Ecology

Question 1

carrying capacity

Answer 1

max number of individuals that an area can support

Question 2

ecological succession

Answer 2

Change in ecosystem over time -climax comm.

Question 3

population

Answer 3

Individuals of the same species living in the same area

Question 4

resource partitioning

Answer 4

division of resources to create 2 niches

Question 5

competitive exclusion principle

Answer 5

one species drives the other to extinction ; natural selection reduces competition

Question 6

green house effect

Answer 6

• CO2 chemical bonds transmit radiant energy from the sun but trap the longer wavelengths of infrared light (heat)
• burning of fossil fuels released huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere other greenhouse gases - CFCs, nitrogen oxides & methane

Question 7

biogeochemical cycles

Answer 7

• Carbon cycle: atmospheric & organic carbon (photosynthesis)
• Nitrogen cycle: atmospheric & organismal
• phosphorus cycle

Question 8

Niche

Answer 8

total of all the ways an organism utilizes the resources of its environment

Question 9

Realized niche

Answer 9

the actual niche that the organism is able to occupy because of competition

Question 10

Fundamental niche

Answer 10

the entire niche that an organism may theoretically occupy

Question 11

community

Answer 11

Populations of different species living in the same area

Question 12

ecosystem

Answer 12

Community and habitat interactions in the same area. (Both abiotic and biotic)

Question 13

Biome

Answer 13

Major assemblages of living organisms in wide geographical areas
(biosphere: all biomes)

Question 14

Bio magnification

Answer 14

Build up of certain persistent organic pollutants in the bodies of organisms at a high tropic level of food webs