Characteristics of Living Things
Needs of Living Things
Classification of Living Things
Biomes
Water Ecosystems
100
What is another name for a living thing?
organism
100
Explain the idea of spontaneous generation. Is it still an an accepted idea in science? Explain.
Spontaneous generation is the mistaken idea that living rings can arise from nonliving sources. Scientists have proven that living things come only from other living things.
100
What is classification and what do you call the scientific study of it?
Classification is the process of grouping things based on their similarities. The scientific study of how living things are classified is taxonomy.
100
What are the six major biomes that most ecologists study?
The six major biomes that most ecologist study are the rain forest, desert, grassland, deciduous forest, and tundra.
100
What is the difference between freshwater and marine ecosystems? Name some freshwater ecosystems.
Marine ecosystems have water with salt, and freshwater ecosystems do not. Some examples of freshwater ecosystems are streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes.
200
What is the basic unit of structure and function in a living thing, and how do you describe living things that have more than one?
a cell, multicellular
200
A characteristic of living things is that they grow and develop. In order to to that, what are the four main things that they need?
All living things must satisfy their basic needs for water, food, living space, and stable internal conditions.
200
How and why do scientists classify?
Biologists use classification to organize livings into smaller and smaller groupings of organisms with similar characteristics to make it easier to study them.
200
What is a biome, and what factor is most significant in distinguishing one biome from another?
A biome is a group of land ecosystems with similar climates and organisms. It is mostly the climate - temperature and precipitation - in an area that determines its biome. This is because climate limits the species of plants that can grow in an are, which, in turn determines what animals can live there.
200
What is the relationship between a stream and a river? A pond and a lake?
As a fast-moving stream flows along it can join with other streams; the water then becomes cloudy with soil, contains less oxygen, and moves a little slower. At this point we would now call it a river. Ponds and lakes are bodies of standing, rather than flowing water. Ponds are often more shallow, so light can reach the bottom and plants grow throughout. Lake are usually larger, and in large ponds or lakes, the producers all live near the top closest to the sunlight.
300
What are the six characteristics that all living things share?
All living things have a cellular organization, contain similar chemicals, use energy, respond to their surroundings, grow and develop, and reproduce.
300
Explain why it can be difficult for organisms to find a place to live.
Each organism needs a particular place where, based on its characteristics, it can best find water, food, and shelter. Because there is a limited amount of space and resources on Earth, some organisms must compete for space.
300
Use a mnemonic device to name the major levels of classification in order from the largest to the smallest and most specific grouping.
One answer: Daring (domain) kids (kingdom) put (phyla) cookies (class) on (order) five (family) giant (genus) scooters (species).
300
Compare the two types of rain forests.
Both types of rain forests have high amounts of precipitations. But temperate rain forests have moderate temperatures, whereas tropical rain forests are very warm and humid. They have a wide variety of organisms and can be divided into several layers (the canopy, or leafy roof, for example, and the understory, which is under the canopy and has more shade).
300
What is an estuary and how is it related to both types of water ecosystems?
An estuary is found where the fresh water of a river meets the salt water of the ocean. Many animals use the calm waters of estuaries for breeding grounds, regardless of whether they live in fresh or salt water.
400
Use an example of stimulus/response to describe how organisms respond to their environment.
One possible answer: A plant stem bends toward the light; the light is the stimulus, and the movement of the plant toward it is the response.
400
Compare autotrophs and heterotrophs and explain the significance of each to the food chain.
Autotrophs (self feeders), are organisms that make their own food to carry out their life functions. They are the bottom of the food chain, because they provide food for some heterotrophs (organisms that get their energy from consuming other organisms). Some heterotrophs get their energy from eating autotrophs and others from eating other heterotrophs.
400
What is binomial nomenclature, who developed it, and why?
