Earth Spheres
What is the geosphere?
The sphere made of rocks, minerals, soil, and Earth's interior layers.
What is ecology?
The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments.
What are autotrophs, or producers?
Organisms that make their own food using energy from the Sun or chemical compounds.
What is mutualism?
A relationship in which both organisms benefit.
What is a population?
A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time
What is the hydrosphere?
The sphere that includes all of Earth's water, including oceans, lakes, rivers, groundwater.
What is quantitative data?
A scientist records the air temperature as 22 C. This measurement is an example of this type of ecological data.
What are heterotrophs, or consumers?
Organisms that obtain energy by consuming other organisms.
What is commensalism?
A relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
What is a community?
All the populations of different species living and interacting in the same area.
What is the biosphere?
The sphere that includes all living organisms, such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria
What is qualitative data?
A scientist describes the presence of several frogs without recording a number. This observation is an example of this type of ecological data.
What is a primary consumer
In a food chain, grass is eaten by a rabbit, and the rabbit is eaten by a fox. The rabbit is this type of organism in the chain.
What is parasitism?
Fleas obtain blood from a dog and are helped by the relationship, while the dog is harmed.
What is a habitat?
The place where an organism lives and obtains food, shelter, and other resources.
What is the atmosphere?
The layer of gases surrounding Earth, including the air that organisms breathe.
What is the environment?
This study focuses on interactions between organisms and this part of their surroundings.
What are 100 units of energy?
In a food chain, plants contain 10,000 units of energy. If only 10% transfers to each higher trophic level, this is the amount of energy available to the secondary consumers after energy passes through the primary consumers.
How can camouflage help prey avoid predators, and why is it considered an adaptation?
A rabbit's brown fur helps it blend into dry grass, making it harder for a fox to detect. This camouflage is a prey adaptation that increases the rabbit's chance of surviving and reproducing.
What is an ecosystem?
A pond contains fish, frogs, algae, bacteria, water, sunlight, mud, and dissolved oxygen. Together, these living and nonliving components form this level of organization
How does the hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere interact
After heavy rain, water flows through soil, plants absorb it, and water vapor enters the air through plant transpiration. These processes show interactions among these four spheres.
How can a drought's effects on water availability and plant growth interact with relationships among grassland organisms to change the ecosystem? Use specific biotic and abiotic factors in your explanation.
In a grassland, a drought reduces available water and plant growth. Analyze how these abiotic changes could affect plants, herbivores, predators, and competition among organisms, and explain how the resulting changes in the biotic community could further alter soil and water conditions.
What are 20 units of energy?
In a food chain, plants contain 20,000 units of energy. If only 10% transfers to each higher trophic level, this is the energy available to tertiary consumers after energy passes from plants to primary consumers, then to secondary consumers, and finally to tertiary consumers.
How could camouflage in a prey population affect predator-prey interactions over many generations, and how might an environmental change alter which camouflage traits are favored?
If a moth's coloration matches tree bark, predators may overlook it. Over generations, better-camouflaged moths may survive and reproduce more often, increasing camouflage in the population. However, if pollution darkens the bark, the same coloration may become less effective, changing predator-prey interactions and creating selection for a different pattern.
What are different niches?
Two species live in the same forest, but one feeds on insects in tree bark during the day while the other feeds on flying insects at night. Their different resource use reduces competition and allows them to share the same habitat.