Ecology & Energy
What is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment called?
What do we call the number of individuals of a species living in a specific area?
What is population density?
What is the variety of living things in an area called?
What is biodiversity?
What process changes liquid water into water vapour?
What is evaporation?
What is the difference between weather and climate?
Weather is day-to-day conditions; climate is the typical weather patterns of an area over a long period
Is sunlight a biotic or abiotic factor?
What is abiotic?
What is the movement of individuals into a population called?
What is immigration?
Name one abioitic factor that helps determine which biome develops in an area.
What is temperature, precipitation, sunlight, latitude or altitude?
Which cycle moves carbon into the atmosphere when coal, oil, or natural gas is burned?
What do we call gases in the atmosphere that absorb and re-emit heat?
What type of organism breaks down dead organisms and waste, returning nutrients to the environment?
What is a decomposer?
What is the largest population an environment can support over time called?
What biome has long, cold winters and many coniferous trees?
Why can't most plants use nitrogen directly from the atmosphere?
Most plants cannot use nitrogen gas in that form. It must be changed into usable nitrogen compounds, often by bacteria.
What is albedo, and which has a higher albedo: fresh snow or dark pavement?
Albedo is how much sunlight a surface reflects/ Fresh snow has the higher albedo
In a food web, what could happen to BOTH the grasshopper and frog populations if the frog's main predator, the snake, disappeared? Explain your reasoning
The frog population would likely increase because fewer frogs would be eaten. The grasshopper population would likely decrease because more frogs would be feeding on them
A population of mice has 120 births, 50 deaths, 15 immigrating, and 25 emigrating in one year. Did the population increase or decrease and by how many mice?
The population increases by 60 mice.
What is sustainability?
What is meeting todays needs without preventing future generations from meeting their needs?
How does phosphorus usually enter soil and water from rocks?
Weathering breaks down rocks and releases phosphorus
How does melting sea ice contribute to further warming?
Less reflective ice means darker water absorbs more sunlight, causing more warming and further melting
Grass is eaten by a rabbit, which is eaten by a fox. What would likely happen to the rabbit population if the fox population greatly increased?
A population grows quickly at first, but its growth slows and levels off. What type of growth is this, and why does it level off?
An ecosystem loses several species because of habitat destruction. Explain two ways this loss of biodiversity could affect the stability of the ecosystem.
Losing species can disrupt food webs and reduce available food for other organisms. It can also remove important ecosystem roles, such as pollination or decomposition, making the ecosystem less able to cope with environmental changes
Burning the trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Removing the tree also means fewer plants are available to absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
Explain how burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change.
Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, increasing greenhouse gas concentrations and causing more heat to be trapped in the atmosphere