ecology

Question 1

organismal ecology

Answer 1

Organismal: study adaptations that allow organisms to live in specific areas. These adaptations can be morphological, physiological, or behavioral.

Question 2

population ecology

Answer 2

Population: study the size, density, and structure of populations and how they change over time.

Question 3

community ecology

Answer 3

Community: focus on interactions between populations and how these interactions shape the community.

Question 4

ecosystem ecology

Answer 4

Ecosystem: focus on flow of energy and recycling of nutrients and the influence of abiotic factors

Question 5

biosphere ecology

Answer 5

Biosphere: study global patterns and interactions among ecosystems (ex. climate change)

Question 6

food chain

Answer 6

• a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one
  organism eats another
• contains one path of energy while several paths of energy exist in a food web

Question 7

pyramid of energy

Answer 7

• measures the total amount of energy available in an ecosystem
• shows the flow of energy through a community
• only ~10% of energy is transferred to the next trophic level

Question 8

pyramid of numbers

Answer 8

• quantifies the total number of organisms in an ecosystem and the number of individual organisms at each trophic level

Question 9

pyramid of biomass

Answer 9

• contains the total mass of each organism in an ecosystem
• biomass is the combined mass of all living organisms that inhabit a given area

Question 10

Type I (survivor ship curve)

Answer 10

• organisms tend not to die when they are young or middle-aged but, instead, they die when they become elderly
• usually have small numbers of offspring and provide lots of parental care to make sure those offspring survive
  ex: humans, most mammals

Question 11

Type II (survivorship curves)

Answer 11

• organisms die more or less equally at each age interval
• may also have relatively few offspring and provide significant parental care
  ex: birds

Question 12

Type III (survivorship curve)

Answer 12

very few organisms survive their younger years. However, the lucky ones that make it through
youth are likely to have pretty long lives after that. Species with this type of curve usually have lots of offspring at once—such as a tree releasing thousands of seeds—but don’t provide much care for the offspring
ex: Trees, marine invertebrates, most fish