Ecology Basics
Interactions
Energy in an Ecosystem
Models of Energy Flow
Cycling of Matter
100
The portion of the Earth that supports life; includes landmasses, freshwater, saltwater, lower portions of the atmosphere, and areas beneath the Earth’s surface
What is the biosphere
100
This interaction occurs when more than one organism uses a resource at the same time
What is competition
100
An organism that collects solar energy to make food
What is an autotroph (or a producer)
100
What direction should the arrows point in a food chain?
In the direction of energy flow (from the lower trophic level to the higher trophic level); from prey to predator
100
The process of water movement and evaporation through the leaves of plants
What is transpiration
200
Two examples of biotic factors in an ecosystem
Answers will vary, must be LIVING things
200
The act of one organism pursuing and consuming another organism for food
What is predation
200
An organism that gets its energy by consuming other organisms
What is a heterotroph (or a consumer)
200
The relationship between food chains and food webs
A food web represents many interconnecting food chains and pathways in which energy flows through a group of organisms
200
Process where nitrogen is taken from the atmosphere and converted to ammonium in the soil
What is nitrogen fixation
300
Two examples of abiotic factors in an ecosystem
Answers will vary, must be NON-LIVING things
300
Describe what is meant by an organism's niche
The role the organism plays in its environment (the specific food it eats, the resources it uses, etc)
300
Why are autotrophs considered the foundation of all ecosystems?
They convert energy from the sun into food and store it in forms that other organisms can use; they are the only organisms that can bring new energy into a food chain
300
Write food chain with four trophic levels in this food web and name the secondary consumer.
Answers will vary
300
Process where organisms break down nitrates in the soil and release nitrogen back into the atmosphere
What is denitrification
400
The levels of ecological organization, from smallest to largest
What are organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere
400
The close relationship that exists when two or more species live together; three types
What is symbiosis
400
Classify the following types of heterotrophs:
eat only plants
eat only meat
eat both
consume dead material
herbivore
carnivore
omnivore
decomposer
400
Name an omnivore in this food web.
The small bird
400
The organisms that can convert atmospheric nitrogen throughout the nitrogen cycle
What are bacteria
500
The difference between community and ecosystem
What are abiotic factors
500
List the three types of symbiosis and use +, -, and 0 to indicate the impact of the relationship on each organism
Mutualism (+,+)
Commensalism (+,0)
Parasitism (+,-)
500
How much energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next in a food chain? What happens to the remaining energy?
10%; it is used for cellular processes and lost as heat to the environment
500
Compare and contrast how energy and matter move through an ecosystem
Energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed in an ecosystem. Energy flows in one direction (enters through producer and flows up a food chain), matter cycles through the ecosystem and is transformed
500
The two main human impacts to the carbon cycle we discussed in class
What are burning fossil fuels and deforestation