ecology lecture 1

Question 1

ecology

Answer 1

the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the factors and interactions that determine distribution and abundance (where are they, how many are there and why?)

Question 2

the two environment components?

Answer 2

abiotic and biotic

Question 3

abiotic components

Answer 3

nonliving chemical and physical factors (temp, light, nutrients, water)

Question 4

biotic components

Answer 4

living factors (organisms, competition, predation)

Question 5

abiotic/biotic interaction

Answer 5

Organisms are affected by their environment but they also change the environment

Question 6

levels of biological organization

Answer 6

molecule, organelle, cell, tissue, organ, organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere

Question 7

ecological scales

Answer 7

biosphere, ecosystem, community, population, organism (operates at highest scale of biological organization)

Question 8

organism

Answer 8

single individual of a single species

Question 9

population

Answer 9

group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area

Question 10

community

Answer 10

2 or more species populations living in the same geographical area

Question 11

ecosystem

Answer 11

compromising the community together with its physical environment

Question 12

biosphere

Answer 12

the regions of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere occupied by living organisms (orange peel if earth was an orange)

Question 13

organism level of explanation

Answer 13

behaviors, environmental physiology, morphology

Question 14

population level of explanation

Answer 14

factors that affect population size and composition

Question 15

community level of explanation

Answer 15

interactions among organisms

Question 16

ecosystem level of explanation

Answer 16

energy flow and cycling of nutrients among abiotic and biotic components

Question 17

biosphere level of explanation

Answer 17

all

Question 18

ecological levels of explanation

Answer 18

operate at longer time scales and large spatial scales than physiological mechanisms

Question 19

ecological evidence

Answer 19

1. Observation and monitoring in the natural environment
2. Manipulative field experiments (mesocosm)
3. Controlled, laboratory experiments
4. Mathematical models

as you go down the spatial scale you lose realism

Question 20

goal of ecology

Answer 20

to observe patterns, describe processes and use this information to predict, manage and control

Question 21

statistics

Answer 21

estimates of population parameters (numerical features)

Question 22

random sampling

Answer 22

ecology relies on obtaining estimates from representative samples

Question 23

null hypothesis

Answer 23

the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between specified populations, any observed difference being due to sampling or experimental error.

Question 24

p-values

Answer 24

measures the strength of conclusions being drawn from results

Question 25

significance testing

Answer 25

used to accept or reject the null hypothesis if P is less than or equal to 0.05 (5%) then results are statistically significant

Question 26

variability in spread of frequency distributions

Answer 26

decreased spread, decreased variability