Vocabulary
Trophic Level Definition
A trophic level is the position an organism occupies in a food chain.
What is the primary biological process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converts it.
Photosynthesis
What is the term for the maximum population size of a species that a given environment can support indefinitely, given the available resources?
Carrying capacity (K).
What is the most basic, individual unit of ecological organization?
An organism (or individual).
Name one of the two most significant greenhouse gases that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, contributing to global warming.
Carbon dioxide or Methane.
The Four Main Trophic Levels
Producers, Primary Consumers, Secondary Consumers, Tertiary Consumers.
What process, performed by specific types of bacteria, converts unusable atmospheric nitrogen gas into forms plants can absorb (like nitrates)?
Nitrogen fixation.
What type of population growth pattern is represented by a J-shaped curve and occurs when resources are unlimited in an ideal environment?
Exponential growth.
What term describes a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time?
Population.
What is the term for energy derived from sources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, or tides?
Renewable energy.
Biomagnification Definition
Biomagnification is the increasing concentration of a toxic substance within organisms as they move up each successive link in a food chain.
Unlike other cycles, the phosphorus cycle has no significant atmospheric gas phase. Where is the main natural reservoir of phosphorus found?
Sedimentary rocks and mineral deposits
Is disease transmission in a crowded city a density-dependent or density-independent limiting factor for the human population?
Density-dependent (it spreads faster when the population is denser).
What is the term for all the different interacting populations within a particular area?
Community.
In a food web, an organism that eats both plants and animals is classified as what type of consumer?
An omnivore.
Impact on Top Predators
Top predators are most affected because they consume a large number of organisms from the trophic level below them over their lifetime.
What term describes the evaporation of water from plant leaves into the atmosphere?
Transpiration.
Give an example of a density-independent limiting factor that could impact a deer population, regardless of how large the population is at the time.
A natural disaster, such as a flood, fire, or severe winter storm/drought.
What level of organization includes all the living organisms (biotic factors) in an area plus their physical environment (abiotic factors like water, soil, and sunlight)?
Ecosystem.
The runoff of excess nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) from farms often leads to harmful algal blooms in water bodies. What is the term for this process of nutrient enrichment and subsequent oxygen depletion?
Eutrophication.
Habitat Definition
A habitat is the physical environment or the specific place where an organism lives (e.g., a forest floor, a coral reef, a desert). It is essentially the organism's "address."
Name the primary human activity that releases stored carbon from geologic reserves (fossil fuels) into the atmosphere.
The burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas).
What term describes the number of individuals of a particular species living within a specific unit area or volume?
Population density.
What is the highest, most inclusive level of ecological organization, encompassing all the parts of Earth where life exists?
The Biosphere.
Is coal considered a renewable or non-renewable resource, and why?
Coal is a non-renewable resource because it takes millions of years to form and is consumed much faster than it can be naturally replaced.