Ecology Basics
What is ecology?
The study of how organisms relate to one another and to their physical surroundings.
What is a biome?
A large geographic area with similar landscapes, weather, plants, and animals.
What makes an area a wetland?
It is covered or soaked with water permanently or temporarily, and has plants adapted to wet soil.
What is a producer?
An organism, such as a plant, that makes its own food.
What do plants use for energy during photosynthesis?
Light energy from the sun
What does biotic mean? Give an example
Living parts of an ecosystem.
Name one terrestrial biome from the slideshow.
Examples include desert, grassland, savanna, tundra, tropical rainforest, temperate forest, or taiga forest.
Name one way wetlands help protect nearby areas.
They can absorb the impact of floods or large waves
What does a food chain show?
A direct feeding relationship among plants and animals.
What gas do plants take in during photosynthesis?
Carbon dioxide.
What does abiotic mean? Give one example.
Nonliving parts of an ecosystem; for example, water, soil, or sunlight.
What is one difference between a desert and a forest ecosystem?
A desert is generally much drier, while a forest has many trees
What is a carbon sink?
A natural part of the environment that absorbs greenhouse gases from the air.
What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?
They break down materials and return nutrients to the ecosystem.
What sugar do plants make during photosynthesis?
Glucose.
What is an ecosystem?
Living organisms and nonliving parts that interact in a specific place.
What two kinds of factors do biomes have in common?
Biotic, or living, factors and abiotic, or nonliving, factors.
How can wetlands help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?
Wetland plants absorb carbon dioxide. When plants die and sink into wetland soils, some carbon can remain trapped.
In a food web, what happens to energy as consumers eat other organisms?
Energy moves from one organism to another through feeding relationships.
What gas do plants release during photosynthesis?
Oxygen.
How can people affect the plants and animals in a local ecosystem? Give one example.
For example, removing habitat can harm local plants and animals.
Name one Alberta natural region from the slideshow and one kind of ecosystem found there.
Examples include boreal forest with wetlands, grassland with a pond, or the Rocky Mountains with a forest ecosystem.
Explain how developing a wetland could affect greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Development can disturb wetlands and release stored gases, while also reducing the wetland’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
What might happen to an ecosystem if all its producers died? Explain why.
Consumers would lose a major source of food and energy, disrupting the food web.
What happens to extra glucose in a plant?
Extra glucose can be stored as starch