Chapter 15: Ecosystems and Communities

Question 1

Ecosystem

Answer 1

A community of biological organisms plus the non living components with which the organisms interact

Question 2

Biotic Environment

Answer 2

Consists of all the living organisms within an area and is often referred to as a community

Question 3

Habitat

Answer 3

The chemical resources of the soil, water, and air as well as the physical conditions such as the temperature, moisture, and humidity

Question 4

Biomes

Answer 4

A large naturally occurring community of flora or fauna occupying a major habitat. Ex. Forest

Question 5

Formation of Rain

Answer 5

Air is heated and rises. Rising air cools. Cooling air loses moisture

Question 6

Human Engineering

Answer 6

Unintended consequences can occur when humans alter the land such as changes in temperature and in wind speed and direction

Question 7

Rain Shadow

Answer 7

Warm air holds onto moisture and will often the air will pull moisture from the ground intensifying the already dry conditions

Question 8

Topography

Answer 8

The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area

Question 9

El Niño

Answer 9

A dramatic climate change driven by ocean currents causes a sustained surface temperature change in the central Pacific Ocean that causes flooding, droughts, and famine

Question 10

Domino Effect

Answer 10

A reduction in the usual east to west ocean breeze can cause a cascade of disastrous weather

Question 11

La Niña

Answer 11

Ocean surface temperatures are lower than usual and the climate effects are opposite of El Niño

Question 12

Trophic Levels

Answer 12

An ecosystem comprised of organisms that share the same function in the food chain and the same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy

Question 13

Producers

Answer 13

Plants convert the suns light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis

Question 14

Primary Productivity Level

Answer 14

The amount of organic material produced in a biome

Question 15

Primary Consumers- The Herbivores

Answer 15

Animals that eat plants. These animals need a little help digesting their food and often have bacteria to help digest the food

Question 16

Secondary Consumers- The Carnivores

Answer 16

Are animals that feed on herbivores. As they eat prey, some of the energy stored in the chemical bonds are captured and used for their own movement, reproduction, and growth

Question 17

Tertiary Consumers- Top Carnivores

Answer 17

Are animals that eat other carnivores

Question 18

Food Webs

Answer 18

A system of interlocking and interdependent food chains

Question 19

Omnivores

Answer 19

Eat both plants and animals

Question 20

Decomposers

Answer 20

Break down the organic material harvesting the energy still stored in the chemical bonds

Question 21

Food Chain

Answer 21

Path from producers to tertiary consumers

Question 22

Biomass

Answer 22

Is the total weight of living or non living organic material in a given volume of all plant and animal matter in an ecosystem

Question 23

Energy Pyramid

Answer 23

Each layer of the pyramid represents the biomass of a trophic level

Question 24

Eutrophication

Answer 24

The increase in nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus in an ecosystem

Question 25

Niche

Answer 25

The space an organism requires, food sources, reproduction, competitors within an ecosystem

Question 26

Fundamental Niche

Answer 26

The full range of environmental conditions under which they can live

Question 27

Realized Niche

Answer 27

The actual space that an organism inhabits and the resources it can access as a result of limiting pressures from other species

Question 28

Coevolution

Answer 28

The influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution

Question 29

Competitive Exclusion

Answer 29

Two species battle for resources in the same niche until the more efficient one wins and the other species is driven to extinction in that location

Question 30

Resource Partitioning

Answer 30

Is an alternative outcome of niche overlap. Individual organisms and species can adapt to changing environmental conditions and can result in an organisms behavioral or structural change

Question 31

Character Displacement

Answer 31

An evolutionary divergence in one or both of the species that leads to a partitioning of the niche

Question 32

Predation

Answer 32

An interaction between 2 species in which one species eats the other

Question 33

Physical Defenses

Answer 33

Include mechanical, chemical, warning coloration, and camouflage mechanisms

Question 34

Mechanical Defenses

Answer 34

Adaptations like sharp quills on a porcupine or spines of a cactus

Question 35

Chemical Defenses

Answer 35

Chemical toxins that make the prey poisonous

Question 36

Warning Coloration

Answer 36

Species protected from predation by toxic chemicals frequently have bright color patterns

Question 37

Camouflage

Answer 37

Patterns of coloration that enable them to blend into their surroundings

Question 38

Behavioral Defenses

Answer 38

Include hiding or escaping, alarm calling or fighting back

Question 39

Hiding or Escaping

Answer 39

Includes safety in numbers like traveling in large groups to reduce their predation risk

Question 40

Alarm Calling and Fighting Back

Answer 40

A seabird that defends its best from attacks with projectile vomiting aimed at the intruder

Question 41

Parasitism

Answer 41

One organism benefits while the other organism is harmed

Question 42

Mutualism

Answer 42

An interaction in which both species gain and neither is harmed

Question 43

Commensalism

Answer 43

One species benefits and the other species neither benefits or is harmed

Question 44

Succession

Answer 44

Process of nature reclaiming an area and of communities gradually changing over time

Question 45

Colonizing Community

Answer 45

Fungi, bacteria, and seeds are often among the earliest colonizers

Question 46

Intermediate Communities

Answer 46

Mosses, small herbs arrives, and small trees grow and outcompete the shrubs

Question 47

Climax Community

Answer 47

Larger species outcompete the initial colonizers and persist as a stable and self sustaining community

Question 48

Keystone Species

Answer 48

The presence of some species greatly influences which other species are present and which are not