Unit A Section 1.2

Question 1

Herbivores

Answer 1

Herbivores such as mule deer eat plants.

Question 2

Carnivores

Answer 2

Carnivores such as wolves eat herbivores.

Question 3

Decomposers

Answer 3

Decomposers such as bacteria and fungi break down both animals and plants once they’re dead.

Question 4

What are obvious examples of interdependence between populations of species?

Answer 4

Predator-prey relationship

-Symbiosis

Question 5

What is symbiosis

Answer 5

Symbiosis is another type of interdependence.

is an association between members of different species

Question 6

Different types of symbiosis

Answer 6

Commensalism, Parasitism, and Mutualism

Question 7

commensalism

Answer 7

one of the participating organisms benefits but
the other does not, but it is not harmed or benefited.

Ex. A bird that builds its nest in a tree, or a plant that grows high up on a tree to get sunlight but doesn’t take nutrients from the tree

Question 8

Mutualism

Answer 8

mutualism benefits both organisms

Ex. Algal cells produce food for themselves and the fungus through photosynthesis, while the fungus protects the algal cells from dehydration.

Question 9

parasitism

Answer 9

one organism benefits and the other is harmed

tapeworm attached to the intestinal wall of a human is an example. The tapeworm absorbs nutrients from the food in the intestine, leaving little food for the human host to absorb

Question 10

niches

Answer 10

The term niche describes the role of an organism within the ecosystem. An organism’s niche includes what it eats and what eats it, its habitat, nesting site, or range, and its effect on both the populations around it and its environment.

Question 11

Interspecies competition

Answer 11

happens when two or more species need the same resource. This type of relationship helps to limit the size of populations of the competing species.

For example, if two different species
compete for the same food, there is less of it for each species.

Question 12

Can niches with in a species change

Answer 12

Yes, they can. The frog tadpole lives in an aquatic environment and consumes plant matter while the adult frog lives in both aquatic and terrestrial environments and is carnivorous.

Question 13

How can similar species coexist in an area

Answer 13

they must have slightly different niches.
For example, five species of warblers (small songbirds) all feed on spruce budworms. But because these species have different behavioral adaptations, each prefers to feed on worms at different parts of the tree. By doing this, the five species don’t directly compete for the worms.

Question 14

resource partitioning.

.

Answer 14

division of a resource among two or more coexisting species such that the niche of each species differs slightly. doesn’t have to be food

Question 15

Biological evolution:

Answer 15

change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms that occurs over many generations.
-biological evolution refers to changes in populations of organisms over time but does not imply how these changes have taken place

Question 16

Morph

Answer 16

a distinct form of given species

different morphs of the same species may look different but can successfully reproduce.

Question 17

Natural selection assumes the following

Answer 17

• more organisms are born than can survive and reproduce.
• organisms compete for limited resources and survival
• There are variations between organisms and these variations can be inherited.
• Some variations make an organism more likely to survive and reproduce.

favorable variations will spread throughout a population while unfavorable variations become less frequent.

Question 18

interdependent

Answer 18

organisms depend on one another

Question 19

ecology

Answer 19

study of relationships and interactions of living things with one another and their environment.