chapter 47

Question 1

Niche

Answer 1

the combination of traits and habitat in which a species exists

Question 2

Fundamental niche

Answer 2

the full range of climate conditions and food resources that permit the individuals in a species to live

Question 3

Realized niche

Answer 3

the actual range of habitats occupied by a species

Question 4

Resource partitioning

Answer 4

a pattern in which species whose niches overlap may diverge to minimize the overlap

Question 5

Competition

Answer 5

an interaction in which the use of a mutually needed resource by one individual or group of individuals lowers the availability of the resource for another individual or group

Question 6

Interspecific competition

Answer 6

competition between individuals of different species

Question 7

Intraspecific competition

Answer 7

competition within species

Question 8

Competitive exclusion

Answer 8

the result of an antagonistic interaction in which one species is prevented from occupying a particular habitat or niche

Question 9

Symbioses

Answer 9

close interaction between species that live together, often interdependently

Question 10

Mutualisms

Answer 10

an interaction between two or more species that benefits all

Question 11

Commensalisms

Answer 11

an interaction between species in which one partner benefits with no apparent effect on the other

Question 12

Antagonisms

Answer 12

inhibition of or interference with the action of one substance or organism by another

Question 13

Predation

Answer 13

an interaction between organisms in which one (the predator) consumes the other (the prey)

Question 14

Parasitism

Answer 14

the practice of living as a parasite in or on another organism

Question 15

Herbivory

Answer 15

the consumption of plant parts

Question 16

Obligate

Answer 16

describes a mutualism in which one or both sides cannot survive without the other

Question 17

Facultative

Answer 17

in mutualisms, describes one in which one or both sides can survive without the other. In metabolism, describes a means of obtaining energy that is sometimes but not always used.

Question 18

Community

Answer 18

the set of all populations found in a given place

Question 19

Keystone species

Answer 19

pivotal populations that affect other members of the community in ways that are disproportionate to their abundance or biomass

Question 20

Disturbances

Answer 20

a severe physical impact on a habitat that has density independent effects on populations of interacting species

Question 21

Succession

Answer 21

the replacement of species by other species over time

Question 22

Climax community

Answer 22

a mature assembly, a final stage in succession, in which there is little further change in species composition

Question 23

Ecosystem

Answer 23

a community of organisms and the physical environment it occupies

Question 24

Primary producers

Answer 24

an organism that takes up inorganic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other compounds from the environment and converts them into organic compounds that will provide food for other organisms in the local environment

Question 25

Consumers

Answer 25

an organism that obtains the carbon it needs for growth and reproduction from the food it eats and gains energy by respiring food molecules; heterotrophic organisms of all kinds that directly consume primary producers or consume those that do

Question 26

Food web

Answer 26

a map of the interactions that connect consumer and producer organisms within the carbon cycle; the movement of carbon through an ecosystem

Question 27

Trophic pyramid

Answer 27

a diagram that traces the flow of energy through communities, showing the amount of energy available at each level to feed the next. the pyramid shape results because biomass and the energy it represents generally decrease from one trophic level to the next