Unit 8: Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The field of biology concerned with understanding how organisms relate to their environments and each other

Question 2

True or false: Ecology is the most exclusive field in biology.

Answer 2

False: It is one of the most INCLUSIVE field. It is also one of the most complex

Question 3

What is exponential growth?

Answer 3

Rapid, ever-increasing growth when resources are abundant.

Question 4

What is logistic growth?

Answer 4

A population growth model of rapid initial growth, with slowed growth as population levels rise

Question 5

What is carrying capacity?

Answer 5

The maximum sustainable population size an area can support

Question 6

What is population ecology?

Answer 6

A field of study that studies factors influencing the size, density, distribution and age structure of populations.

Question 7

What is a population?

Answer 7

A group of individuals of the same species living in the same area

Question 8

What is population density?

Answer 8

The number of individuals per unit area/volume

Question 9

What is population dispersion?

Answer 9

The pattern of spacing among individuals

Question 10

What are three methods of determining population size/density?

Answer 10

Direct count, sample plot count, and mark-recapture

Question 11

What is climate?

Answer 11

The long-term weather conditions in an area

Question 12

What are global climate patterns determined by?

Answer 12

Solar energy and the Earths movement.

Question 13

The sun heats up air near the equator, which rises, then cools and rains, creating _________. Cooler air absorbs moisture as it sinks, creating _________ _________. The warm moist air then rises again with precipitation falling to create the _________ _________. The cool air sinks again but lacks moisture, resulting in the bitterly cold, dry __________ _________.

Answer 13

Rainforests, major deserts, temperate zones, polar regions,

Question 14

What modifies climate?

Answer 14

Seasons, mountains and large bodies of water

Question 15

What is a rainshadow?

Answer 15

The leeward side of a mountain, which is shielded from rain, and interferes with rain clouds.

Question 16

What climate factors are most important in determining the distribution of organisms?

Answer 16

Water and temperature

Question 17

What is a biome?

Answer 17

Large geographical areas characterized by similar vegetation or physical environments, such as a rainforest, or a desert.

Question 18

What are abiotic factors?

Answer 18

Non-living factors such as temperatures, moisture, chemical nutrients, and sunlight level

Question 19

What are biotic factors?

Answer 19

Living factors such as other organisms, including microbes.

Question 20

What determines the distribution of a species?

Answer 20

Interactions between organisms (ecological) and the environment (evolutionary).

Question 21

What is a community?

Answer 21

A group of populations of different species living in the same area.

Question 22

What is predation?

Answer 22

An interaction where one organism kills and eats the other.

Question 23

What are some evolutionary adaptations to reduce prey vulnerability?

Answer 23

A) Cryptic coloration
B) Warning coloration
C) Aggregation

Question 24

What is herbivory?

Answer 24

An interaction where one organism eats parts of plants or algae

Question 25

What are some evolutionary adaptations by plants and algae to reduce herbivory?

Answer 25

A) Toxins

B) Physical deterants, like thorns

Question 26

What is competition? (when it comes to ecology)

Answer 26

An interaction where one organism benefits and the other is harmed

Question 27

What is intraspecific competition?

Answer 27

Competition between members of the same species

Question 28

What is inter-specific competition?

Answer 28

Competition between members of different species

Question 29

What is the principle of competitive exclusion?

Answer 29

The fact that two species competing for the same limited resources cannot coexist permanently in the same place

Question 30

What is symbiosis?

Answer 30

Two or more organisms living in direct, intimate contact with each other

Question 31

What is parisitism?

Answer 31

Symbiosis where one organism benefits and the other is harmed.

Question 32

What is mutualism?

Answer 32

Symbiosis where both organisms benefit

Question 33

What is commencelism?

Answer 33

Symbiosis where one organism benefits and the other is neither harmed nor benefitted.

Question 34

What is the trophic pyramid?

Answer 34

Representation of the transfer of food energy form each trophic level

Question 35

What is a trophic level?

Answer 35

A level of the feeding structure an organism occupies in a food chain

Question 36

What are the maximum number of levels a trophic pyramid can have?

Answer 36

Five to six: There aren’t enough producers to support more.

Question 37

How much energy from one trophic level gets transferred to the next?

Answer 37

10%

Question 38

What is primary productivity?

Answer 38

The amount of biomass produced per measure of time

Question 39

What is NET primary productivity?

Answer 39

The total amount of biomass produced

Question 40

What is the ____ primary productivity?

Question 41

What is biodiversity?

Answer 41

The variety of species that make up a community. This is used to measure ecosystem health

Question 42

What is the theory of island biogeography?

Answer 42

The idea that islands that are smaller, or are farther away from the coast, have fewer species.

Question 43

What are factors affecting the global temperature?

Answer 43

Solar irradience, cloud albedo effect, vegetation and animals, greenhouse gasses, fossilization, volcanism, limestone formation, and fossil fuel use, among others

Question 44

What are likely effects of global warming?

Answer 44

A) Polar ice melting
B) Glaciers melting
C) Early snow pack melt
D) Droughts in some places
E) Additional rain in other places
F) Rising sea levels
G) Floods
H) Acidifying of the ocean
  I) Changing currents
J) Bigger storms
K) Changing ecosystems