Exam 1 Study Guide: Intro to Ecology Flashcards
Covers exam one study guide material for the first section.
Describe scientific inquiry and relate it to ecology.
Engage in a systematic effort to understand and describe the natural world using accepted scientific inquiry methods. Exploration + discovery, testing ideas, community analysis + feedback, benefits + outcomes. Also Observation, hypothesis, predictions, design experiment to test predictions, example test of hypothesis.
How do prediction differ from hypotheses? What would be a suitable prediction?
- A hypothesis is a proposed explanation, while a prediction is a testable statement about the expected outcome if the hypothesis is true.
- Predictions are more specific and directly tested through experiments or observations.
- A good prediction is specific, testable, measurable, and relevant to the hypothesis.
Define ecology
The study of the distribution and abundance of organisms and the relationship of organisms to each other and the physical environment
How ecology studies might differ from other scientific fields
Ecology stands out due to its emphasis on interactions, its broad scale and complexity, the importance of fieldwork, its interdisciplinary nature, its evolutionary perspective, and its direct relevance to conservation and environmental issues.
Compare and contrast ecology, environmental science, and environmentalism
- Ecology provides the scientific foundation for understanding environmental issues.
- Environmental science applies this knowledge to study human impacts and develop solutions.
- Environmentalism is the movement that seeks to put these solutions into action.
Name challenges of ecological research
Manipulative experiments can help obtain ‘cause and effect’. Manipulative experiments are not always possible, scale is too large or small, causal factors are difficult to separate, correlation observations
How do microcosms/mesocosms differ from natural experiments?
Microcosms/Mesocosms allows researchers to replicate key features of a system at a small scale, ensures that data can be consistently collected. Natural experiments rely on natural variation in the environment to test a hypothesis. They’re useful for large scale questions where manipulations are difficult or not possible. But difficult to determine cause and effect.
List the hierarchy of ecological systems. For each level, define it and explain how it
differs from other levels.
Individual: must acquire resources and get rid of waste
Population: groups of individuals of the same species. Unlike individuals, populations have geographical range, abundance, density, change in number and composition.
Community: all the populations in a particular area. Interactions among species like interspecific competition
Ecosystem: one or more communities interacting with their physical environment. Flow of energy and cycling matter (O, C, H, N) between physical and biological components.
Landscape: multiple ecosystems connected by movement
Biosphere: all ecosystems and landscapes on earth. Wind and water currents, energy comes from the sun and matter cycles.
Explain the different ways organisms acquire energy.
Autotrophy, heterotrophy, or mixotrophy Photosynthesis and chemosynthesis
List different types of consumers. Give a definition and example for each. What role do the different consumers play?
Herbivores - eat plants, deer
Carnivores - eat other animals, lion
Omnivores - eat plants + animals, humans
Detritivores - eat dead organic matter, earthworms
Decomposers - break down organic matter, fungi
The role they play is to transfer energy, population control, nutrient cycling, ecosystem balance.
Name the different interspecific
interactions that occur between organisms. Consider examples of each.
Competition: negative effect on two species that require that same resource to survive
Mutualism: both species benefit
Commensalism: one specie benefits, other is neither helped nor harmed
Symbiosis: any physically close relationship between two organisms.
How do mathematical models support ecological research?
They portray systems with equations to generate predictions in a more refined way, they test hypotheses using simulations.
