Lecture 5

Question 1

Who is Eugen Warming?

Answer 1

Ecology was established as a new field of science by Eugen Warming (1841-1924), a
Danish botanist, who in 1895 argued that the world’s geographical distribution of plant
communities could be explained as a function of physical factors and interaction with
animal communities.

Question 2

Ecological theory is associated with the three

higher levels of biological units ______ ,______ , and ______

Answer 2

organisms,populations,communities

Question 3

Biosphere

Answer 3

a thin layer inhabited by organisms where liquid water is
present.

Its thickness is limited to the troposphere (the lower 8 – 15 km of the
atmosphere), the depths of the oceans (11 km maximum depth range), lakes and rivers,
and the topsoil on land

Question 4

They may be subdivided into
smaller spatial entities forming assemblages of different species present within a defined
space that scientists refer to as _____. The _______ is, of course, the largest of all
_____(same as first).

Answer 4

biota, Biosphere, Biota

Question 5

Define Ecosystem

Answer 5

An ecosystem can be categorized into its abiotic constituents, including minerals,
climate, soil, water, sunlight and all other nonliving elements and its biotic constituents,
consisting of all its living members. Linking these constituents together are two major
forces: the flow of energy through the ecosystem and the cycling of matter within the
ecosystem (Encyclopædia Brittanica, 2009; Ricklefs, 1990).

Question 6

An ecosystem is a conceptual model established to explain how a functional unit of
nature works. The model contains five structural components:

Answer 6

An ecosystem is a conceptual model established to explain how a functional unit of
nature works. The model contains five structural components:
1. Inorganic Matter
2. Climate
3. Producers
4. Consumers
5. Decomposers

Question 7

define population

community

Answer 7

Living organisms of an ecosystem are organized into populations of
individuals that cooperate to reproduce genetic capacities that have proven successful in
their environment

The sum of all populations is the ecosystem’s community of
organisms

Question 8

define biomass

Answer 8

biomass, the organic matter produced by living organisms

Question 9

_________ is of particular importance to producers

that build pigments capable of absorbing solar energy

Answer 9

magnesium

Question 10

Some electromagnetic radiation emitted
from the sun that lies within the spectrum of visible light (wavelengths of 0._00 – 0._00
micrometres) is ______ _______ ______ (PAR)

Answer 10

4, 7

Photosynthetically Active radiation

- This solar energy facilitates
plant growth (Figure 5-3a) and vision in animals that have eyes

Question 11

Geothermal Energy

Answer 11

Geothermal energy is heat conducted through the Earth’s crust or
released from magma moving through it

Question 12

Law of Conservation of Energy

Answer 12

Energy
cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form to another”. A biological
system that receives a given amount of energy must release an equal amount of energy
or store it as potential energy within organic matter

Question 13

All of the energy utilized by an ecosystem is ultimately released as _______ _______
(Figure 5-3) and emitted as infrared radiation from Earth’s surface into the atmosphere
or outer space

Answer 13

sensible heat

Question 14

Producers of an ecosystem are also called ________ organisms, meaning they are
“self-nourishing”

Answer 14

autotrophic

Question 15

They may be ________ organisms that assimilate solar energy or __________ bacteria using energy stored as chemical bonds in inorganic molecules.

Answer 15

phototrophic

chemotrophic

Question 16

Phototrophs utilize solar energy to split ______ and combine the released _______ atoms
with carbon dioxide to form a carbohydrate molecule called ________

Answer 16

water, hydrogen

glucose

Question 17

However, autotrophs
also need to produce complex organic molecules other than glucose (e.g., proteins,
fats). The energy required for their synthesis is taken from _________, which the
autotrophs perform by splitting stored glucose

Answer 17

respiration

Question 18

_______ operates day and night, mostly regulated by temperature, while
photosynthesis operates only during daylight hours. ___________ relies on surplus energy
in the form of sugars produced and stored in plant tissues during daytime to operate
during the night.

Answer 18

Respiration

Question 19

They are termed __________
meaning “other-feeders”. They feed on the biomass originally produced by the primary
production of autotrophs while their biomass is the result of ________ production.

Answer 19

heterotrophs

secondary

Question 20

Detritivores

Answer 20

detritivores that consume detritus, the
organic remains of dead organisms or fecal matter from other animals. Some are nonselective
and digest whatever is accumulated within soils and sediments or suspended
in water. Detritivores recycle dead tissues by incorporating organic molecules and
inorganic nutrients into their own living tissues, which are subsequently offered to their
predators.

