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Biology 2015/16 > Chapter 3 Test > Flashcards

Chapter 3 Test Flashcards

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1
Q

Why do ecologists ask questions about events and organisms that range in complexity from an individual to the biosphere?

A

To understand relationships in the biosphere.

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2
Q

What are the levels of organisation?

A

Species, Populations, Community, Ecosystem, and Biome.

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3
Q

What is the highest level that ecologists study?

A

The entire biosphere.

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4
Q

What are three basic approaches scientists use to conduct modern ecological research?

A

Observing, experimenting, and modeling

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5
Q

Why would an ecologist set up an artificial environment in a laboratory?

A

To imitate and manipulate conditions that organisms would encounter in the natural world.

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6
Q

Can an ecological model consist of a mathematical formula?

A

Yes.

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7
Q

What is at the core of every organisms’s interaction with the environment?

A

The need for energy.

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8
Q

What source of energy do organisms use that don’t use the sun’s energy?

A

Inorganic compounds.

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9
Q

What are autotrophs?

A

Organisms that use energy from sunlight to make food.

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10
Q

What do autotrophs do during photosynthesis?

A

They use light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and starches.

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11
Q

What is chemosynthesis?

A

When organisms use chemical energy to make carbohydrates.

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12
Q

Where do bacteria that carry out chemosynthesis live?

A

In very remote places, like volcanic vents and hot springs.

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13
Q

What are heterotrophs also called?

A

Consumers.

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14
Q

What is a herbivore?

A

A consumer that eats only plants.

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15
Q

What are examples of herbivores?

A

Cows and rabbits.

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16
Q

What is a carnivore?

A

A consumer that eats animals.

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17
Q

What are some examples of carnivores?

A

Snakes, dogs, and owls.

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18
Q

What are omnivores?

A

Consumers that eat both plants and animals.

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19
Q

What are some examples of omnivores?

A

Humans, bears, and crows.

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20
Q

What is a detritivore?

A

A consumer that eats dead matter.

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21
Q

What are examples of detritivores?

A

Mites, earthworms, snails, and crabs.

22
Q

What are decomposers?

A

Organisms that break down organic matter.

23
Q

What are examples of decomposers?

A

Bacteria and fungi.

24
Q

How does energy flow through an ecosystem?

A

From the sun to autotrophs to heterotrophs.

25
Q

What is a food chain?

A

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.

26
Q

What is a food web?

A

A network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem.

27
Q

What does a food web link together?

A

All the food chains in an ecosystem.

28
Q

What is a trophic level?

A

Each step in a food chain or web.

29
Q

What always makes up the first trophic level in a food web?

A

Producers.

30
Q

What does a consumer in a food chain depend on for energy?

A

The trophic level below it.

31
Q

Why is only part of the energy in one trophic level passed on to the next level?

A

Organisms use much of the energy they consume.

32
Q

What is biomass?

A

The total amount of living tissue in a trophic level.

33
Q

What does a biomass pyramid represent?

A

The amount of potential food available in that level.

34
Q

Why can each trophic level support only about one tenth the amount of living tissue as the level below it?

A

Each trophic level harvests one tenth of the energy of the level below it.

35
Q

What are the four elements that make up 95% of the body?

A

Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen.

36
Q

How does matter move through an ecosystem?

A

In biogeochemical cycles.

37
Q

What do biogeochemical cycles connect through?

A

The biological, geological, and chemical aspects of the biosphere.

38
Q

How can water enter the atmosphere?

A

Evaporating from the leaves of plants in the process of transpiration.

39
Q

What are the three processes involved in the water cycle?

A

Precipitation, evaporation, and run-off.

40
Q

What is a nutrient?

A

All the chemical substances that an organism requires to live.

41
Q

What are the three nutrient cycles that play an important role in the biosphere?

A

Carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and phosphorous cycle.

42
Q

What are the four processes in the carbon cycle?

A

Biological process, geochemical process, mixed geochemical process, and human activity.

43
Q

Where is carbon found?

A
  • as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
  • as dissolved carbon dioxide in the ocean
  • as coal and petroleum underground
44
Q

What is nitrogen fixation?

A

The process by which bacteria converts nitrogen into ammonia.

45
Q

What is denitrification?

A

The process by which soil bacteria convert nitrates into carbon gas.

46
Q

Why is phosphorous essential to living things?

A

It forms parts of molecules like DNA and RNA.

47
Q

What is the primary productivity of an ecosystem?

A

The rate at which organic matter is created by producers.

48
Q

What is a limiting nutrient?

A

When the ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient.

49
Q

Where is nitrogen often the limiting factor?

A

The ocean.

50
Q

Where is phosphorous the limiting factor?

A

Streams, lakes, and freshwater.

51
Q

When do blooms occur?

A

When there are more nutrients available (the producers can grow and reproduce more quickly)

52
Q

What is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their surroundings?

A

Ecology

Biology 2015/16 (8 decks)

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