Exam 6 study questions

Question 1

What is ecology

Answer 1

Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment

Question 2

What is the goal of ecology

Answer 2

The central goal of ecology is to understand the distribution and abundance of organisms. How many individuals are there, where are they located and why.

Question 3

Organismal ecology

Answer 3

Subdisciplines are physiological ecology (investigates how organisms are physiologically adapted to their environment) and behavioral ecology (how the behavior of an individual organism contributes to survival and reproductive success).

Question 4

Population ecology

Answer 4

Factors that affect population size, how and why it changes through time. Focuses on groups of interbreeding individuals. Includes studies of species interactions. Predation, competition, parasitism and mutualism

Question 5

Community ecology

Answer 5

Interactions between species; effect of disturbance on groups of species. Focuses on why some areas are species rich while others are species poor. Studies how species composition and community structure change over time, particularly after disturbance

Question 6

Ecosystem ecology

Answer 6

Energy flow, chemical cycling. An ecosystem consists of all the organisms in a particular region, along with nonliving, or abiotic components. Study how nutrients and energy move among and between organisms and the surrounding atmosphere and soil or water

Question 7

Landscape ecology

Answer 7

Factors controlling exchanges of energy, materials, organisms across ecosystems. What is the relationship between spatial patterns and ecological processes? What is the interaction among pattern, process and scale? How do ecosystems interact

Question 8

Global ecology

Answer 8

Regional exchange of energy, materials, across the biosphere. How do changes in one area of the globe affect other regions? How do human activities influence atmospheric chemistry? How does energy use relate to global climate change

Question 9

energy flow and nutrient cycling between organisms and the environment

Answer 9

eosystem

Question 10

view of the biosphere as the global ecosystem, examines regional exchange of energy and materials

Answer 10

global

Question 11

how an organism’s structure and behavior make it well adapted to its
environment

Answer 11

organismal

Question 12

interactions between different species living in the same area

Answer 12

community

Question 13

examines groups containing members of only one species to see how and why the sizes change over time

Answer 13

population

Question 14

Biotic

Answer 14

describes a living component of an ecosystem; for example organisms, such as plants and animals

Question 15

Abiotic

Answer 15

components are non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment which affect ecosystems

Question 16

What are some examples of abiotic factors

Answer 16

temperature, sunlight/seasonality, water, wind, soil type, disturbances

Question 17

rue are False: ecology and environmentalism are interchangeable terms

Answer 17

FALSE. Ecology provides scientific understanding of living things and their environment. Environmentalism is advocacy focused on conservation and preservation of life on Earth

Question 18

Climate

Answer 18

is the prevailing long-term weather conditions found in an area. Climate determines broad species distributions of populations

Question 19

Weather

Answer 19

specific short-term atmospheric conditions of temperature, precipitation, sunlight and wind. Extreme weather can impact individuals, but rarely affects populations

Question 20

Proximate

Answer 20

Explains HOW actions occur in terms of the genetic, neurological, hormonal, and skeletal-muscular mechanisms involved
How does the animals experience during growth and development influence the response?

Question 21

Ultimate

Answer 21

Explains WHY actions occur based on their evolutionary consequences and history
How does a particular behavior help individuals to produce offspring in a particular environment?

Question 22

What is Rachel Carson famous for

Answer 22

She began the modern environmental movement and wrote the book Silent Spring. She thought that chemicals like DDT (which is an old pesticide) caused her to develop breast cancer

Question 23

Population

Answer 23

groups of same species living in the same area

Question 24

Community

Answer 24

groups of different species living in the same area

Question 25

What kinds of biotic factors can limit geographic distribution

Answer 25

predation, parasitism, competition, disease