Ecology

Question 0

What does the biosphere contain?

Answer 0

All life on Earth

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The study of the interactions between organisms and their surroundings.

Question 2

Levels and examples: 
Individual: 
Species:
Population:
Community:
Ecosystem:
Biome:
Biosphere:

Answer 2

Individual: One single organism- Erica

Species: a group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring- Humans

Population: a group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area- family

Community: an assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area- School

Ecosystem: all the organisms that live in a place, together with their physical environment- Rockford

Biome: a group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms- Illinois

Biosphere: the portion of the Earth that contains life; including land, water, atmosphere- The Earth

Question 3

Biotic

Answer 3

Anything living or once living

Question 4

Abiotic

Answer 4

Anything non-living

Question 5

Why are many ecological phenomena difficult to study?

Answer 5

Expenses

Question 6

What makes a planet living?

Answer 6

It contains both biotic and abiotic features.

Question 7

What is a primary producer? Another name?

Answer 7

An organism that uses solar or chemical energy to produce food by making inorganic compounds into complex organic molecules. Eaten by other organisms for energy.

Autotroph

Question 8

Can an organism love without energy from the sun? Explain

Answer 8

Yes, they can use chemical energy

Question 9

What are consumers? Another name?

Answer 9

Organisms that ingest other organisms as energy. Heterotrophs

Question 10

Herbivores? Example?

Answer 10

Organisms that obtain nutrients from plants. (Plant eaters) Deer

Question 11

Carnivores? Ex?

Answer 11

Organisms that obtain nutrients from catching and consuming meat. (Meat eaters) Cats

Question 12

Omnivores? Ex?

Answer 12

Organisms whose diets include both plants and animals. Bears

Question 13

Detritivores? Ex?

Answer 13

Organisms that feed on detritus particles. Worms.

Question 14

Decomposers? Ex?

Answer 14

Organisms that “feed” by chemically breaking down organic matter. Fungi

Question 15

Scavengers? Ex?

Answer 15

Organisms that consume the carcasses of other animals. Vultures

Question 16

What role do producers play in establishing Earth as a living planet?

Answer 16

They are the base of the food pyramid and they produce the oxygen we breathe.

Question 17

How does energy flow through an ecosystem?

Answer 17

It flows through a food chain.

Question 18

How is a food chain different from a food web?

Answer 18

A food chain implies that each organism only consumes one type of food. A food web is made of many food chains.

Question 19

Each step in a food chain is called?

Answer 19

A trophic level

Question 20

What is an ecological pyramid?

Answer 20

A pyramid that shows the relative amount of energy or matter

Question 21

What are the three types if ecological pyramids?

Answer 21

Energy, biomass, numbers

Question 22

What does an energy pyramid show?

Answer 22

The relative amount if energy in each trophic level

Question 23

What does a biomass pyramid show?

Answer 23

The relative amount of living organic matter available to each trophic level

Question 24

What does a number pyramid show?

Answer 24

The number of individual organisms in each trophic level

Question 25

10% rule?

Answer 25

Through each tropic level, only 10% of energy from the level before is transferred. The other 90% is given off as heat or used in the body

Question 26

How does matter cycle through the biosphere?

Answer 26

It is recycled within and between ecosystems. Biogeochemical cycles

Question 27

What are the four processes that cycle matter through the biosphere?

Answer 27

Biological, chemical and physical, geological, and human activity

Question 28

Why is human activity a separate category from the other processes

Answer 28

The others occur naturally (don't trust my answer if you have something better)

Question 29

What are two primary ways water passes through the water cycle?

Answer 29

Groundwater and runoff into lakes, rivers, etc

Question 30

How are transpiration and evaporation similar?

Answer 30

Both cause water to be released into the atmosphere

Question 31

How are transpiration and evaporation different?

Answer 31

Transpiration is a biological process while evaporation is a physical/chemical process

Question 32

Do water molecules always follow the same steps through the water cycle?

Answer 32

No.

Question 33

What are the three nutrient cycles?

Answer 33

Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus

Question 34

Carbon cycle- biological example

Answer 34

In producers, CO2 enters by photosynthesis and exits by cellular respiration

Question 35

Carbon cycle- geological example

Answer 35

Marine sediments (containing carbon) are turned into rock (carbonate rocks) which release CO2

Question 36

Carbon cycle- chemical example

Answer 36

CO2 dissolves in rainwater or in the ocean and returns to the atmosphere (evaporation)

Question 37

Carbon cycle- human activity example

Answer 37

Burning of fossil fuels releases CO2

Question 38

What is atmospheric nitrogen fixation?

Answer 38

The process where bacteria converts nitrogen gas into ammonia.

Question 39

How do humans add nitrogen to the biosphere?

Answer 39

Through the manufacture and use of fertilizers

Question 40

Which parts of the phosphorus cycle are geological processes?

Answer 40

The change of marine sediments into rock, then the washing of phosphates from rock into the ocean.

Question 41

What is one way human activity affects the phosphorus cycle?

Answer 41

Phosphorus is mined and turned into fertilizer and can run off into rivers, streams, oceans, etc

Question 42

If a nutrient were in short supply in an ecosystem, how would it affect an organism?

Answer 42

The rate at which primary producers create organic material would be limited

Question 43

What is a limiting nutrient?

Answer 43

A nutrient whose supply limits productivity is the limiting nutrient

Question 44

What happens if there is a limitation of nutrients in soil?

Answer 44

If any nutrient is short in supply, the whole system slows down or stops completely (this is why farmers use fertilizers- to add nutrients)