Nature of Science
What is a testable explanation for an observation called?
What is a hypothesis?
What process changes liquid water into water vapor?
What is evaporation?
What trophic level contains organisms that make their own food?
What are producers (the first trophic level)?
What term describes all populations of different species living in one area?
What is a community?
What is the maximum population size an environment can sustain over time called?
What is carrying capacity?
What type of bond connects oxygen and hydrogen within a water molecule?
What is a polar covalent bond?
Which macromolecule group includes starch and glycogen?
What are carbohydrates?
What is a protein (an enzyme)?
What is a protein (an enzyme)?
What variable is deliberately changed by an investigator?
What is the independent variable?
What process releases water vapor from plant leaves?
What is photosynthesis?
In grass → rabbit → fox, what is the rabbit’s trophic role?
What is a primary consumer?
What is ecological succession?
What is ecological succession?
What type of limiting factor becomes stronger as a population becomes more crowded?
What is a density-dependent factor?
What attraction forms between the hydrogen of one water molecule and oxygen of another?
What is a hydrogen bond?
What are the monomers that form proteins?
What are amino acids?
What is the region of an enzyme where the substrate binds?v
What is the active site?
What group provides a baseline for comparison in a controlled experiment?
What is the control group?
What process releases water vapor from plant leaves?
What is transpiration?
Why do food chains usually contain relatively few trophic levels?
What is energy is lost as heat and through metabolism at each transfer?
What type of succession begins on newly exposed rock without soil?
What is primary succession?
What pattern often occurs in a prey population before a predator population increases?
What is an increase in prey numbers followed by an increase in predator numbers?
What property helps water rise through narrow tubes in plants through cohesion and adhesion?
What is capillary action?
Which macromolecule group includes DNA and RNA?
What are amino acids?
What happens to activation energy when an enzyme catalyzes a reaction?
What is a decrease in activation energy?
A scientist records leaf lengths of 4.2, 5.1, and 4.8 cm. What type of data are these?
What are quantitative data?
When dead organisms are broken down by decomposers, what process returns carbon to the environment?
What is decomposition?
If producers store 20,000 kJ, approximately how much energy reaches primary consumers using the 10% rule?
What is 2,000 kJ?
After a forest fire, soil remains and grasses begin to grow. What type of succession is occurring?
What is secondary succession?
Which is typically density-independent: competition for food or a hurricane?
What is a hurricane?
Why can water absorb substantial heat with only a small temperature change?
What is its high specific heat capacity?
What reaction joins monomers by removing a molecule of water?
What is dehydration synthesis (condensation)?
Why does enzyme activity often decrease sharply at very high temperatures?
What is denaturation changing the active site shape?
Two plant groups receive different fertilizers but also different amounts of sunlight. What makes it impossible to attribute differences in growth to fertilizer alone?
What is a confounding variable (sunlight)?
Deforestation removes trees from a watershed. Predict one likely change in the local water cycle.
What is reduced transpiration (and potentially increased runoff)?
If phytoplankton contain 50,000 kJ, approximately how much reaches tertiary consumers under the 10% rule?
What is 50 kJ?
A lake receives excess fertilizer, causing an algal bloom and low dissolved oxygen. What is this nutrient-enrichment process called?
What is eutrophication?
A deer population grows rapidly, then levels off around 600 individuals. What does the plateau most likely represent?
What is a carrying capacity of approximately 600 deer?
Why can water absorb substantial heat with only a small temperature change?
What is ice being less dense because hydrogen bonds form an open crystal structure?
A molecule has a glycerol backbone and three fatty acid tails. Identify the molecule and its main energy role.
What is a triglyceride, used for long-term energy storage?
An enzyme works best at pH 7 but poorly at pH 2. What explains the decrease in activity?
What is denaturation changing the active site shape?
A study finds that ponds with more algae have fewer fish. Why does this result alone not prove algae cause fish declines?
What is correlation does not establish causation?
Fossil fuel combustion rises while forest area declines. Predict the combined effect on atmospheric CO₂ and explain the two mechanisms.
What is an increase in atmospheric CO₂ because combustion releases carbon and fewer trees remove CO₂ by photosynthesis?
A pesticide concentration increases from plankton to small fish to large fish. What process explains the higher concentration in top predators?
What is biomagnification?
A coastal estuary receives both river water and seawater. Explain why its salinity changes and identify the two water sources.
What is mixing of freshwater runoff/river water and saltwater from the ocean, with proportions varying with tides and river flow?
A disease spreads faster when a rabbit population is crowded. Predict its effect on population growth and classify the limiting factor.
What is reduced population growth due to a density-dependent limiting factor?
A pond remains liquid beneath surface ice in winter. Which water property helps protect aquatic organisms and why?
What is ice being less dense than liquid water, so it floats and insulates the water below?
A mutation changes the amino acid sequence of a protein. Explain why its function may change.
What is altered amino acid interactions changing folding/three-dimensional shape and therefore function?
Two reaction mixtures have equal substrate concentrations. One contains a competitive inhibitor. Predict how increasing substrate concentration may affect inhibition.
What is reduced competitive inhibition because additional substrate can outcompete the inhibitor for the active site?
What is reduced competitive inhibition because additional substrate can outcompete the inhibitor for the active site?