Behaviors & Responses
What type of behavior is genetically controlled and does not need to be learned?
What is..Innate behavior and instinct?
Where does energy flow in an ecosystem begin and end?
What is…Begins with the sun and ends with consumers.
What is carrying capacity?
What is the max population size the ecosystem can support.
What is keystone species?
What is…A species whose removal causes ecosystem collapse and has disproportionate impact to its abundance?
What is an invasive species and why is it a problem?
A non native species with no natural predators causes uncontrolled growth and makes native species lose.
Name 3 types of stimuli an organism can respond to?
What is…Visual, audible, tactile, electrical, and chemical?
Which nutrient cycle has no atmospheric component?
What is…Phosphorus cycle?
Name 4 factors that determine population size
What is…Age of reproduction, number of offspring, frequency of reproduction, and survivorship of reproductive maturity.
What is niche partitioning?
What is…helps species to not be in competition with each other.
Name 3 types of ecosystem distributions?
What is…Urbanization, disease , geological, and meteorological events.
Name 4 reasons organisms use stimuli?
What is…Assert dominance, find food, establish their territory, and reproductive success.
What is the difference between energy flow and nutrient cycles?
What is…Energy flow is one way thing and Nutrien cycle doesn’t begin or end?
What is the difference between density dependent and density independent?
What is…
Density dependent: available shelter and
Density independent: Wildfires
How do producers and consumers each maintain biodiversity?
What is…Producers maintain lanescapes and reduce erosion consumers keep other populations under control.
How does adaptation arise?
What is…Through mutations that are favored by natural selection.
Difference between Endotherm and an Ectotherm?
What is…Endotherms use metabolism to regulate temperature and Ectotherms use behavior.
*Endotherms are warm-blooded! Birds, mammals…survives in cold environments and have higher energy so they need to eat more.
*Ectotherms are cold-blooded! Reptiles, fish, amphibian, insects…they can’t regulate body heat, they use behavior to sit in the sun and move towards shade to cool down. Their body temp changes with the environment! Since they have lower energy, they eat less.
What is trophic cascade
What is…A change in population energy availability has a effect on other tropic levels?
What is population overshoot?
What is…When a population exceeds carrrying capacity then dies back due to overuse of resources.
Why is biodiversity important for ecosystem resilience?
What is…More biodiversity means more resilience to disturbance and environmental changes.
How does evolution relate to population genetics?
What is…Evolution means change in genetic makeup of a population over time.
How does metabolism rate relates to body size, and why does it matter for fitness?
What is…smaller animals have higher metabolism rates which means more energy and more storage, reproduction, and growth?
Name 4 nutrient cycles and one key fact for each?
What is…Water and Carbon: Sunlight, Nitrogen (usable form for plants) Phosphorus ( no atmospheric component)
What is ecological hierarchy from smallest to largest?
What is… Population ( same species and same ecosystem)
Community (All species and same ecosystem)
Ecosystem (Community and abotic factors)
Biome (large region, climate, soil, plants, animals)
Are ecological relationships permanent or temporary?
What is…Permanent organisms have evolved over time to have these relationships affecting how they access energy and matter.
An island is overrun by rabbits Describe the disruption to producers and consumers.
What is…Rabbits which are herbivores over consume producers (plants), causing erosion and loss of habitat. Predators may temporarily increase, but crash when rabbits foods goes away. The competition for food is sparse.