CH 4 Temp & Water

Question 1

What is ecological success (or fitness)?

Answer 1

An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce

Question 2

What is the difference between an organism’s potential distribution and actual distribution?

Answer 2

Potential distribution is based on environment and resources

Actual distribution is based on environment, resources, and organismal interactions.

Question 3

What is environmental stress?

Answer 3

an environmental change that results in decreased rates of physiological processes which lowers the potential for survival, growth, or reproduction (lowers ecological fitness)

Question 4

Acclimatization vs. Adaptation

Answer 4

Acclimatization - adjusting to stress through behavior, physiology, and morphology. short term and reversible process.

Adaptation - due to natural selection. long term and irreversible.

Question 5

What is the major difference between plant and animal temperature change equations?

Answer 5

Animals can generate heat internally (metabolic heat H_met )

Question 6

How does the surface area to volume ratio of an animal change with increasing animal size?

How does this affect the animal’s ability to exchange heat with the environment?

Answer 6

The surface area to volume ratio decreases as animal size increases

With increasing size, the animal’s ability to exchange heat decreases