Ecology

Question 1

What is a community?

Answer 1

A community is the “group” formed when
all the different populations of species
share the same habitat.

Question 2

What is biodiversity?

Answer 2

ALL living things represents the Biodiversity of a habitat!

Question 3

How is biodiversity measured?

Answer 3

Biodiversity is measured using 2 components:
1. Species Richness: total number of species in the community
2. Relative Abundance: the number of each species in relation to the total organisms in the community.

Question 4

What makes for HIGH Biodiversity?

Answer 4

1) The species richness is high.
2) The relative abundance of different
species is similar/dissimliar.

Question 5

What is an Ecosystem?

Answer 5

An Ecosystem is a community of species interacting in a given environment.
This includes the abiotic factors of the habitat, such air, soil, water, etc

Question 6

Micro-habitat: Examples

Answer 6

• Tree stump
• Aquarium

Question 7

Macro-habitats: Examples

Answer 7

• Caribbean ocean
• African planes

Question 8

Trophic Relationships can be represented by:

Answer 8

A food chain

Question 9

How many trophies levels are there?

Answer 9

Three

Question 10

What are the three tropic levels?

Answer 10

1) Producer
2) Consumer
3) Decomposer

Question 11

Dynamics of an ecosystem:

Answer 11

How does energy flow?

Question 12

What are food chains?

Answer 12

Representations of the trophic relationships between different living
things.

Question 13

What are food webs?

Answer 13

A group of interrelated food
chains.

Question 14

Which direction do arrows point?

Answer 14

In the direction of energy, food to mouth.

Question 15

What is energy flow?

Answer 15

Matter and energy are transferred/transformed in a food
chain.

Question 16

What is biomass?

Answer 16

All of the organic matter in an ecosystem

Question 17

What does biomass represent?

Answer 17

The total mass of living matter in an environment at any given time.

Question 18

With each tropic level, energy and biomass…

Answer 18

decrease

Question 19

Why does energy and biomass decrease with each trophic level?

Answer 19

Organisms give off energy to breathe, eat, reproduce, move etc.

Question 20

What do trophic levels affect?

Answer 20

Relative abundance and population size for
the whole ecosystem to remain in balance!

Question 21

With each trophic level increase

Answer 21

10% of energy/biomass is lost

Question 22

What are producers?

Answer 22

Autotrophs, they produce their own food.

Question 23

What do producers do?

Answer 23

Producers convert inorganic matter into organic material.
A principal mechanism includes production of sugar: photosynthesis.

Question 24

What are Cyanobacteria?

Answer 24

They are producers. They were the first unicellular organism to produce energy in
Earth’s history.

Question 25

What is primary productivity?

Answer 25

is the total quantity of new organic material made by the producers in an ecosystem over a certain period. It depends on factors: sunlight, CO2 concentration, nutrient availability, water, and temperature.

Question 26

In what condition do plants and algae produce the most matter?

Answer 26

Between 20-25 degrees Celsius. Productivity is highest in warm and humid areas.

Question 27

What are consumers?

Answer 27

Heterotrophs because they get their food from a variety other living things.

Question 28

What consumers are there?

Answer 28

Primary - Herbivores, feed on producers or their seeds Secondary and Tertiary - Carnivores, Feed on animals on the level below them Omnivores, consumers of all levels at once.

Question 29

What are decomposes?

Answer 29

They feed on dead matter and/or (some feed on) waste of producers & consumers This connects them to all of the trophic levels! Fungi and Bacteria.

Question 30

What is chemical recycling?

Answer 30

Chemical Recycling occurs when decomposers make inorganic matter available in an ecosystem by breaking down organic matter. At each trophic level in a food chain a certain amount of material is recycled by decomposers back into nutrients that producers can use.

Question 31

What is the Law Of Conservation of Matter

Answer 31

Matter can not be created nor destroyed, it can only be transferred or transformed.

Question 32

What is a Disturbance?

Answer 32

A Disturbance is an event that disrupts an ecosystem. It can lead to the elimination of organisms (extinction) and change the availability of resources.

Question 33

What are the two types of disturbances?

Answer 33

* Natural Disturbances occur due to environmental phenomena such as: * Human Disturbances are the main form of ecological disturbance on Earth

Question 34

What is ecological succession?

Answer 34

The series of changes that occur over time in an ecosystem after a disturbance and that continue until the balance of the ecosystem is restored.

Question 35

What is an ecological footprint?

Answer 35

An ecological footprint is the estimate of how much of the available resources we consume and how much waste we generate.

Question 36

How do you calculate ecological footprint?

Answer 36

+ Land and water used to produce goods and services + Land and water used to dispose of waste + Land and water occupied

Question 37

How to Calculate the Happy Planet Index?

Answer 37

HPI = (Experienced well being x Life expectancy) / Ecological footprint

Question 38

What is Ecotoxicology?

Answer 38

Human activities disturb ecosystems. These include industrial and agricultural activities and the creation of waste which releases different substances or poisons into the environment.

Question 39

What are contaminants?

Answer 39

They are many type of substances or radiation that is likely to cause harm to one or more ecosystems.

Question 40

What are the 4 classes of contaminants?

Answer 40

- Inorganic - Organic - Microbial - Radioactive

Question 41

What is the Toxicity Threshold?

Answer 41

The Toxicity Threshold is the amount of a contaminant that will cause harm in an organism. Harm from contaminant can range from mutations to fertility loss to death.

Question 42

What Factors Determine Toxicity?

Answer 42

1) Concentration 2) Type of organism (how doe it affect the bio chemistry) 3) Duration of exposure

Question 43

What is dosage dependent on?

Answer 43

Weight!

Question 44

What is a toxicity threshold?

Answer 44

Toxicity Threshold is the minimum level of concentration at which the contaminant causes harm (mg/kg).

Question 45

What is a lethal dose?

Answer 45

Lethal Dose is the amount of contaminant necessary to kill an organism in a single dose.

Question 46

What is LD Fifty

Answer 46

Lethal Dose Fifty (LD50) is the dose that causes the death within 50% of individuals.

Question 47

What is Bio/accumulation/concentration/ magnification?

Answer 47

* It is the degree to which a toxin can accumulate in a living organism through inhalation, ingestion and/or dermal exposure. * These contaminants resist natural degradation and cannot be eliminated.

Question 48

Bioaccumulation, Bioconcentration or Biomagnification: Example of Degree of Intoxication

Answer 48

* Once the contaminated producer (plant) is consumed, the toxin can become stored in the fat tissues of the consumer. * The consumers must consume A LOT of producers causing the concentration of the toxin to be accumulated in the consumer than in the producer and so on.

Question 49

What is Bioremediation?

Answer 49

* Biotechnology can help fix some of our past mistakes. * We can take certain microbes / biological species add them to a region that has particular contaminants and have them degrade them. This considered bioremediation.