Ecosystem Interactions
If two species have a Mutualistic relationship (like a specific bee and a specific flower) and the bee goes extinct, the flower population will likely do this.
What is decrease (or go extinct)?
This type of biodiversity refers to the variety of different species living in a specific area, like a marsh or a forest.
What is species diversity?
This is the specific place where an organism lives and gets its food, water, and shelter—like a hollow log for a salamander.
What is habitat?
What makes a species invasive?
What is a species that is not native to an ecosystem
This type of succession begins in an area with no remains of an older community—and most importantly, no soil.
What is primary succession?
If a cypress swamp has enough nesting space for 50 pairs of Great Blue Herons, but a drought dries up the water and leaves only enough fish to feed 20 pairs, the food supply has become this, preventing the population from increasing
What is a limiting factor?
Louisiana's coastal wetlands maintain biodiversity by acting as a natural "sponge" to protect inland cities from this disaster.
What is flooding (storm surge)?
This 12-letter word describes the variety of all the different species living in an ecosystem.
What is biodiversity?
What impact do invasive species have on an ecosystem?
What is outcompeting native species for food and habitat?
This is the name for the very first species to colonize a barren area, such as lichens growing on bare rock.
What are pioneer species?
In the Louisiana marsh, Alligators eat Nutria. If the Alligator population were to suddenly decrease, the Nutria population would increase, which would then cause the amount of Marsh Grass to do this.
What is decrease?
To save a lake ecosystem from the Water Hyacinth, the city of Baton Rouge developed two plans. Plan A introduces a new chemical to kill all weeds. Plan B uses "Mechanical Harvesting" to pull out only the invasive Water Hyacinth. Why is Plan B usually evaluated as better?
What is it doesn't harm native species?
This term describes an organism that can make its own food using sunlight; it is the base of every food chain.
What is a producer (or autotroph)?
Cities like Chicago and Detroit must spend millions of dollars annually to clear these "hitchhiking" mollusks out of water intake pipes, which otherwise clog the cooling systems of power plants and water treatment facilities.
What are zebra mussels?
Because the soil and seeds are already present, secondary succession happens much ________ than primary succession.
What is faster?
If the population of Producers (like grass) suddenly decreases due to a drought, this group of plant-eating animals will be the first to see their numbers drop.
What are Primary Consumers?
A city wants to build a park. Plan 6 creates 10 small, scattered gardens. Plan 7 creates one large, continuous forest. Which plan is better for maintaining bird biodiversity?
What is Plan 7?
This is the maximum number of individuals of a certain species that an environment can support over a long period.
What is carrying capacity?
This is the process of regularly observing and recording changes in species populations.
What is monitoring?
Over hundreds of years, pioneer species break down rock and add organic matter to create this important ingredient for larger plants.
What is soil?
If a new Invasive Species enters a swamp and eats all the small fish, the native Herons that also eat those fish will decrease due to this interaction.
What is competition?
To save a sinking Plaquemines Parish marsh:
Plan A builds a permanent wall of plastic sandbags to block waves. It's cheaper and stops coastal erosion (breakdown), but prevents fish from entering the marsh.
Plan B uses a river diversion to flow in natural mud and freshwater. It builds new land and allows fish to migrate, but takes 10 years to work.
Which plan is better for biodiversity?
What is Plan B?
Each step or level in a food chain or food web is called this (for example, producers are the first one, and herbivores are the second).
What is a trophic level?
To combat this invasive species, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries currently offers a $6.00 "bounty" for every one of these turned in by hunters.
What is a Nutria Tail?
This is the stable, final stage of an ecosystem where the community of plants and animals remains relatively unchanged.
What is climax community?