The degree of disorder(Of energy and ecosystems). Ecosystems are thermodynamically driven. Disorder occurs when energy dissipates and becomes more chaotic. For example, the release of hot air into the atmosphere …
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An evolutionary stable strategyAn evolutionary stable strategy is individual behaviour that, when scaled to the population-level, means that population is relatively stable. As long as the outside environment remains in …
It’s not the amount of energyEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess …
A single thread in a food web illustrating the chain of animals that eat each other. At the base of the food chainA single thread in a food web illustrating …
The energyEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that …
(Of an ecosystemHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans …
A period of reduction in Earth’s temperature of between about 4–7 degrees that resulted in the rapid expansion of ice sheets and glaciation of much of the Earth’s surface.
The cool phase of an ocean cycle (opposite to El Niño) that periodically sees a reduction in warm water flow across the Pacific. La Niña‘s effect on wildlife is that …
Animal life hasn’t existed for very long on planet Earth. In the last 500 million years, there have been five mass extinctions, defined as events that wiped out at least …
Where an ecosystem achieves a steady stable-state(of an ecosystem) where free surplus energy is minimised, where there is maximum entropy production and minimum waste. In such a system, there is …
