Natural Selection
What is natural selection?
Natural selection is the process by which organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing these traits to future generations.
What is a food web and how does it differ from a food chain?
A food web is a complex network of feeding relationships in an ecosystem. It differs from a food chain by showing multiple interconnected feeding pathways, not just a single linear path.
What is symbiosis?
Symbiosis is a close, long-term interaction between two different species.
This property of water allows oceans to regulate Earth's climate by absorbing and releasing heat slowly.
What is a population?
collection of individuals from the same species in a defined area.
Name three components of natural selection?
Struggle to survival, inherited variations, reproductive success.
What is the role of producers in a food web?
Producers, typically plants or algae, are organisms that can make their own food through photosynthesis. They form the base of the food web, providing energy for all other organisms.
Name three types of symbiosis.
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
Water's ability to float in this state protects aquatic life during freezing temperatures.
What is Carrying Capacity?
Max population an environment can hold based on resources.
How does genetic variation contribute to natural selection?
Genetic variation provides diverse traits for natural selection to act upon, allowing some individuals to better survive and reproduce in their environment.
Define "trophic level" and give an example.
A trophic level is the position an organism occupies in a food chain. Example: In a grassland, grass (producer) is level 1, grasshoppers (primary consumer) are level 2, and birds (secondary consumer) are level 3.
Describe an example of mutualism in nature
Clownfish and sea anemones: The clownfish gets protection from predators by living among the anemone's stinging tentacles, while the anemone benefits from the fish's waste products and protection from certain predators.
Water molecules stick together, creating this phenomenon that allows insects like water striders to walk on its surface.
Surface tension
What's the difference between abiotic factors and biotic factors?
Abiotic factors are non-living parts of an ecosystem such as the weather, water, and type of land.
Biotic factors are living factors such as food sources, predators, and competition.
Give an example of natural selection in animals.
Peppered moths in England: During the Industrial Revolution, dark-colored moths became more common as they were better camouflaged against pollution-darkened tree bark.
How do energy and matter flow through a food web?
Energy flows in one direction, from producers to consumers, with some lost as heat at each level.
What is parasitism and how does it affect the host?
Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship where one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of another (the host). The parasite typically harms the host by stealing nutrients, damaging tissues, or causing disease.
Water is known as this because it can dissolve more substances than any other liquid.
Universal solvent
What is the difference between Immigration and Emigration?
Immigration is the relocation of individuals into a given population.
Emigration is the movement of individuals out of a given population.
How might natural selection lead to speciation?
Natural selection can cause populations to adapt to different environments over time. If these adaptations are significant enough, the populations may become unable to interbreed, resulting in new species.
What might happen if one species is removed from a food web?
Removing a species can disrupt the balance of the ecosystem. Predators might lose a food source, prey populations might increase unchecked, or important services like pollination might be lost, potentially causing a cascade of effects.
How does commensalism differ from mutualism?
In commensalism, one species benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed. In mutualism, both species benefit. Example of commensalism: Remora fish attaching to sharks for transportation and food scraps, without affecting the shark.
Give an example of a density-independent factor.
Floods, Earthquakes, wide spread disease, and fires