Chapter 1: The Nature of Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the relationships between organisms and their environment.

Question 2

What is included in the environment?

Answer 2

• Abiotic factors (physical, chemical)
• Biotic factors (biological)

Question 3

Why do we need to understand the world around us?

Answer 3

• Improve our environment
• Manage natural resources
• Protect human health

Question 4

What is natural history?

Answer 4

The descriptive study of the natural world.

Question 5

What is the cornerstone of ecology?

Answer 5

Darwin’s theory of natural selection (1859)
- Organisms evolve by adapting to changing environmental conditions

Question 6

Who is Ernst Haeckel?

Answer 6

Coined the term ecology (1866) and popularized Darwin’s work.

Question 7

Who is Justus von Liebig?

Answer 7

The father of organic chemistry who created an apparatus for measuring carbon content. Discovered that plants use CO2 from the air and not the soil.

Question 8

What is Liebig’s Law of the Minimum?

Answer 8

Plant growth is limited by a nutrient that is shortest in supply.

Question 9

How does climate change affect food supply?

Answer 9

• Warming and increased CO2 in the biosphere may help plants grow faster. But, more extreme weather events reduces crop yields.
• Water warming and pollution causes fish to move north, changing communities.

Question 10

What is environmentalism?

Answer 10

A social movement that advocates the preservation, restoration, and improvement of the natural environment, and may be referred to as a movement to control pollution or protect plant and animal diversity.

Question 11

What is the hierarchy of ecological systems from smallest to largest?

Answer 11

Individual, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere.

Question 12

What emergent properties exist at the individual level?

Answer 12

• Metabolism
• Regulated growth
• Reproduction

Question 13

What subdivision is studied at the individual level?

Answer 13

Physiological ecology: The functioning of an individual organism.

Question 14

What is an example of an experiment at the individual level?

Answer 14

A species of coral disintegrates as a result of more CO2 in the biosphere -> weak carbonic acid in the ocean -> higher acidity -> more breakdown.

Question 15

What is an individual?

Answer 15

The basic unit of ecology.

Question 16

What is a population?

Answer 16

A group of individuals of the same species that occupy a given area.

Question 17

What are the emergent properties of a population?

Answer 17

• Birth and death rates
• Distribution of individuals

Question 18

What subdivision is studied at the population level?

Answer 18

Population ecology: Studies structure and dynamics of populations and factors affecting populations.

Question 19

What is an example of population ecology?

Answer 19

Warming and pollution decrease the population of 2 different coral species. The hybrid of these 2 species is better adapted to these conditions.

Question 20

What is a community?

Answer 20

All populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem.

Question 21

What are the emergent properties of an ecosysem?

Answer 21

• Species interactions
• Relative abundance of species

Question 22

What subdivision is studied at the community level?

Answer 22

Community ecology: Studies factors that influence biodiversity, community structure, and the distribution and abundance of species.

Question 23

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 23

The biotic community plus the physical environment (abiotic).

Question 24

What are the emergent properties of the ecosystem?

Answer 24

Flow of energy and nutrients through the physical and biological systems.

Question 25

What are examples of ecosystem ecology?

Answer 25

- Ocean warming and pollution causes bleaching (algal symbionts leave) in corals. - Corals in the Pacific survive better than those in the Atlantic because there are more diverse fish (eat nutrients off coral)

Question 26

What subdivision is studied at the ecosystem level?

Answer 26

Ecosystem ecology: Studies how the living and nonliving components interact with each other and how both natural and human-induced changes affect how they function.

Question 27

What is a landscape?

Answer 27

An area of land (or water) composed of a patchwork of communities and ecosystems.

Question 28

What subdivision is studied at the landscape level?

Answer 28

Landscape ecology: Factors that influence the spatial distribution of ecosystems and the effect on organisms.

Question 29

What is a biome?

Answer 29

Broad-scale geographic regions with similar geological and climatic conditions and dominated by similar types of ecosystems.

Question 30

What subdivision is studied at the biome level?

Answer 30

Biogeography: Patterns ob biological diversity with geography, biome level.

Question 31

What are examples of ecosystems within a biome?

Answer 31

Foothills of Brooks Range and Beaufort Coastal Plain are ecosystems that both exist in a Tundra biome.

Question 32

What is the biosphere?

Answer 32

The thin layer at the surface of Earth that supports all life.

Question 33

What subdivision is studied at the biosphere level?

Answer 33

Global ecology: Functioning of Earth's environment as a whole, interactions between ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Question 34

What is the scientific method?

Answer 34

- Observations - Question - Hypothesis - Predictions - Experiments - Analysis

Question 35

What are the 2 main types of experiments in ecology?

Answer 35

- Lab experiments - Field experiments

Question 36

What are models?

Answer 36

Abstract, simplified representations of real systems that provide a basis for predictions. Can be mathematical or verbal/conceptual.

Question 37

What are the types of categorical data?

Answer 37

- Nominal: Unordered (hair color) - Ordinal: Ordered (post-reproductive) - Binary: 2 categories (sex)

Question 38

What are the types of numerical data?

Answer 38

- Discrete: Certain values (integers) - Continuous: Any value (height)

Question 39

What is a theory?

Answer 39

An integrated set of hypotheses that together explain a broader set of observations than any single hypothesis.

Question 40

What are the 4 crucial areas in problems facing humanity?

Answer 40

- Human population growth - Biological diversity - Sustainability - Global climate change