read more...]