Chapter 3 Flashcards
Define Ecology
The study of all processes tied to the distribution and abundance of life and the ties between living things and their habitats.
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species is the order of what system?
Taxonomy
What is the old definition of species and is it valid?
It’s not valid, and it’s all members that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
What is a homo?
A genus
What are Homo sapiens?
A species
What are Homo sapiens sapiens?
A subspecies
What is the genus, species, and subspecies of domesticated dogs, cats, and tigers respectively?
Canis lupus familiaris, Felis catus, and Panthera Tigris Tigris.
How is species determined today?
DNA
How were Canis lupus familiaris domesticated?
Self-domesticated
What is a population, and give an example of one?
Individuals of a species living in a given area. An example is gray wolves living in the Yellowstone National Park.
What is a biota or a biotic community, and how is the community’s constitution determined?
All the living organism in a natural area and the constitution is determined by abiotic factors.
How does the plant community affect the animal community?
It limits or controls by its presence or absence.
What is the difference between an ecosystem and an ecotone?
An ecosystem is a complex of biotic communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within an area, while an Ecotone is a transitional region between ecosystems.
Give an example of an Ecotone and of an Ecosystem, respectively.
An example of the former is a deciduous forest, an example of the latter is a grassland-forest ecotone.
What is a landscape?
A cluster of interacting ecosystems
Give an example of animals interacting out of their usual ecosystems?
Jaguars and bears go into aquatic ecosystems to fish.
What is, a large area of Earth’s surface with the same climate and similar vegetation called?
Biome
Name five major biomes on earth?
Aquatic, desert, forest, grasslands and tundra
What is the Tundra Biome like?
It has low temperatures and precipitation
Say two adjectives to describe the Chaparral biome
Hot and dry
A rolling grassland with scattered shrubs and isolated trees perfectly describes what biome?
Savanna
Dry large rolling terrains of grasses, flowers, and herbs describes?
Grassland
Inner Mongolia is largely grasslands and thus lacks what resource?
Trees
How the people of Inner Mongolia live?
As nomadic shepherds who live in tents.
Deserts have little precipitation, usually less than 40 cm per year, which is not enough to support most vegetation. Are deserts hot or cold?
They can be either or.
Boreal forest (taiga) have high altitude and are in the Northern Hemisphere. Their precipitation varies. What is the temperature and the type of trees that are found there?
Coniferous trees and cold temperatures are there.
Describe the rainforest in two words and then explain the precipitation?
Warm and wet. Annual precipitation 125–660 cm.
Why is soil normally poor in the rainforest, and what are rainforest plants an important source of?
Leaching of soluble nutrients and the plants are a source of drugs that treats illnesses such as cancer and malaria.
What type of forest has trees that lose leaves in during winter, temperate latitudes, precipitation of 100-150cm, and is found in eastern North America, Europe, and far east.
Deciduous forest
What is the main biome that Scientist are worried about plants going extinct in?
Rain forest
What are the main biomes in North America?
Tundras, Taiga, Tropical Rain forest, temperate deciduous forest, grassland, and desert.
What are the main biomes in South America?
Tundra, grassland, desert, and tropical rain forest.
What are the major biomes in Africa?
Tropical rain forest, Deciduous forest, desert, and grassland.
What are the three major land biome in Australia?
Tropical rain forest, desert, and grassland.
What the four major land biomes in Europe?
Deciduous forest, grassland, Taiga, and Tundra.
Of the biomes’ tundra, taiga, grassland, desert, tropical rain forest, and temperate deciduous forest, which of these does Asia have?
All of the above
What are the two wettest states?
Hawaii gets the most rainfall then Louisiana
What is the ecological hierarchy in order?
Biome, landscape, ecosystems & ecotones, Biotic communities, populations, and species.
What the two types of environmental factors?
Conditions and resources
What are the five environmental conditions or TROSS?
Temperature, Salinity, rainfall/water, sunlight, and oxygen.
What is percent of the air is oxygen, and is oxygen soluble in water?
Oxygen is relatively insoluble in water, and twenty percent of air is oxygen.
What are the environmental resources?
Nutrients, water, sunlight, oxygen, and food.
What mangrove is the least sensitive to cold temperatures?
Black Mangroves
Why is most of the ocean in the dark?
Because sunlight sufficient for photosynthesis only goes 100m deep into the ocean and the ocean is 3700m deep.
How does CO2 enter plants in aquatic systems for photosynthesis?
Gas exchange from the atmosphere.
In regard to abiotic factors, every species has
Optimum range, zones of stress, and limits of tolerance.
Mangroves in Louisiana are spreading more, why?
Because of hotter summers.
Why did the global average temperature go down in the 1940s-197-80s?
Due to high levels of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere, from industrial activities post WW2 and volcanic eruptions.
What causes global dimming?
Aerosols, from coal-burning power plants, fires, and industrial emissions, reflect sunlight and create a cooling effect.
