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Ecology > Ch. 1 Introduction: The Web Of Life > Flashcards

Ch. 1 Introduction: The Web Of Life Flashcards

1
Q

Amphibians are ___ ___ of environmental problems.

A

Biological indicators

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2
Q

Amphibian skin is permeable, meaning..

A

Pollutant molecules can pass through easily

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3
Q

Amphibian eggs have no ___ ___.

A

Protective shell

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4
Q

Amphibians spend part of their life on land and part in water -

A

Exposed to pollutants and UV in both environments

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5
Q

Why are amphibians biological indicators of environmental problems?

A
  • skin is permeable
  • eggs have no protective shell
  • they spend part of their life on land and part in water
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6
Q

Humans have enormous ___ on the planet.

A

Impact

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7
Q

Ecology -

A

Scientific study of how organisms affect - and are affected by - other organisms and their environment

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8
Q

Ecology is an ___ approach.

A

Interdisciplinary

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9
Q

Events in the natural world are ___.

A

Interconnected

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10
Q

Even species that do not interact directly can be connected by shared ___ ___.

A

Environmental features

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11
Q

Observations of pacific tree frogs suggested that ___ can cause deformities.

A

Parasites

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12
Q

Deformities of pacific tree frogs occurred only in ponds which also had an aquatic ___, the intermediate host of the parasite.

A

Snail

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13
Q

All frogs with deformed limbs had ___ ___.

A

Ribeiroia cysts

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14
Q

Controlled experiment to test hypothesis that parasites caused deformities:

A
  • tree frog eggs were exposed to parasites in the lab
  • four treatments: 0, 16, 32, or 48 parasites
  • as parasite load increased, survival decreased and deformities in survivors increased
  • supported by other field work
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15
Q

Manipulative field experiment:

A
  • six ponds, three with pesticide contamination
  • added tadpoles to cages
  • six cages in each pond: three with mesh size allowing parasites to enter, three with mesh blocking parasites
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16
Q

Exclusion cage -

A

Cage with mesh blocking anything from entering

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17
Q

Manipulative field experiments on pacific tree frogs

What are the treatments?

A

Pesticides and parasites

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18
Q

Pesticides alone had no effect on deformities, but..

A

Pesticides significantly weakened resistance to parasites

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19
Q

___ use may also be a factor in frog deformities.

A

Fertilizer

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20
Q

Fertilizer use may also be a factor:

A
  • fertilizer in runoff to ponds increases algal growth
  • snails that harbor parasites eat algae
  • greater number of snails result in greater number of parasites
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21
Q

Many human actions have also increased human ___ ___.

A

Health risks

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22
Q

Damming rivers in Africa increases habitat for snails that carry ___.

A

Schistosomiasis

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23
Q

What human actions have also increased human health risks?

A
  • Damming rivers in Africa increases habitat for snails that carry schistosomiasis
  • new diseases may be related to human activities
  • humans expanding into more wilderness areas, contacting more animal hosts increases exposure to “novel” viruses
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24
Q

Birds are primary host and mosquitoes are vectors for what virus that spread from New York City?

A

West Nile

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25
Q

West Nile

Mammals are ___ carriers.

A

Dead end

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26
Q

___ is a branch of biology that combines information about organisms and the physical world.

A

Ecology

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27
Q

Environmental science is even more interdisciplinary

Incorporates concepts from..

A
  • the natural sciences
  • the social sciences
  • focuses on solutions to environmental problems
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28
Q

Early ecological views:

A
  • a “balance of nature”

- each species has a distinct role to play in maintaining that balance

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29
Q

A “balance of nature” -

A

Natural systems are stable and tend to return to an original state after disturbance

30
Q

Tipping points -

A

Natural systems do not necessarily return to their original state after a disturbance

31
Q

One view that has stood the gets of time:

A
  • events in nature are interconnected

- a change in one part of an ecological system can alter other parts of that system

32
Q

Some ecological maxims:

A
  • you can never just do one thing
  • everything goes somewhere
  • no population can increase in size forever
  • there is no free lunch
  • evolution matters
  • time matters
  • space matters
  • life would be impossible without species interactions
33
Q

Ecologists must select appropriate ___ of study.

