Intro to Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The study of how organisms interact with their environment

Question 2

What is behavior?

Answer 2

How an individual responds to a stimulus

Question 3

What are the levels of organization/hierarchy of ecology?

Answer 3

Organism < Population < Community < Ecosystem < Biosphere

Question 4

What is population ecology?

Answer 4

How individuals of the same species interact with each other

Question 5

What is community ecology?

Answer 5

How species interact with other species

Question 6

What is ecosystem ecology?

Answer 6

How organisms interact with non-living components of the environment

Question 7

What are biosphere interactions?

Answer 7

The entire set of interactions on a planet

Question 8

What are the three global scale processes that govern where organisms live on the planet?

Answer 8

1) Orientation of the Earth’s axis
2) Heat retention versus loss in the atmosphere
3) Rotation of the Earth

Question 9

What are the three cell regions of the Earth?

Answer 9

1) Hadley cell
2) Ferrel cell
3) Polar cell

Question 10

Where is the Hadley cell located?

Answer 10

30°N to 30°S of the equator (in the middle region of the Earth)

Question 11

Where is the Ferrel cell located?

Answer 11

30°N to 60°N and 30°S to 60°S of the equator

Question 12

Where is the Polar cell located?

Answer 12

60°N of the equator and to the North Pole and 60°S of the equator and to the South Pole

Question 13

What is the Coriolis effect?

Answer 13

The apparent deflection of objects moving in a straight path relative to Earth’s surface

Question 14

What causes the Coriolis effect?

Answer 14

The rotation of the Earth

Question 15

What direction does the Coriolis effect make objects deflect?

Answer 15

Clockwise/right in the Northern Hemisphere
Counter-clockwise/left in the Southern Hemisphere

Question 16

Where is air pressure highest?

Answer 16

North and South poles

Question 17

Where is air pressure lowest?

Answer 17

Equators

Question 18

Why is air pressure high at the North and South poles?

Answer 18

Cold air sinks and warms; when the air compresses and heats, air pressure at the surface is raised because of density

Question 19

Why is air pressure low at the Equator?

Answer 19

Hot air rises and cools; as air rises, air pressure at surface is lowered

Question 20

What is a biome?

Answer 20

An ecosystem with a recurring pattern

Question 21

How are biomes classifed?

Answer 21

According to temperature and precipitation profiles

Question 22

What do biomes arranged by location allow us to see?

Answer 22

Global community patterns organized with respect to latitude

Question 23

What is the arrangement of biomes reflective of?

Answer 23

Geography

Question 24

When do interruptions to biome patterns occur?

Answer 24

When major geologic features run counter to latitude

Question 25

What is a turnover?

Answer 25

Fluctuation in water temperature and movement usually caused by season temperature change

Question 26

What happens to nutrients when seasons change?

Answer 26

Nutrients shift from bottom to top of water environment

Question 27

What is salinity?

Answer 27

A measure of total dissolved solids

Question 28

An increase between equator and midlatitude salinity is caused by. . .

Answer 28

Low precipitation and high evaporation in mid latitude; high precipitation in equatorial region