Binomial nomenclature is naming system for organisms developed by Carolus Linnaeus by which organisms are given a name based on how they are classified into the two most specific groupings of genus and species. The scientific name for an organism is in Latin, is the genus and species of the organism, and is written in italics.
400
Compare deciduous and boreal forst biomes.
In deciduous forest rainfall is much less than in a rain forest but probably more than in a boreal forest. Deciduous forest trees have leaves that fall off before winter come back in the spring. Temperatures can vary greatly, throughout the year, but there is generally a five to six month growing period. A large variety of plants allows for many different animals and habitats, but many animals hibernate and are not very visible in the winter. A boreal forest (otherwise known as Taiga), has coniferous trees (leaves with needs and cones with seeds in them - spruce, fir, pine, etc.) and gets very cold in winter. Much of the water is frozen for much of the year, so plants have adaptations to prevent water loss, and the variety of herbivores adapted to cold temperatures supports many large predators.
400
What are the main marine ecosystems, and what is the main difference between them?
Marine ecosystems include estuaries, intertidal zones, neritic zones, and the open ocean. The main difference between them is the depth of the water.
500
Explain what the experiments of Redi and Pasteur show about reproduction.
Living things arise from living things. Redi's experiments showed this because no maggots were found on meat in a covered jar, only in an uncovered one where flies could land and lay eggs. In Pasteur's experiment, bacteria didn't form in the broth that had been boiled, because the existing bacteria all died. So the bacteria didn't come from the broth as previously believed.
500
What is the difference between a prokaryote and a eukaryote and explain the significance of this to classification.
A prokaryote is an organism whose cell lacks a nucleus, and a eukaryote is an organism whose cells have a nucleus. This is how scientist decide which domain an organism falls into - Bacteria, Archaea, or Eukarya. Bacteria and Archaea are both prokaryotes and can both be either heterotrophs or autotrophs. The Archaea Domain organisms a slightly different chemical make-up and live in harsher environments more similar to early Earth. Organisms in the Eukaryote Domain fall into one of the other four kingdoms: protists, fungi, plants, or animals.
500
The tundra is a very dry biome. How is different from the desert and grassland biomes, which also tend to be very dry?
The tundra is very cold. It is covered in a layer of permafrost (frozen soil). Most of the soil is frozen all year. There is a short period os soil when the permafrost melts, but the soil underneath remains frozen, so small ponds and lakes form. Deserts receive a little more rainfall than the tundra, and the grassland might receive a little more than the desert. Both the desert and the grassland biomes can to be pretty warm, but the desert can have huge temperature shifts from day to night, and some can experience freezing temperatures in winter. Deserts are very dry (they have more evaporation than precipitation), and organisms must adapt to temperature extremes and dry conditions. In the grassland temperatures are a little more comfortable and there is less variation in temperature, but there is still not enough rainfall for trees to grow. Prairies are grasslands located a little farther away from the equator, but savannas, closer to the equator, receive a little more rainfall than prairies. Grasslands are home to some of the largest animals on earth (many large herbivores), because of all of the grass to graze on. Their grazing actually helps maintain the grassland, because they keep young trees and bushes, which would use up a lot of water, from sprouting.
500
Compare the types of organisms that live in each marine ecosystem and explain why they live where they do.
Organisms in the intertidal zone, such as brnacles, sea stars, and clams, must be able to survive the pounding waves near the shore and changing water levels. They usually do this by clinging to rocks or burrowing. The neritic zone is a little deeper (extending out over the continental shelf), but it's still shallow enough for sunlight to pass through. As a result this area is rich in living things. Photosynthesis can occur so plants can grow, and therefore many animals that feed on the plants can live. This is often where coral reefs form and offer a home to many organisms. The open ocean is much deeper and light only penetrates part way. So photosynthesis happens in the surface zone of the open ocean, and some animals in this zone feed on organisms that sink down to the deep zone, which is darker and has more pressure. The animals that live in the deep zone can survive with higher pressure, less light, and colder temperatures.
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