A

Scales

34
Q

Small spatial scales:

A

Soil microorganisms

35
Q

Large spatial scales:

A

Atmospheric pollutants

36
Q

Short temporal scales:

A

Leaf response to sunlight

37
Q

Long temporal scales:

A

How species change over geologic time

38
Q

Ecologists study interactions in nature across many levels of ___.

A

Organization

39
Q

Ecological studies usually emphasize ___, ___, ___, or ___.

A

Individuals, populations, communities, or ecosystems

40
Q

A population -

A

Group of individuals of a single species that live in a particular area and interact with one another

41
Q

A community -

A

Association of populations of different species living in the same area

42
Q

Organism -
Population -
Community -
Biosphere -

A
  • fish
  • school of fish
  • coral reef
  • all of that together
43
Q

An ___ is a community of organisms plus the physical environment in which they live.

A

Ecosystem

44
Q

___ are areas with substantial differences, typically including multiple ecosystems.

A

Landscapes

45
Q

The biosphere:

A
  • all the worlds ecosystems taken together

- all living organisms on Watch plus environments in which they live

46
Q

Adaptation -

A

A feature of an organism that improves its ability to survive or reproduce in its environment

47
Q

Natural selection -

A

An evolutionary process in which individuals that possess particular characteristics survive or reproduce at a higher rate than other individuals because of those characteristics

48
Q

Producer -

A

An organism that uses energy from an external source, such as the sun, to produce its own food without having to eat other organisms or their remains

49
Q

Consumer -

A

An organism that obtains its energy by eating other organisms or their remains

50
Q

Net primary production (NPP) -

A

The amount of energy (per unit of time) that producers fix by photosynthesis or other means, minus the amount they use in cellular respiration

51
Q

Nutrient cycle -

A

The cyclic movement of a nutrient between organisms and the physical environment

52
Q

All living things evolve ->

A

Change over time

53
Q

Three variables important for natural selection to operate:

A
  • variation among individuals within the population
  • heritability of the variations
  • differential fitness due to variation
54
Q

Energy enters community when ___ capture energy from an external source and uses that energy to produce food.

A

Producers

55
Q

___ moves through ecosystems in a single direction only.

A

Energy

56
Q

___ are continuously recycled from the physical environment to organisms and back again.

A

Nutrients

57
Q

Ecologists use several methods to answer questions about the natural world:

A
  • observational studies in the field
  • controlled experiments in the laboratory
  • manipulative experiments in the field
  • quantitative models
58
Q

The study of global climate change involves using a mixture of..

A
  • observational studies
  • small-scale experiments
  • quantitative models
59
Q

Climate change -

A

A directional change in climate that occurs over 30 years or longer

60
Q

Key aspects of good experimental design:

A
  • replication

- randomization

61
Q

Replication -

A

Perform each treatment more than once

As number of replicates increases, it becomes less likely that the results were actually due to a variable that was not measured or controlled

62
Q

Increased ___ ___ within treatments decreases likelihood that effects are due to chance alone.

A

Sample size

63
Q

Randomization -

A
  • assign treatments at random

- helps limit effects of unmeasured variables

64
Q

Standard ___ ___ are used to determine significant effects.

A

Statistical analyses

65
Q

Scientists learn about the natural world by a series of steps called the ___ ___.

A

Scientific method

66
Q

Inductive reasoning -

A

Make observations and ask questions

67
Q

Deductive reasoning -

A

Use previous knowledge or intuition to develop a testable hypothesis

68
Q

Scientific method:

A
  • make observations and ask questions
  • use previous knowledge or intuition to develop a testable hypothesis
  • make a testable prediction based on hypothesis
  • evaluate hypothesis by examining results of experiments, a comparative observational study, or quantitative models
  • use results to modify the hypothesis, to pose new questions, or to draw conclusions about the natural world
69
Q

Alternative hypothesis -

A

Different “explanations” for phenomenon

70
Q

Scientific theory -

A
  • from consistent results

- supported by lots of data, usually from many different sources

Ecology (12 decks)

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