Population Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology

Answer 1

The study of interactions between living and non-living organisms in an area

Question 2

What is a food chain

Answer 2

It is the transfer of food and energy through the feeding of one organism on another

Question 3

Ecosystem

Answer 3

A unit in nature where abiotic and biotic factors interact with each other and are studied

Question 4

Abiotic and biotc

Answer 4

Non-living and living components of an ecosystem

Question 5

Producers, consumers, decomposers

Answer 5

Green plants that make their own food.
Animals that eat plants or other animals.
Bacteria and fungi that breaks down organic matter

Question 6

Autotrophic, heterotrophic, saprophytic

Answer 6

Nutrition plants use to make their own food.
Nutrition animals have to eat ready made food.
Nutrition decomposers have to break down dead organic matter

Question 7

Niche

Answer 7

A specific job or role of an individual

Question 8

Linkage in an ecosystem

Answer 8

Individual, population of same species, community of many pops, biome, biosphere

Question 9

Biome and biosphere

Answer 9

Regions of the earth with particular climates that plants and animals living there are adapted to.
The part of the earth that can support life

Question 10

Population dynamics

Answer 10

The study of the factors that cause a change in population number

Question 11

Environmental/abiotic factors and biotic factors

Answer 11

Drought and disease

Interactions between other organisms

Question 12

Increase population

Answer 12

Natality and immigration

Question 13

Decrease population

Answer 13

Mortality and emigration

Question 14

Carrying capacity

Answer 14

Max no. Of organisms an area can support

Question 15

Environmental resistance

Answer 15

Kicks in when cc is reached.

Competition for food, shelter, mating partners, space. Parasitism

Question 16

Phases

Answer 16

Lag, exponential, deccelaration, stable equilibrium

Question 17

Growth forms

Answer 17

Geometric (J)

Logistic (S)

Question 18

Unstable population

Answer 18

CC decreases and dies out bc deteriorating environment bc environmental resistance

Question 19

Direct and indirect methods

Answer 19

Physical counting or Ariel photographs

Mark-recapture or simple sampling

Question 20

Mark recapture technique

Answer 20

P=mxs/t 
Clearly visible marks
Enough time to mix without breeding 
Closed environment 
Repeat

Question 21

Simple sampling

Answer 21

Total no. of animals= no. in sample x habitat size/ sample size
Choose random samples
Take several samples

Question 22

5 interaction in a community

Answer 22

Predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism, parasitism (symbiosis)

Question 23

Predation

Answer 23

One species hunts, kills and eats another who us the prey. Density-dependent factor

Question 24

Predator adaptations

Answer 24

Agility, speed, intensified senses, sharp teeth and claws, hooked beaks and camouflage

Question 25

Adaptations for prey

Answer 25

Herding, good camouflage, tough outer castings, ability to secrete poison

Question 26

Competition

Answer 26

Two or more individuals want the same resources, density dependent

Question 27

Intraspecific competition

Answer 27

Individuals of the same species, use the same resources in the same way super intense

Question 28

Interspecific competition

Answer 28

Different species, similar niches, one specie out competes the other, resulting in emigration or extinction: gause's law: competitive exclusion

Question 29

Resource partitioning

Answer 29

Co-existence of species using same resources but different niches.

Question 30

Layers of a forest

Answer 30

Very shady plants, shrubs, understory, canopy

Question 31

Succession

Answer 31

Process by which community structure changes over time. As well as species composition

Question 32

Primary succession

Answer 32

Barren area which has not previously been inhabited which becomes colonized by pioneer plants

Question 33

Secondary succession

Answer 33

Colonization of an area that has previously been inhabited where the is a current soil bed. Eg after a fire

Question 34

Climax community

Answer 34

No further changes to its composition can occur

Question 35

Pioneer plants

Answer 35

First plants to colonize an area eg, lichens, moss, and ferns

Question 36

Process of succession

Answer 36

Empty habits, lichens colonize and secret acid which breaks down rocks and trains soil and water, mosses establish themselves trap organic matter and form soil bed, shallow root plants grow, larger shrubs, climax community

Question 37

Parasitism

Answer 37

One benefits other is harmed

Question 38

Mutualism

Answer 38

Both benefit

Question 39

Commensalism

Answer 39

One benefits while the other is unharmed

Question 40

Red mistletoe

Answer 40

Has special roots called haustoria draw nutrients and moisture from hosts tissue. Can photosynthesize but doesn't have roots

Question 41

Lichens

Answer 41

Algal cells provide food. Fungal threads provide frame network and absorb water

Question 42

Egrets and livestock

Answer 42

Egrets feed on insects disturbed by the movement of cattle

Question 43

Zones of the rocky shore

Answer 43

Infratidal, cochlear, lower barnacle, upper barnacle, littirorina

Question 44

Donation

Answer 44

Gradual change in the distance between species across a habitat

Question 45

Energy lost in plants

Answer 45

Metabolism, biomass and respiration

Question 46

Energy loss in consumers

Answer 46

Respiration, growth(biomass), urine and faeces and heat