Chapter #18

Question 1

Organismal Ecology

Answer 1

evolutionary adaptations that enable individual organisms to survive in their environment.

Question 2

Pelagic Realm

Answer 2

the ocean begins at the low tide mark and includes the entire oceanic water column

Question 3

Permafrost

Answer 3

a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year, occurring chiefly in polar regions.

Question 4

Photic Zone

Answer 4

the upper layer of a body of water delineated by the depth to which enough sunlight can penetrate to permit photosynthesis.

Question 5

Phytoplankton

Answer 5

the aggregate of plants and plantlike organisms in plankton.

Question 6

Polar Ice

Answer 6

Either of the regions around a planet’s poles that are permanently covered with ice or other frozen material. Also called polar ice cap.

Question 7

Population

Answer 7

a particular section, group, or type of people or animals living in an area or country.

Question 8

Population Ecology

Answer 8

a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment.

Question 9

Savannas

Answer 9

a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees.

Question 10

Sustainability

Answer 10

the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely.

Question 11

Taiga

Answer 11

the sometimes swampy coniferous forest of high northern latitudes, especially that between the tundra and steppes of Siberia and North America.

Question 12

Tropics

Answer 12

Hot and humid; torrid.

Question 13

Tundra

Answer 13

a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen.

Question 14

Wetland

Answer 14

land consisting of marshes or swamps; saturated land.

Question 15

Zooplankton

Answer 15

plankton consisting of small animals and the immature stages of larger animals.

Question 16

coniferous forest

Answer 16

a terrestrial biome characterized by conifers, cone-bearing evergreen trees

Question 17

coral reef

Answer 17

tropical marine biome characterized by the hard skeletal structures secreted primarily by the resident cnidarians

Question 18

deserts

Answer 18

a terrestrial biome characterized by low and unpredictable rainfall(less than 30 cm per year)

Question 19

ecology

Answer 19

the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environments

Question 20

ecosystem

Answer 20

all the organisms in a given area, along with the abiotic factors with which they interact, a biological community and its physical environment

Question 21

ecosystem ecology

Answer 21

the study of energy flow and the cycling chemicals among the various biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem

Question 22

estuary

Answer 22

the area where a freshwater stream or river merges with seawater

Question 23

greenhouse gases

Answer 23

any of the gases in the atmosphere that absorb heat radiation, including CO2, methane, water vapor, and synthetic chlorofluorocarbons

Question 24

greenhouse effect

Answer 24

the warming of the atmosphere caused by CO2, CH4, and other gases that absorb heat radiation and slow its escape from Earth’s surface

Question 25

habitat

Answer 25

a place where an organism lives, a specific environment in which an organism lives

Question 26

intertidal zone

Answer 26

a shallow zone where the waters of an estuary or ocean meet land

Question 27

temperate rainforest

Answer 27

coniferous forests of coastal North America supported by warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean

Question 28

temperate zones

Answer 28

latitudes between the tropics and the Arctic Circle in the North and the Antarctic Circle in the south, regions with milder climates than the tropics or polar regions

Question 29

tropical forests

Answer 29

a terrestrial biome characterized by warm temperatures year round