Food Webs, Wow!
This term describes organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis and form the base of most food webs.
What is a Producer?
This term refers to the maximum number of organisms of a species an ecosystem can support indefinitely.
What is Carrying Capacity?
This interaction involves one organism benefiting while the other is harmed. The organism that benefits feeds on the other without killing it.
What is Parasitism?
Lone wolves leaving their family in search of a new pack are an example of this.
What is dispersal?
Examples of this include singing and dancing, talking about Lorde or Survivor, wearing cozy cute outfits, drinking too much coffee, making about 6 or 7 jokes per class period, and getting students interested in biological processes.
What is Almondism?
These organisms feed directly on producers and are the first level of consumers in a food web.
What are Primary Consumers?
These two processes decrease a population's size.
What are deaths and emigration?
This interaction type is a lose-lose situation, but necessary for survival for almost all organisms.
What is Competition?
Your family working together to clean the house is an example of this.
What is cooperative group behavior?
This term means something is living.
What is Biotic?
What is the sun?
List three factors that influence a population’s carrying capacity.
What are food availability, space/habitat, and predation?
An orchid growing on a tree branch for support without harming the tree demonstrates this type of interaction.
What is Commensalism?
This behavior is a seasonal or regular movement from one region to another, such as salmon swimming upstream to spawn. It usually happens in big groups.
What is Migration?
This term means something is non-living but still important to an ecosystem.
What is Abiotic?
Animals that are omnivores are both of these types of consumers.
What are primary and secondary consumers?
Name one consequence of removing a predator from an ecosystem.
What is prey population explosion or habitat degradation?
When you go to a restaurant, you get a yummy meal (+) and the restaurant gets your money (+). This is an example of _________.
What is mutualism?
This is a reason animals do dispersal.
What are 1) lessening competition with family members and 2) searching for new mates?
Meerkats taking turns on guard duty are an example of this.
What is Altruism?
In a lake, phytoplankton do photosynthesis and insects and small fish eat the plankton. Crayfish eat both insects and plankton. Bass eat crayfish and small fish.
What would be 2 ecosystem effects if insecticide was poured into the lake, killing all of the insects?
more phytoplankton, less food for crayfish, crayfish focusing on eating plankton, more competition between small fish and crayfish over the plankton, etc.
In a few sentences, answer the following question as thoroughly as possible: What are some factors that influence growth and stability of populations in an ecosystem? Explain.
amount of resources, predators, land, diversity within the population, presence of Keystone species, how often the ecosystem changes, etc.
2 species of plants both live on the forest floor where sunlight is limited. The plants that are able to get the sunniest spots on the forest floor have the best chance of surviving and thriving. This is an example of _____________.
Competition (- -)
In a few sentences, answer the following question as thoroughly as possible: How do organisms interact WITH the environment?
habitat, niche, migration, dispersal, too many primary consumers = not enough plants, ecosystem engineers (beavers, elephants), organism traits determined by the environment.
Yellowstone wolves are an example of this kind of species that have a huge effect on their ecosystem and are necessary for the ecosystem to maintain balance
What is a Keystone Species?