Question 21

Decomposers

Answer 21

detritivores compete with decomposers such as heterotrophic fungi and
bacteria. Decomposer organisms produce little biomass and release much energy as heat to
the environment due to their respiration. The main role of an ecosystem’s decomposers
is to split organic molecules and release inorganic molecules, which recycle nutrients to
active autotrophy. However, they do not consume with all of the biomass produced,
which is evident in peat accumulated in swamps and fossilized deposits of coal, oil and
gas stored in rocks

Question 22

Population

Answer 22

A population is a
group of individual organisms that interbreed, meaning they exchange genes when they
reproduce and transfer their biological properties to new generations

Question 23

Standing Stock

Answer 23

Standing stock is a numerical variable

that describes the average number of animals per unit of area at a particular time.

Question 24

R strategists

Answer 24

R=The typical r-strategist challenges the capacity of the population system. It has a short
life cycle, becomes sexually mature at a young age and produces a large number of
juveniles per individual parent. Its population will have a high reproductive potential
producing a large number of juveniles within a short period of time. It gambles that most
of the individuals will survive and succeeds when the death rate is low. When this occurs
its population increases exponentially and can be described by a J-shaped curve
r = b – d
Where r = rate of population growth
b = birth rate in a population
d = death rate in a population.

Question 25

K Strategists

Answer 25

K=K-strategists are sensitive to environmental resistance due to intrinsic properties selected by evolution. Typical K-strategists have few predators, long life
spans, late sexual maturation and few offspring, which are given parental protection.
Accordingly, birth and mortality rates are low making ‘r’ a small number. This situation
stabilizes the population size at an appropriate level well below the range of the carrying
capacity of the environment and can be described by a S-shaped curve (Figure 5-4).
However, the carrying capacity is not constant but variable and may change with
complex abiotic and biotic factors (Figure 5-4).

states that the increase or decrease in the number of individuals in a
population during a period of time (I) is a function of r. The stability of the population size
depends on the balance between the existing number of individuals (N) and the
environment’s carrying capacity (K) for individuals. It will be a positive number and the
population may grow if N is less than K, but it will decrease when N is larger than K,
making I negative. There will be no growth and no decrease when N is equal to K, which
is the state of equilibrium when a population has stabilized its size

Question 26

It gambles that most
of the individuals will survive and succeeds when the death rate is low. When this occurs
its population increases exponentially and can be described by a __-shaped

Answer 26

J

Question 27

Lemming populations are typical
r-strategists that are extremely successful in some years, but experience dramatic cases
of ______ _______ when the plants lemmings eat mobilize production of antigrazing
toxins.

Answer 27

environmental resistance

Question 28

J-Currve is …

Answer 28

exponential growth

Question 29

Autecology

Answer 29

Autecology is a useful term for the study of an individual organism or a single species
studied in isolation either in an experimental setup or in its natural environment without
regard to other species.

Question 30

eurytopic

Answer 30

eurytopic, meaning that they tolerate considerable environmental variation on spatial
and temporal scales.

Question 31

stenotopic

Answer 31

stenotopic species require some environmental

variables to be very stable at levels established by its genotypic capacities.

Question 32

interspecific relationships

Answer 32

The
capacities of a species and the biological relationships between individuals of the same
species are referred to as intraspecific.

Question 33

Synecology

Answer 33

Synecology is the science of how species function together within their biota.
Synecological relationships may be very discrete and not obvious, while others may be
very direct as in symbiosis where two species live together in a close and permanent
relationship.

Question 34

symbiosis where two species live together in a close and permanent
relationship. Symbiosis appears in three forms:

Answer 34

1. Mutualism – beneficial to both species,
2. Commensalism – beneficial to the symbiont and presenting neither benefits nor
   harm to the host, and
3. Parasitism – beneficial to the parasite and harmful to the host.

Question 35

Biotype

Biome

Answer 35

biotope that contains a typical composition of
species expected to be found associated with a particular abiotic environment

Biotopes may be grouped into larger
biomes that are classified according to the dominant vegetation

Question 36

T OR F
all open oceans and coastal seas of the
world ocean should be considered a single biome.

Answer 36

T

The rest of the marine environment poses a problem because the flora of the open sea
consists of phytoplankton that grow and die within a short period when sufficient sunlight
is available to facilitate photosynthesis. Many of these algal species are cosmopolitans
moved around by ocean currents. Therefore, all open oceans and coastal seas of the
world ocean should be considered a single biome.

Question 37

Species that occur only north of the subarctic are ______ to the arctic.

