Unit 1: Ecology Flashcards
1
Q
species
A
includes organisms that have potential to interbreed successfully with each other and their offspring are able to do the same
2
Q
What does the definition of species not apply to?
A
asexually reproducing organisms
3
Q
population
A
contain members of the same species and may or may not be in the same area
4
Q
What does population ecology look at?
A
factors affecting the growth and decline of a population
5
Q
What is an example of population ecology?
A
humans
6
Q
What are some increasing factors of the human population? (3)
A
- there are more precautions that can be taken to eliminate disease and injury
- there is ore control exercise over agriculture and domestication, so there is more food that lasts
- life expectancy has increased
7
Q
What are some decreasing factors of the human population? (4)
A
- human population is expected to stop growing
- people are having less children
- increased mortality
- emigration
8
Q
community
A
a group of populations (different species) that interact with each other
9
Q
What does community ecology focus on?
A
competitive interactions between the different species
10
Q
What are the ways organisms interact with each other? (3)
A
- predator-prey relationship
- competition
- symbiosis
11
Q
predator-prey relationship
A
there is a positive effect for the predator and a negative effect for the prey
12
Q
competition
A
organism will compete for food, space and resources
13
Q
What are the types of competition? (2)
A
- intraspecific
- interspecific
14
Q
Intraspecific
A
competition between same species
15
Q
Interspecific
A
competition between different species
16
Q
What is an example of competition?
A
humans
17
Q
What do humas compete for? (5)
A
- food
- space
- water
- access to natural resources
- mates
18
Q
symbiosis
A
various types of relationships between organisms
19
Q
What are the types of symbiosis? (3)
A
- parasitism
- mutualism
- commensalism
20
Q
parasitism
A
parasite benefits host does not
21
Q
What is an example of parasitism? (2)
A
- dog and flea
- flea uses dog for food and shelter, does not kill because it wants to live
22
Q
mutualism
A
both organisms benefit from the relationship
23
Q
What is an example of mutualism? (2)
A
- flowers and bees
- flower pollinate and gains variation while bees get nectar
24
Q
commensalism
A
One organism benefits while the other one is neutral
25
What is an example of commensalism? (2)
- monarch and viceroy butterfly
- monarchs are not eaten because of they eat milkweed, something birds cannot digest, so the viceroy benefits from looking similar to the monarch
26
ecosystem
the interaction between a community and the relevant abiotic factors
27
abiotic factors
nonliving things
28
What are some examples of abiotic factors? (3)
- weather
- natural disasters
- viruses
29
What does ecosystem ecology look at? (3)
- energy flow
- nutrient cycles
- feeding relationships
30
What are the modes of nutrition? (2)
- autotrophs
- heterotrophs
31
autotroph
produce own nutrition from inorganic sources, also known as a producer
32
What is the exception to the typical photoautotroph?
chemoautotrophs
33
chemoautotroph (2)
- produce food from chemicals
- usually located at the bottom of the ocean where there are fissures
34
heterotroph
acquire energy from an outside organism and takes in its molecules for nutrition
34
What is an example of a heterotroph?
humans
35
What are the types of heterotrophs? (3)
- consumers
- saprotrophs
- detritivores
36
consumer
digest other living organisms by ingestion
37
What is an example of a consumer?
humans
38
saprotroph (2)
- obtain organic nutrients by absorption of dead organisms
- digestion is external by enzymes
39
What is an example of a saprotroph?
mushrooms
40
detritivores
obtains nutrients from eating detritus (decaying plants for animal feces); also known as decomposers
41
What is an example of a detritivore?
flies
42
Why is random sampling done in population surveys?
it is a faster shortcut
43
What is the process of setting up a test in ecology? (3)
- randomly choose squares to survey
- count the number of individuals in each square and extrapolate the total for all squares
- chi-squared can be used
44
chi-squared test
looks at an association between 2 living things
45
mesocosm
a small self-sustaining ecosystem model
46
What are the requirements for a mesocosm? (3)
- energy source
- way to recycle nutrients
- waste removal
47
What do mesocosms allow?
the study of ecosystem dynamics under controlled conditions
48
What is the problem with being a large organism? (4)
- more food is required for energy
- caloric requirements must be met
- there is the issue of gravity
- there is the issue of heating and cooling
49
What organism is the best at heating and cooling?
human
50
What do all living things need to survive?
energy
51
What is the ultimate source of energy?
the sun
52
What limits food chains, food webs, and trophic levels?
energy flow
53
How does photosynthesis provide energy?
- it takes sunlight and uses it to produce glucose
- the energy is stored in the glucose, which can be broken down to release energy as ATP
54
How does cellular respiration provide energy?
is takes glucose breaks it down
and ATP is released
55
What causes energy flow to limit food chains and food webs?
only a portion of the energy from food that is consumed is used for building an organism
56
What can organisms not do with energy?
convert heat to other forms of energy for use
57
What are some of the roles in an ecosystem? (3)
- producers
- consumers
- decomposers
58
What do the roles of the ecosystem influence? (2)
- food chains
- food webs
59
What percentage of energy passes through trophic levels?
