Basic Ecology
What is the study of interactions between organisms and their environment called?
Name a biome found in bodies of water.
What is an aquatic biome?
When both species benefit from an interaction, what is it called?
What is mutualism?
What process begins the flow of energy in an ecosystem?
What is photosynthesis?
What cycle involves the continuous movement of water in the biosphere?
What is the water cycle?
List the five levels of ecological organization.
What are biosphere, ecosystems, communities, populations, and organisms?
Identify the biome dominated by grasses and low rainfall.
What is a grassland biome?
What type of interaction involves one species benefiting while the other is unaffected?
What is commensalism?
What is a simple linear representation of energy flow between organisms?
What is a food chain?
What do plants release into the atmosphere during photosynthesis?
What is oxygen?
What are the two main components of an ecosystem? (Living and non-living factors)
What are biotic and abiotic factors?
What biome is known for its nutrient-rich, wet, and often flooded soils?
What is a wetland biome?
Give an example of predation.
What is a fox hunting a squirrel?
What level do herbivores occupy in a food chain?
What is the primary consumer level?
Which cycle is responsible for converting atmospheric nitrogen into usable forms for plants?
What is the nitrogen cycle?
Name the ecological level consisting of different populations of flora and fauna in one area.
What is a community?
Name a type of forest biome with long winters and mostly coniferous trees.
What is the taiga?
What is it called when organisms struggle for the same resources?
What is competition?
Name the top level of consumers that no other predators hunt.
What is an apex predator?
In which cycle does carbon move through photosynthesis and respiration?
What is the carbon cycle?
Describe the difference between a habitat and a niche.
A habitat is the environment where an organism lives, while a niche is the role or function of that organism within that environment.
Explain the difference between freshwater and marine biomes.
reshwater biomes have low salinity (less than .5 ppt), including lakes and rivers; marine biomes have high salinity (more than .5 ppt), including oceans and estuaries.
Explain the interaction that involves both organisms benefitting in the process of pollination.
Bees get nectar for food while pollinating plants, allowing the plants to reproduce.
Differentiate between a food chain and a food web.
A food chain is a linear sequence of energy flow, while a food web shows many interconnected food chains in an ecosystem.
Explain the role of lightning in the nitrogen cycle.
Lightning causes nitrogen atoms to split and combine with oxygen, forming nitrogen dioxide that dissolves in rainwater and enters the soil.