The Niche is Right
What is the fundamental difference between a fundamental niche and a realized niche?
What is the fundamental niche is the full potential range of conditions a species could occupy, while the realized niche is what it actually occupies due to competition?
The barnacle lives on a whale, gaining transportation and access to food, while the whale is unaffected. This is an example of...
What is commensalism?
Ents maintain forest balance and prevent overgrowth. What real ecological role do they represent?
What are keystone species?
What does Tatooine’s desert ecosystem lack that limits biodiversity?
What is water, a major limiting factor?
The Upside Down is hostile to all species not adapted to it. What type of limiting factor dominates there?
What are abiotic factors like toxicity and climate?
Describe how an ecosystem differs from a community.
What is a community includes only biotic factors, while an ecosystem includes both biotic and abiotic?
Name the interaction: Ants protect acacia trees from herbivores, and the trees provide food and shelter.
What is mutualism (specifically obligate mutualism)?
Orcs overhunt and deplete regions. What ecological principle does this violate?
What is sustainable yield or carrying capacity?
The Death Star obliterates entire ecosystems. What real-world phenomenon is this most like?
What are mass extinction events or asteroid impacts?
Demogorgons prey on weaker organisms but avoid others. What ecological strategy does this represent?
What is selective predation?
What does the term “limiting factor” mean in ecology?
What is an environmental condition that restricts population growth, such as food, space, or water?
Fleas living on a dog represent what symbiotic interaction?
What is parasitism?
In Middle-earth, Rivendell and Mordor are completely different in biodiversity and conditions. What’s the term for this?
What are ecological zones or biomes?
Ewoks working together with Wookiees represent what ecological interaction?
What is mutualism or cooperative interspecific behavior?
Eleven uses her powers to alter ecosystems and balance outcomes. What role is she playing ecologically?
What is a keystone species or top-level consumer?
Explain character displacement and how it relates to resource competition.
What is when competing species evolve differences in traits to use different resources or occupy different niches?
Wasps lay their eggs inside a caterpillar. The larvae consume the host alive from the inside. Name this specific parasitic type.
What is parasitoidism?
The One Ring influences all life around it. In ecology, this is similar to what kind of factor?
What is a density-independent factor or abiotic influence (e.g., radiation, pollution)?
Jedi must adapt to the force in all its forms. What ecological term matches this flexible ability?
What is niche generalism or ecological plasticity?
The Mind Flayer manipulates species across realms. What kind of ecological interaction is this?
What is parasitism or ecosystem engineering?
Create an example of an ecological scenario that demonstrates competitive exclusion.
Example: Two species of finch feed on identical seeds; over time, one outcompetes the other, which is driven to extinction or forced to adapt to a different seed type.
Differentiate between mimicry types with an example for each (Batesian, Müllerian, Aposematism).
Batesian – harmless king snake mimics coral snake; Müllerian – bees and wasps share yellow/black warning; Aposematism – poison dart frogs’ bright color signals danger.
Design a food chain starting with elvish lembas bread.
What is wheat (producer) → elf baker (primary consumer) → hobbit (secondary consumer) → Gollum (top consumer)?
Compare the galactic trade network to a biological food web. What does each element represent?
Producers = planets with resources; Consumers = species or governments; Decomposers = smugglers cleaning up the mess!
If Hawkins had introduced anti-Demogorgon creatures from another dimension and they disrupted the balance, what would this be?
What is an invasive species event?