Answer 37

endemic

Question 38

Open sea biological systems are different because…

Answer 38

Open sea biological systems are different because producers are not long-lived plants
rooted in one place
-marine food chains operate on huge scales whereas on land there are on a much smaller spatial scale

Producers are unicellular microalgae doubling their biomass in a matter of days by simple cell division in the upper few meters of the ocean where photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) is sufficiently strong. Dominating first order consumers are tiny crustaceans called copepods. Microalgae and their consumers are
suspended in surface currents that transport them from one place to another usually over huge oceanic distances. Microalgae may aggregate into larger flocs that sink to the bottom to be eaten by animals that live on or in seafloor sediments or attached on rocky
surfaces. In northern latitudes most marine animals living in deep water produce larvae that feed on microalgae in the sunlit upper layer of the ocean while currents carry them to distant destinations where they settle into an organismic system suited to their biological functions

Question 39

Approximately
___ percent of consumed energy stored in consumer biomass is available to the next
trophic level as body tissues

Answer 39

10

Question 40

homeotherms

Answer 40

On
land, warm-blooded mammals and birds maintain high body temperatures that make
them active irrespective of ambient temperatures (homeotherms)
-These organisms
lose considerable quantities of heat to the environment as water vapour from breathing
(latent heat) and consume energy by being physically active.

Question 41

poikilotherms

Answer 41

Fish and aquatic
invertebrates are poikilotherms, meaning that their body temperature varies with their
environment resulting in less direct heat loss than from homeotherms. Some fish may be
active as they chase prey; however, more conservative energy use by aquatic
organisms allows aquatic ecosystems to function with a higher trophic efficiency than
terrestrial ecosystems. Higher trophic efficiency in poikilotherms may explain why
aquatic food chains tend to be longer than terrestrial food chains where homeotherms
operate on low trophic levels.

Question 42

What is the globes most important atmospheric gas?

Answer 42

Water vapor is the globe’s most important greenhouse gas
-Water
vapor’s capacity to absorb infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface warms the
atmosphere creating a comfortable environment for humans and other organisms (see
Module 2). Most atmospheric water vapor originates from evaporation of seawater.

Question 43

It takes ___ calories

(____J) of solar energy to evaporate one gram of water

Answer 43

560

2272

Question 44

Troposhere and its main gases

Answer 44

troposphere, the lowest 8 – 15 km thick layer of
the atmosphere. The troposphere contains about 21 percent oxygen (O2), 78 percent
nitrogen (N2) and 0.03 percent carbon dioxide (CO2).

Question 45

If a _____ represents a good adaption over time, it may be selected and passed on the the rest of a population through ______ _______

Answer 45

mutation

theory of natural selection

Question 46

Adaptations that make populations fit for their environment occur at three levels:

Answer 46

1. Acclimation or short-tem adjustment in eurytopic species that can mobilize and
   reverse physiological functions. A typical example is the ability of some fish to
   migrate between lakes and the sea.
2. Ontogenetic regulation, a life-long individual ability induced by the environment.
   For example, fish eggs exposed to low temperature cause the embryo to develop
   extra vertebrae (segments) in its backbone, which cannot be reversed.
3. Phylogenetic fixation due to a change in the genetic code at the expense of
   flexible acclimation and ontogenetic regulation, which may occur in a stable
   environment that does not require ecological flexibility in a particular capacity.

Question 47

Stenotopic vs. eurytopic

Answer 47

Species with great capacity to adapt are eurytopic in contrast to
stenotopic species that have specific requirements and demand a stable environment.

Question 48

phenotopic selection

Answer 48

Each has a realized niche that is less than the fundamental niche of the
species. However, environmental differences within a single population system may offer
sites that are habitable for some individuals but not tolerated by others. This kind of
environmental restraint within population systems is called phenotypic selection and is
important to evolution when phenotypes become isolated. Sometimes phenotypes may
be recognized as morphs that display morphological features different from the rest of
their population. It is expressed in populations of Arctic char, for example, where some
fish have large jaws and teeth fit for predatory or cannibalistic roles.

Question 49

What do Fundamental Niches look like for most ARCTIC species

Answer 49

Species of the Arctic region generally have to respond to an extremely
variable physical environment, both seasonally and inter-annually. Arctic species
therefore tend to possess wide fundamental niches and acquire ecological plasticity from
acclimation and ontogenetic regulation. This differs from tropical rainforests, coral reefs
or the Antarctic ecosystems that have relatively stable climates and species with narrow
fundamental niches.

