DEFINITIONS
Ecology
What is the study of the interactions between living and nonliving things?
The water droplet is warmed by the sun, it evaporates and rises, as it rises it cools, condenses and forms a cloud, It will eventually be precipitated as rain, snow, etc back to the Earth where it will enter a river, lake, or ocean as surface runoff. Or it may seep into the groundwater that is absorbed by plants and released again into the atmosphere through transpiration.
What is the path a water droplet might take in the water cycle starting with it evaporating from a lake ir ocean? OYO 3.8 p. 97
Terrestrial (or land) biomes & Aquatic (or water biomes)
What two larger biome categories have ecologists identified (they place the other biome sub categories in these two main categories)? p 112
Thomas Austin imported 24 rabbits and released them on his property in Australia. Six years later, he had more than 10,000 rabbits (even after he claimed to have killed 20,000 rabbits!) destroying his grasslands and keeping his sheep from getting the grass they needed.
What is an example of an invasive species in the 1920's in Australia?
Parasitism
What is a relationship between two organisms of different species where one benefits and the other is harmed called?
Ecosystem
What is the association of living organisms and their physical environment called?
The Oxygen Cycle
What is the process by which oxygen is removed from the air and restored to the air? (Organisms use the oxygen from the air as part of their respiration, human fires use up oxygen, rusting of metals uses up a percentage of oxygen, and some oxygen in the atmosphere is converted to ozone that protects the Earth from harmful rays. Luckily, oxygen is restored to the air through photosynthesis of plants on land and phytoplankton in the ocean. p. 105-106
Tropical Rainforest
What type of terrestrial biome is wet and warm year-round temperatures? (The rainfall is often more than 100 inches per year!) p. 114
In the early, 1900s the Australian government introduced a virus to kill the abundance of rabbits, but nothing seemed to happen until 1950 when large numbers of rabbits began to die of the virus-infected by mosquitos.
What did the Austrailian government do to try to eliminate their rabbit problems? (How would you fix this problem? Would you introduce a bunch on natural predators such as foxes or hawks? What damage could that cause?) p. 121
Producers (phytoplankton & plants) 🌱
What uses carbon dioxide and produces oxygen via photosynthesis as they make food for themselves (glucose)?
Biomass
What is the measure of the total amount of living tissue of organisms within a trophic level in an ecosystem?
Atmospheric nitrogen is used by plants and animals (it is an essential part of amino acids, DNA, and RNA). Nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in soil add hydrogen to the nitrogen changing it from N2 to NH3 so that many plants can use the nitrogen/ammonia. Other nitrifying bacteria break down ammonia into nitrates/nitrites. Primary consumers (animals) eat the plants getting their nitrogen from plants. Carnivores eat animals that have eaten the plants to get their nitrogen. Some of the nitrogen is excreted the rest is broken down back into the soil by decomposers after it dies!
What is the Nitrogen Cycle? p. 107-108
Biomes are classified mainly by climate, which includes the abiotic factors- temperature range and precipitation level.
How are biomes classified? On Your Own Question 3.14 p. 113
Prior to the industrial revolution (1840-1870), humans didn't burn a lot of fossil fuels so their contribution to global CO2 levels was insignificant, but records show the C02 levels and the surface temperature of the Earth were sometimes higher than today!
What does the author of the Apologia Biology 3rd edition (Vicki Dincher) explain about CO2 levels say about past CO2 levels and temperature?
Estuaries
What is found anywhere the ocean meets fresh water? p. 117
Greenhouse effect
What is the process by which certain gasses (principally water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane) trap heat that would otherwise escape Earth and radiate into space?
The Phosphorus is found in rocks and is released through weathering and erosion. As the rocks erode, water dissolves the phosphorus and carries it to lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans. Once in water, the phosphorous combines with oxygen to form phosphates. Just like in the carbon and nitrogen cycles, phosphorus is passed through the food chain (it is returned through animal waste and decay).
What is the Phosphorus Cycle?
Taiga or Boreal Forest
What is a subarctic biome with below-freezing temperatures for six months of the year? (Not many plant specifies grow in the tiaga, conifer/evergreen trees are the dominant plant life. Rabbits, squirrels, lynx, and bobcats are some of the animals that live in this biome.) p. 115
There is historic evidence or written histories of the times by Plato, Aristotle, and Roman scribes. There is also evidence found in ice cores, sediment samples of the ocean and lake floors, tree growth rings, and fossilized pollen analysis.
How do scientists know what the climate was like before the 1800s? p. 103
Littoral Zone
What is the topmost layer of water nearest the shore is called? p. 118
Mutualism
What is a relationship between two or more organisms of a different species where ALL benefit from the association called?
Too much phosphorous from fertilizer and animal manure can cause algae in the water to to grow faster than the ecosystem can handle. This causes the algae to increase in numbers...which they then use more oxygen in the water robbing the other marine life of oxygen they need.
What happens when too much phosphorus gets into the water system? (Also remember that picking up animal waste, being careful not to over-fertilize plants, and using phosphate-free soaps and cleaning products can help stop phosphorus from entering drainage systems. p. 109)
Aquatic biomes are divided into zones based on factors such as water depth and the amount of sunlight available for photosynthesis.
What factors do scientists use to divide aquatic biomes into zones? OYO 3.16 p. 119
In 1980, Mount St. Helens violently erupted, leveling tens of thousands of acres of land and killing millions of animals. In 1988, thousands of acres of Yellowstone National Park were altered by fire. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina and Rita devastated the coastal wetlands of Lousiana. Natural disturbances such as storms, floods, droughts, fires, volcanic eruptions affect communities by changing habitats and destroying organisms.
What are some historical examples of ecological succession? p. 124
An organism's role in an ecosystem, including it's habitat, physical requirements (such as light, water, food sources), the time of day it's active, its place on the food change, and when and how it reproduces.
What is a species' niche?