Intro to Ecology & Habitats
What is the definition of ecology?
The study of how living things interact with each other and their environment.
What do the root words "a-" and "bio-" mean?
"A-" means not or without, and "bio-" means life or living
List the 6 levels of ecological organization in order from smallest to largest.
organism --> population --> community
--> ecosystem --> biome --> biosphere
What is the definition of population size?
The total number of individuals of a species living in an area at a particular time.
What are the three main types of population distribution patterns?
Clumped, Uniform, Random
What broader discipline of science does ecology belong to?
Environmental Science
Categorize these four habitat factors as biotic or abiotic: Sunlight, Deer, Water, Bacteria.
Biotic: Deer, Bacteria. Abiotic: Sunlight, Water
What level of ecological organization is represented by "all the living organisms plus the non-living components in an area"?
Ecosystem
Name three main factors/events that cause a population size to change over time.
Births (natality), Deaths (mortality), and Immigration/Emigration (movement in/out of the area).
Which population distribution pattern is the most common in nature?
Clumped
What is a habitat?
The specific natural environment an organism lives in.
Is a piece of paper biotic or abiotic?
Even though paper was made of trees, it is abiotic because it has been changed significantly.
What level of organization describes a herd of deer living in a meadow vs all the plants, animals, and microbes in a coral reef?
A herd of deer is a Population; all plants, animals, and microbes in a reef is a Community
True or False: A healthy population is generally shrinking. Explain your answer.
False. A healthy population is typically stable or growing gradually, whereas a continuously shrinking population often indicates environmental stress, disease, or lack of resources.
What type of distribution pattern is described when individuals group around patchily distributed resources (e.g., a school of fish or ants around a colony)?
Clumped
A resource is anything an organism needs to survive. Examples include food, water, sunlight, oxygen, space, or shelter
Why is soil considered a complex mixture of both biotic and abiotic components?
Soil contains non-living components like rocks, minerals, air, and water (abiotic), as well as decomposed plant/animal matter and living microorganisms like bacteria and fungi (biotic).
Identify the ecological level being studied: Researchers analyzing how temperature and rainfall affect plant growth in a grassland area.
Ecosystem (because it examines interactions between abiotic factors like temperature/rain and biotic factors like plants).
How do ecologists estimate population sizes without having to count every single organism?
Sampling methods. In random sampling, ecologists pick one quadrat of area and count all of the organisms in it. They multiply that number by the total area to estimate the population size.
Penguins nesting in a colony maintain distinct, evenly spaced distances from each other due to territorial behavior. What distribution pattern is this?
Uniform
Describe three specific ways a hawk interacts with both living and non-living things in its environment during a typical day
hunting/eating prey like mice (biotic), drinking water from a stream (abiotic), using wind/air currents to glide (abiotic), or nesting in a tree (biotic).
Give one example of a biotic factor impacting an abiotic factor.
Tree roots breaking down rocks or plant roots absorbing water and carbon dioxide from the soil/air
Why do ecologists break down the living world into distinct levels of organization?
Levels help us to make sense of how organisms interact with their environment.
Compare Low Population Density and High Population Density by listing two pros or cons associated with each.
Low Density: Pros = More space/resources, less competition; Cons = Harder to find mates
High Density: Pros = Easier to find mates; Cons = Disease spreads faster, higher competition for resources.
Wildflowers growing in a meadow show no clear pattern or spacing because their seeds are spread randomly by the wind across abundant resources. What distribution pattern does this represent?
Random distribution