Question 50

The development is understood as ecological succession and terminates in
a climax community that is stable and self-perpetuating

Answer 50

Disturbances such as wildfires, high winds, heavy snow falls, intense
forestry and larval infestation of parasitic insects create open clearings that attract
opportunistic plants and animals. The first invasion may be a massive occurrence of a
few species, but they are gradually replaced by other species that increase biodiversity.
Spruce that grow slowly but tall eventually gain supremacy over less competitive plants.
They take control over space, sunlight and nutrients causing the biota to become poorer
in species

Question 51

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THESE MEAN?

Abiotic: 
Acclimation: 
Adaptation: 
Autecology: 
Autotroph: 
Biomass: 
Biome: 
Biosphere: 
Biota: 
Biotic:
 Biotope: 
Carnivore: 
Carrying Capacity: 
Chemotroph: 
Climax Community:
Commensalism: 
Community: 
Consumer: 
Decomposers: 
Detritivore: 
Ecological Resilience: 
Ecological Succession: 
Endemic: 
Environmental Resistance: 
Eurytopic: 
Extirpation: 
Food Chain: 
Food Web: 
Fundamental Niche: 
Habitat: 
Herbivore: 
Heterotroph: 
Homeotherm: 
Interspecific versus intraspecific: 
Keystone Species: 
K-Strategist:
Mutation: 
Mutualism: 
Omnivore: 
Ontogenetic:

Answer 51

Abiotic: Not associated with or derived from living organisms. Abiotic factors in an
environment include such items as sunlight, temperature, wind patterns, and
precipitation.

Acclimation: Any of the numerous gradual, long-term responses of an organism to
changes in its environment.

Adaptation: the evolutionary process whereby an organism becomes better able to live
in its habitat or habitats.

Autecology: The branch of ecology that deals with the biological relationship between
an individual organism or an individual species and its environment.

Autotroph: An organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) from simple substances present in its surroundings,
generally using energy from light (by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions
(chemosynthesis).

Biomass: Biological material from living, or recently living organisms: alternatively, the
total mass of living matter within a given unit of environmental area.

Biome: A major regional or global biotic community, such as a tundra or taiga,
characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate.

Biosphere: the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their
relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere,
hydrosphere and atmosphere; may also be termed the zone of life on Earth.

Biota: The combined flora and fauna of a region.

Biotic: Associated with or derived from living organisms. The biotic factors in an
environment include the organisms themselves as well as such interactions as
predation, competition for food resources, and symbiotic relationships.

Biotope: A usually small or well-defined area that is uniform in environmental conditions
and in its distribution of animal and plant life.

Carnivore: an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet
consisting mainly or exclusively of animal tissue, whether through predation or
scavenging.

Carrying Capacity: The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is
the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain
indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the
environment.

Chemotroph: An organism (typically a bacterium) that obtains energy through
achemical process, which is by the oxidation of electron donating molecules (e.g. iron
(Fe3+), sulfur (S2-), or ammonia (NH3)) from the environment, rather than by
photosynthesis.

Climax Community: An ecological community in which populations of plants or animals
remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A climax
community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until
destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.

Commensalism: in biology, a relation between individuals of two species in which one
species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting
the latter.

Community: A group of interdependent organisms living and interacting with each other
in the same habitat.

Consumer: An organism that generally obtains its food by feeding on other organisms
or organic matter due to lack of the ability to manufacture its own food from inorganic
sources sources; a heterotroph.

Decomposers: An organism whose ecological function involves the recycling of
nutrients by performing the natural process of decomposition as it feeds on dead or
decaying organisms.

Detritivore: Heterotrophic organisms that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus
(decomposing plant and animal parts as well as organic fecal matter).

Ecological Resilience: In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to
respond to a disturbance by resisting damage and recovering quickly.

Ecological Succession: The phenomenon or process by which an biotic community
undergoes more or less orderly and predictable changes following disturbance or initial
colonization of new habitat.

Endemic: A species observed uniquely within a defined geographic location or habitat
type.

Environmental Resistance: The resistance presented by the environmental conditions
to limit a species from growing out of control or to stop them from reproducing at
maximum rate.

Eurytopic: Able to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions; widely distributed.
Used with reference to both plants and animals.

Extirpation: To destroy or remove completely a species from an particular area, region,
or habitat.

Food Chain: The sequence of transfers of matter and energy from organism to
organism in the form of food.

Food Web: A complex of interrelated food chains in a biotic community.

Fundamental Niche: The full range of environmental conditions and resources an
organism can possibly occupy and use, especially when limiting factors are absent in its
habitat.

Habitat: A place where an organism or a biological population normally lives or occurs.

