Ecology (outcome CI 1)

Question 1

(Big Picture) What is the topic of Ecology generally about?

Answer 1

Learning how living things interact with each other and with the nonliving world around them.

Question 2

Habitat

Answer 2

A place where a species finds food, shelter, and mates. Where it lives.

Question 3

Biodiversity

Answer 3

The variety of species in an ecosystem. Also includes genetic variety within each species (usually greater with greater numbers)

Question 4

Global Warming

Answer 4

A gradual rise in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases

Question 5

Carrying Capacity

Answer 5

The number of a given population than an area can support sustainably.

Question 6

density dependent factors

Answer 6

Things that influence whether a population grows or shrinks depending on how many individuals are already in the area. For example, competition for limited food, predators, or disease.

Question 7

Density independent factors

Answer 7

Something that limits the size of a population whether or not there are already a lot of individuals in the area. Example - natural disasters.

Question 8

Food Web

Answer 8

All the possible consumer-food relationships in an ecosystem.

Question 9

Weather

Answer 9

An individual event of high/low temperature and precipitation.

Question 10

Climate

Answer 10

An average (monthly or annual) temperature and precipitation. Tends to determine ecosystem type (biome).

Question 11

Population

Answer 11

All of the individuals of one species in an area.

Question 12

Community

Answer 12

All of the interacting populations (plant, animal, and microscopic) in an area.

Question 13

Ecosystem.

Answer 13

All of the populations (plant, animal, and microscopic) and all of the nonliving factors they interact with (e.g. water/soil/sunlight) in an area.

Question 14

Biome

Answer 14

A general category of ecosystems (e.g. desert, taiga, coral reef)

Question 15

sustainable

Answer 15

An ecosystem’s ability to maintain its functions and biodiversity over the long-term (barring major outside factors)

Question 16

trophic level

Answer 16

How far an organism is usually removed from the original event of harvesting energy from the sun. E.g. “producer” (does the harvesting), or “secondary consumer” (consumes an animal that consumed a plant that harvested sun energy).

Question 17

symbiosis

Answer 17

An interaction between two species where one or both of the individuals benefit, and neither typically dies as a result. Includes mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, other neutral), and parasitism (one benefits, other harmed but not usually dead).

Question 18

Nitrogen Cycle

Answer 18

A series of natural processes where Nitrogen passes from air, to soil, to organisms, and back to air or soil involving principally nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, and denitrification.

Question 19

Carbon cycle.

Answer 19

The cycling of carbon between the living and non-living world involving the incorporation into living (plant) tissue through photosynthesis and return to atmosphere through respiration, the decay of organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

Question 20

Water cycle

Answer 20

The cycling of water between living and nonliving systems, particularly between ocean, atmosphere, and land involving precipitation, drainage in streams and rivers and return to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration.

Question 21

interdependence

Answer 21

All living things are dependent on both nature and each other for their survival. Involves factors like food webs, symbiosis, and habitat creation.

Question 22

greenhouse gas

Answer 22

a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing heat, e.g. carbon dioxide and methane (analogy: putting on an extra sweater)

Question 23

transpiration

Answer 23

How a plant or leaf “exhales” water vapor. A special case of evaporation involving plants.

Question 24

carbon stores

Answer 24

Long term storage of carbon containing compounds. Includes soil, oceans, and organic material that has been buried underground.

Question 25

aquifer

Answer 25

An underground layer of rocker or soil that yields water (via well or pump).

Question 26

secondary succession

Answer 26

A process started by an major death event (fire, harvest, hurricane, etc.) where an ecosystem returns to a more biodiverse state over a long period of time.

Question 27

tragedy of the commons

Answer 27

Where a renewable resource (e.g. fish) is depleted due to selfish individual actors (fishing boats)