Ecology Basics
Biodiversity
Invasive Species
Interpreting Data
Ecological Interactions
100
Ecology is the study of what?
A) All living things
B) The interactions between living and non-living things in the environment
C) A branch of biology that focuses on plant life
B) The interactions between living and non-living things
100
Which is more biodiverse--the amazon rainforest or the artic tundra?
Amazon rainforest
100
True or false: Species native to an area can be an invasive species in that area
False
100
What is the relationship between sunlight and plant height in this graph?
The more sunlight a plant gets, the taller it grows
100
What is the term that describes the interactions between species (examples include parasitism, mutualism, commensalism)?
Symbiosis
200
What is an abiotic factor? And what is a biotic factor?
Abiotic- non living
Biotic- living
200
What would happen if there were no decomposers?
Waste and decaying organisms would pile up all around the world.
200
True or false: invasive species affect biotic components of an environment, but cannot affect abiotic components of an environment.
Fals
200
A line graph shows 2 lines, one line represents a predator and the other line represents its prey. If the predator line decreases, what will happen to the prey line?
The prey line will increase.
200
In this type of interaction, both species benefit.
Mutualism
300
In this relationship, one species benefits while the other species in unaffected.
Commensalism
300
What makes an environment biodiverse?
Many different species of plants and animals
300
Why are invasive species usually so successful?
They are very well suited to their new environment--the conditions are perfect for them
300
Would all of the rabbits dying out affect the lions?
Yes, it would decrease the wild cat population which would decrease the lion population.
300
Egyptian clovers pick pieces of meat out of nile crocodile's teeth, what kind of symbiosis is this?
Mutualism
400
What is the role of decomposers in an ecosystem?
Dispose of waste material and dead organisms
400
Why is biodiversity so important for a successful food web?
If a food web is not biodiverse, one species dying can cause the entire food web to collapse
400
Why is the hudson river such a great place to study zebra mussels?
A lot of scientific data was collected from the Hudson River before the invasive species arrived, so the effects of the zebra mussels are easy to see.
400
Between 1901 and 1921, do you think the number of this species' predator increased or decreased?
Decreased
400
Why are eagle pellets not as useful to scientists as owl pellets?
Eagles do not swallow as much bone and fur and can digest more materials than owls can, so their pellets do not contain as much scientific evidence.
500
What is the name of the type of diagram that shows the different trophic levels
Energy pyramid
500
After wildfires, why are tertiary consumers the last to come back to the ecosystem?
They need to wait for producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers to come back first.
500
List 3 examples of invasive species
Examples: Zebra mussel, zudzu, pythons, rats, hydrilla, etc
500
Looking at this graph, do you think the zebra mussels and river mussels eat the same things or different things?
Same things--the graph shows the competition between the two species
500
Why is it important to have more producers than consumers in an environment?
Energy is lost at each trophic level, consumers must eat a lot to get the energy they need.