Herbivore: An organism that consumes vegetation as its primary food source.

Heterotroph: An organism that consumes other organisms in a food chain. In contrast
to autotrophs, heterotrophs are unable to produce organic substances from inorganic
ones. They must rely on an organic source of carbon that has originated as part of
another living organism. Heterotrophs depend either directly or indirectly on autotrophs
for nutrients and food energy.

Homeotherm: An organism, such as a mammal or bird, having a body temperature that
is constant and largely independent of the temperature of its surroundings.

Interspecific versus intraspecific: Interspecific competition, in ecology, is a form of
competition in which individuals of different species compete for the same resource in an
ecosystem (e.g. food or living space). The other form of competition is intraspecific
competition, which involves organisms of the same species.

Keystone Species: A species that has a disproportionately large effect on the
communities in which it occurs. Such species help to maintain local biodiversity within a
community either by controlling populations of other species that would otherwise
dominate the community or by providing critical resources for a wide range of species.

K-Strategist: Species that display traits associated with living at densities close to
carrying capacity, and typically are strong competitors in such crowded niches that
invest more heavily in fewer offspring, each of which has a relatively high probability of
surviving to adulthood.

Mutation: A change of the DNA sequence within a gene or chromosome of an organism
resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not found in the parental type.

Mutualism: A symbiotic relationship between individuals of different species in which
both individuals benefit from the association.

Omnivore: Organisms that eat both plant and animal material as their primary food
sources.

Ontogenetic: related to the the origin and development of an individual organism from
embryo to adult.

Question 52

DO YOU KNOW THESE #2

PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation): 
Parasitism: 
Photosynthesis: 
Phototroph: 
Phylogenetic: 
Poikilotherm: 
Population: 
Primary Production: 
Producer: 
Respiration: 
R-Strategist: 
Secondary Production: 
Species: 
Species Diversity: 
Standing Crop: 
Standing Stock: 
Stenotopic: 
Symbiosis: 
Synecology: 
Tipping Point: 
Trophic Efficiency:

Answer 52

PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation): defines the range of wavelengths of solar
radiation from 400 to 700 nanometers that photosynthetic organisms are able to use in
the process of photosynthesis.

Parasitism: A form of symbiosis in which one organism (called the parasite) benefits at
the expense of another organism usually of different species (called the host). The
association may also lead to the injury of the host.

Photosynthesis: The synthesis of complex organic material using carbon dioxide,
water, inorganic materials, and solar energy captured by light-absorbing pigments, such
as chlorophyll.

Phototroph: An organism that obtains energy from sunlight for the synthesis of organic
compounds.

Phylogenetic: the sequence of events involved in the evolution of a species or higher
taxonomic grouping of organisms.

Poikilotherm: An organism, such as a fish or reptile, having a body temperature that
varies with the temperature of its surroundings.

Population: A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in the same
place at the same time.

Primary Production: Primary production is the production of organic material from
atmospheric or aquatic carbon dioxide. It may occur through the process of
photosynthesis, using light as a source of energy, or chemosynthesis, using the
oxidation or reduction of chemical compounds as a source of energy.

Producer: An organism (primarily green photosynthetic plants) that utilizes the energy of
the sun and inorganic molecules from the environment to synthesize organic molecules.

Respiration: The process by which animals use up stored foods (by combustion with
oxygen) to produce energy.
R-Strategist: Species are those that place an emphasis on a high growth rate, and
typically exploit less-crowded ecological niches and produce many offspring, each of
which has a relatively low probability of surviving to adulthood.

Secondary Production: Secondary production represents the formation of living mass
of a heterotrophic population or group of populations over some period of time. It is the
heterotrophic equivalent of net primary production by autotrophs.

Species: In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a
taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of
interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

Species Diversity: The number and variety of species present in an area and their
spatial distribution.

Standing Crop: The standing crop is the quantity or total weight or energy content of
the organisms which are in a particular location at a particular time.The standing crop is
the total dry weight of all organisms.

Standing Stock: A species, group or population of organisms that maintains and
sustains itself over time in a definable area.

Stenotopic: An organism able to tolerate only a restricted range of habitats or ecological
conditions.

Symbiosis: Symbiosis is a close ecological relationship between the individuals of two
(or more) different species.

Synecology: The branch of ecology that deals with the ecological interrelationships
among communities of organisms.

Tipping Point: In ecology, the time at which a change or an effect cannot be stopped.

Trophic Efficiency: A measure of the amount of energy in the biomass that is produced
by one trophic level and is incorporated into the biomass produced by the next (higher)
trophic level.