Ch 12 - Interactions Within Ecosystems

Question 1

What is a habitat?

Answer 1

A place where an organism lives

Question 2

What are the 2 classifications of environmental conditions?

Answer 2

• abiotic (non-living)
• biotic (living)

Question 2

What are abiotic factors?

Answer 2

physical environment:
* mineral salts and salinity
* pH
* water
* air
* light
* temperature

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Question 3

What are two types of adaptive traits/adaptations?

Answer 3

• physical
• behavioral

Question 4

What is an organism?

Answer 4

a living thing

Question 4

What is a population?

Answer 4

It is made up of organisms of the same species living in the same environment.

Question 5

What is a community?

Answer 5

It is made up of different populations (of plants and animals) living together in the same environment.

Question 6

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 6

It is made up of interactions between communities and the abiotic factors in the environment.

Question 7

What are the levels in an ecosystem?

Answer 7

• organism
• population
• community
• ecosystem

Question 7

What is the biotic environment?

Answer 7

It refers to all organisms in a habitat.

Question 8

What are 3 examples of interrelationships?

Answer 8

1. Predator-prey relationship
2. Mutualism
3. Parasitism

Question 9

What is a predator-prey relationship?

Answer 9

• predator: animal that lives by killing & eating other animals
• prey: animal that is killed and eaten by another animal

Question 10

What are examples of predator-prey relationships?

Answer 10

• ladybird (predator), aphid (prey)
• leopard (predator), deer (prey)

Question 10

What is mutualism?

Answer 10

It is a relationship between 2 organisms in which both organisms benefit from eachother.

Question 11

What are examples of mutualism?

Answer 11

• oxpeckers eat ticks & parasites on skin, rhino and zebra get pest control
• clownfish eat dead tentacles - clean, poisonous tentacles protect clownfish

Question 11

What is parasitism?

Answer 11

It is a relationship between two organisms in which the parasite benefits at the expense of the host, without killing it.

Question 12

What are examples of parasitism?

Answer 12

• tapeworms in animal’s intestines - deprives host from nutrients
• rafflesia obtains its nutrients from vines & emits horrible smell

Question 13

How do you achieve a stable ecosystem?

Answer 13

If the physical factors and interrelationships in an ecosystem can be maintained.

Question 14

What happens if there is a drastic change in the interrelationships or physical environment?

Answer 14

It would disrupt the stability of the ecosystem.

Question 15

What does a food chain show?

Answer 15

It shows the feeding relationships between organisms.

Question 15

What is each stage in a food chain known as?

Answer 15

a trophic level

Question 16

What is the first trophic level called?

Answer 16

producer

Question 16

What is the second trophic level called?

Answer 16

primary consumer

Question 17

What is the third trophic level called?

Answer 17

secondary consumer

Question 18

What is the fourth trophic level called?

Answer 18

tertiary consumer

Question 19

What is a food web?

Answer 19

It is made of inter-linked food chains.

Question 19

During feeding, what is transferred from one organism to another?

Answer 19

energy and nutrients

Question 20

How much energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next?

Answer 20

10%

Question 21

What are 3 ways energy can be lost at each trophic level?

Answer 21

* as excretory products * as heat during respiration * as uneaten parts of the organism

Question 21

How much energy is lost from one trophic level to the next?

Answer 21

90%

Question 22

Why do food chains seldom have more than five trophic levels?

Answer 22

There is insufficient enrgy among the animals at the end of a long food chain to be transferred to another animal for survival.

Question 23

What do decomposers feed on?

Answer 23

the remains of dead organisms and faeces

Question 24

The flow of energy in a food chain / food web is...

Answer 24

non-cyclical (energy flows in one direction)

Question 25

The flow of nutrients in an ecosystem is...

Answer 25

cyclical (continuously recycled)

Question 26

What are 3 ways the balance of an ecosystem can be upset?

Answer 26

* introduction of new animals and plants into the habitat * disease outbreaks, which can kill one kind of animal/plant * human activities (deforestation, hunting, over-fishing)