10%
60
trophic level
different levels of feeding
61
How high can a food chain get?
up to the 8th level
62
What can cause the balance of a food chain or food web to be disrupted?
an increase or decrease in a group
63
What is an example of a disrupted food chain?
the lack of wolves at Yellowstone
64
food chain
a sequence of organisms in successive trophic levels within a community
65
food web
the feeding connections between organisms in a biotic community
66
What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
a food web expresses that one organism can consume many things
67
pyramid of energy
the base is a producer with the most energy as it goes up each by each trophic level, the energy decreases
68
What are ways potential energy is lost? (3)
- heating and cooling
- undigested tissue
- waste products
69
What are organic compounds used for?
building tissue and organisms
70
What organic compound cannot be directly used to build tissue?
inorganic compounds
71
What are examples of inorganic compounds? (3)
- carbon dioxide
- carbon monoxide
- methane
72
What is and organic compound that heterotrophs cannot use that autotrophs can?
CO2
73
What is the main part of the carbon cycle?
CO2 being expelled into the atmosphere as a waste product then absorbed by autotrophs
74
How is CO2 consumed by heterotrophs?
CO2 is consumed in food, it is then converted to carbohydrates, which is digested and assimilated
75
What is the fact about energy and nutrients?
energy is basically infinite, but nutrients are limited
76
What is the main source of energy for the earth?
the sun
77
How many fossil fuels are there?
3
78
What are the 3 fossil fuels?
- natural gas
- coal
- oil
79
What is the most common natural gas?
methane (CH4)
80
methane
a natural gas that is a crucial compound in the C cycle
81
What is methane used for? (4)
- cooking
- heating home
- heating dryers
- heating water
82
How is methane produced?
by anaerobic bacteria via fermentation (in places like cow guts and rice paddies)
83
What does methane act as in the atmosphere?
a greenhouse gas
84
What does methane burn as?
fuel that oxidizes as CO2 and H2O
85
What is coal made of?
plants that have been dead for hundreds of years
86
What is the process of making coal? (2)
- decayed matter in swampy conditions becomes peat
- pressure + time + heat = coal
87
What is the process of making petroleum (oil)? (4)
- organisms in the water will die
- organisms will get trapped in sediment
- oxygen is forced out and pressure is added
- sediment becomes oil
88
combustion
burning in the presence of oxygen
89
What is the other name for fossil fuels?
fossilized hydrocarbons
90
What is another way of explaining the formation of fossil fuels?
over geologic time scale decaying organic matter becomes fossil fuels
91
What does the combustion of hydrocarbons result in?
release of CO2 into the atmosphere
92
Where else can CO2 be absorbed?
in the ocean
93
What are places in the ocean that CO2 can be stored in? (4)
- in living tissue
- in coral reefs
- as sediment on the bottom
- dissolved in ocean water
94
What can CO2 become in the ocean?
calcium carbonate (shells and reefs), a carbon sink
95
What does too much absorption of CO2 by the ocean cause?
the ocean to become more acidic (lower pH)
96
What is the carbon cycle?
cycle where carbon is exchanged between the different spheres of the Earth
97
greenhouse effect
atmospheric gases trapping longwave radiation (heat) from escaping into space
98
Why should the greenhouse effect not be removed?
it would cause life not to exist on earth because the temperatures would no longer be hospitable
99
ozone layer
composed of O3 that protects the earth from the sun's UV radiation
100
What had been happening to the ozone layer for the past few decades? (2)
- hole had been developing in the ozone layer due to harmful chemicals in thing like hairspray
- the hole are fixing themselves now because those chemicals have been banned
101
Are the greenhouse effect and ozone layer related?
no
102
What does the sun send out? (2)
large amounts of radiation and energy
103
What does the earth's atmosphere block? (2)
the suns radiation and energy
104
What radiation does make it through the earth's ozone layer? (2)
longwave and shortwave
105
What is another name for longwave radiation?
infrared (heat)
106
What type of radiation is heat?
one that can be absorbed or reflected
107
What is another name for shortwave radiation?
ultraviolet
108
What happened infrared radiation when it comes into contact with earth?
- some is absorbed into the earth's surface
- some is reflected and trapped by greenhouse gases
109
How has the greenhouse gas effect been enhanced?
through increased output of CO2 causing temperatures to rise
110
What are some examples of greenhouse gases? (5)
- CO2
- CH4
- H2O
- NOx
- O3
111
What does NOx stand for?
nitrous oxides
112
What are the two most important greenhouse gases? (2)
- H2O
- CO2
113
Which greenhouse gas levels have risen and caused a rise in temperature? (3)
- CO2
- CH4
- NOx
114
Which two greenhouse gases have more heating capability?
- CH4
- NOx
115
What is the main cause of climate change?
combustion of fossil fuels
116
What is the reason why the effect of climate change may not be as severe?
oceans absorb CO2 too
117
Why is it good that the ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere?
it does not heat the planet
118
Why is it bad that the ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere? (2)
- the presence of carbonic acid causes the pH of the ocean to drop
- marine ecosystems are disrupted causing the denaturing of enzymes
119
How is carbonic acid made?
CO2 dissolving in H2O
