Ecology Study Set

Question 1

What is a population?

Answer 1

A population is many of the same species living in an area together

Question 2

What is a community?

Answer 2

A community is many different populations (different species) living in an area together

Question 3

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 3

An ecosystem includes the community and all of the non-living physical features such as water and soil

Question 4

What causes a population to increase in size?

Answer 4

Unlimited access to resources (food or space), lack of predators, immigration or increased birth rate

Question 5

What causes a population to decrease in size?

Answer 5

Increase in predators, limited access to resources (food or space), emigration or increased death rate, disease, natural disasters (flood or fire)

Question 6

What is a habitat?

Answer 6

The specific environment where an organism lives

Question 7

What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors?

Answer 7

Abiotic factors are not living, biotic factors are living or were once living

Question 8

What is a niche?

Answer 8

The role an organism plays in a community

Question 9

What are the different biomes (and their characteristics)?

Answer 9

-Desert (driest with large ranges in temperature between day and night)
-Temperature forest (has precipitation spread evenly throughout the year and experiences seasonal changes)
-Tropical rainforest (has year-round warm temperatures and lots of rain)
-Aquatic (freshwater or marine - in bodies of water)
-Tundra (occurs in high latitudes with a cold and dry climate)
-Taiga (in between temperate forests and tundra)
-Savanna (tropical and dry, grasslands)

Question 10

What is the difference between gestation and generation time?

Answer 10

Gestation time is how long it takes for a embryo or fetus to be born and generation time is how long until an individual is able to reproduce themselves

Question 11

How does age distribution in a population affect a species?

Answer 11

Depending on the generation time, the age of the population could affect the birth rate, if a population only has really young or really old members, the birth rate could fall and the population could decrease in size

Question 12

What is carrying capacity and how can you identify it on a graph?

Answer 12

The largest population that can be supported and sustained by and in a specific environment
On a graph, look for where the population levels off

Question 13

What can affect the carrying capacity of a population?

Answer 13

Number of predators or prey, availability of resources, competition, weather and natural disasters

Question 14

What are the three types of survivorship curves?

Answer 14

Type 1 - organisms that usually give birth to one offspring at a time
Type 2 - organisms that have a 50/50 shot of survival
Type 3 - organisms that are likely to be eaten as eggs

Question 15

What is a keystone species?

Answer 15

An organism that plays a large role in its community and if removed would affect the community structure significantly

Question 16

How might an organism adapt to its environment to keep from being eaten?

Answer 16

Camouflage, conceal itself from a predator by blending in with the environment

Question 17

What are the ways species can interact with each other?

Answer 17

-Herbivory - when an animal eats a plant
-Predation - when an animal kills and eats another animal
-Competition - when animals of the same or different species use the same resources
-Mutualism - when two species interact and they both benefit
-Commensalism - when two species interact, one benefits and the other is unaffected
-Parasitism - when two species interact, one benefits and the other is harmed

Question 18

On a food web, what do the arrows show?

Answer 18

Where the energy is going, the arrow should point to what is eating

Question 19

What is the difference between producers and consumers?

Answer 19

Producers make their own food (photosynthesis or chemosynthesis) and consumers rely on other organism for their energy

Question 20

How do you identify what trophic level an animal is in a food web?

Answer 20

A primary consumer eats a producer. A secondary consumer eats a primary consumer. A tertiary consumer eats a secondary consumer. Count how far away from the producer.

Question 21

What is the difference between carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores?

Answer 21

Carnivores - eat meat,
-herbivores - eat plants, omnivores - eat both

Question 22

What is a decomposer?

Answer 22

Decomposers and detritivores break down or consume dead material to make it usable for the producers again

Question 23

What is the difference between biodiversity and a monoculture?

Answer 23

Biodiversity means there is a variety of plant and animal species in an area, monoculture means there is one single plant species growing in an area (often found in agriculture)

Question 24

How do we measure biodiversity?

Answer 24

Species richness (the number of different species present) and species evenness (the relative abundance of different species - how the number of individuals of different species compares to each other)

Question 25

What are ecosystem services or benefits of biodiversity?

Answer 25

Purification of air and water, pest control, provides food and fuel, development of medicines, decomposition of waste, income of local economies, agriculture, increased stability in the ecosystem

Question 26

What are the main causes of biodiversity loss?

Answer 26

Habitat change and loss (the leading cause globally), invasive species, pollution, overharvesting, climate change

Question 27

What are the consequences of biodiversity loss?

Answer 27

Extinction - when the last individual of a species dies out, Endangered - a species at risk of extinction, Extirpation - the disappearance of a particular population from a given area, but not of the entire species globally

Question 28

What is the difference between primary and secondary ecological succession?

Answer 28

Primary succession begins from rock, then lichen and moss and pioneer species start to break down the rock, once soil begins to form, small insects and plants move in, over time, larger plants and trees establish themselves and more vegetation grows, Secondary successions begins from preexisting soil, plants that were already present begin to grow first and then eventually more vegetation is introduced

Question 29

What is a pioneer species?

Answer 29

The first species to populate in an area during primary succession

Question 30

***Make sure you know the order of ecological succession, how to read an age structure diagram, how to identify carrying capacity on a graph, and how to complete a food web diagram.