Chapter 1

Question 1

Of or referring to the physical or nonliving environment.

Answer 1

Abiotic

Question 2

A physiological, morphological, or behavioral trait with an underlying genetic basis that enhances the survival and reproduction of its bearers in their environment.

Answer 2

Adaptation

Question 3

The highest level of biological organization, consisting of all living organisms on Earth plus the environments in which they live; located between the lithosphere and the troposphere.

Answer 3

Biosphere

Question 4

Of or referring to the living components of an environment.

Answer 4

Biotic

Question 5

Directional change in climate over a period of three decades or longer.

Answer 5

Climate Change

Question 6

A group of interacting species that occur together at the same place and time.

Answer 6

Community

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Consumer

Question 8

A standard scientific approach in which an experimental group (that has the factor being tested) is compared with a control group (that lacks the factor being tested).

Answer 8

Controlled Experiment

Question 9

The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment.

Answer 9

Ecology

Question 10

All the organisms in a given area as well as the physical environment in which they live; can include one or more communities.

Answer 10

Ecosystem

Question 11

An interdisciplinary field of study that incorporates concepts from the natural sciences (including ecology) and the social sciences (e.g., politics, economics, ethics), focused on how people affect the environment and how we can address environmental problems.

Answer 11

Environmental Science

Question 12

(1) Change in allele frequencies in a population over time. (2) Descent with modification; the process by which organisms gradually accumulate differences from their ancestors.

Answer 12

Evolution

Question 13

A possible answer to a question developed using previous knowledge or intuition.

Answer 13

Hypothesis

Question 14

An area that is spatially heterogeneous in one or more features of the environment, such as the number or arrangement of different habitat types; typically includes multiple ecosystems.

Answer 14

Landscape

Question 15

The process by which individuals with certain heritable characteristics tend to survive and reproduce more successfully than other individuals because of those characteristics.

Answer 15

Natural Selection

Question 16

The amount of energy per unit of time that producers capture by photosynthesis and chemosynthesis, minus the amount they use in cellular respiration.

Answer 16

Net Primary Production (NPP)

Question 17

The cyclic movement of nutrients between organisms and the physical environment.

Answer 17

Nutrient Cycle

Question 18

A group of individuals of the same species that live within a particular area and interact with one another.

Answer 18

Population

Question 19

An organism that can produce its own food by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis; also called a primary producer or autotroph.

Answer 19

Producer

Question 20

The performance of each treatment of a controlled experiment, including the control, more than once.

Answer 20

Replication

Question 21

The spatial or temporal dimension at which ecological observations are collected.

Answer 21

Scale

Question 22

An iterative and self-correcting process by which scientists learn about the natural world, consisting of four steps: (1) observe nature and ask a question about those observations; (2) develop possible answers to that question (hypotheses); (3) evaluate competing hypotheses with experiments, observations, or quantitative models; (4) use the results of those experiments, observations, or models to modify the hypotheses, pose new questions, or draw conclusions.

Answer 22

Scientific Method