Energy Transfer
What is the primary source of energy for most ecosystems?
The Sun.
Explain competition.
Species contesting with one another for the resources in a shared geographic area.
Define population growth rate.
Population growth rate is the rate at which a population's size changes over time, often expressed as the number of individuals added or lost per unit of time.
Define a food web and explain how it differs from a food chain.
A food web is a complex, interconnected network of food chains in an ecosystem. It shows the relationships and interactions between multiple species, while a food chain is a linear sequence that depicts the transfer of energy from one organism to another.
What is the ecological niche of a species
The role a species plays including where it lives (habitat), what it eats, where it reproduces, and its relationships to other species
In the symbiotic relationship known as commensalism, explain how involved organisms are affected. Provide an example.
One species profits while the other species is unaffected. Trees are unaffected, while spiders benefit from their structure to build their web.
Define intraspecific competition and provide an example.
Intraspecific competition is competition between individuals of the same species for limited resources. An example would be male lions competing for access to a pride's females.
Explain the concept of carrying capacity and its role in population regulation.
Carrying capacity is the maximum population size that an ecosystem can support sustainably. When a population exceeds its carrying capacity, resources become limited, leading to increased competition, reduced reproduction, and population regulation
Identify three different trophic levels in a food web and provide examples of organisms at each level.
Trophic levels in a food web include producers (e.g., plants), primary consumers (e.g., herbivores), and secondary consumers (e.g., carnivores).
Explain the concept of character displacement and how it relates to niche differentiation.
Character displacement is the phenomenon where two closely related species evolve differences in physical or behavioral traits when they co-occur in the same habitat to reduce competition.
How does energy change as it moves up the trophic levels in a food chain?
Energy decreases to 10% of the lower trophic level as it moves up in a food chain. Energy is lost as heat, function, and not all energy is consumed by predator
Explain the competitive exclusion principle.
The competitive exclusion principle states that two species with identical ecological niches cannot coexist in the same habitat in the long term, as one will eventually outcompete and exclude the other.
Draw a graph that represents logistic growth.
Answers Will vary __/-----
Describe a scenario in a food web where a disruption in one species could lead to a cascade effect throughout the ecosystem
An example might be the removal of a top predator in an ecosystem, leading to an increase in the population of its prey species, which, in turn, causes a decrease in the populations of lower trophic level species and a disturbance in the balance of the food web.
Describe how Niche Differentiation (resource partitioning) can reduce competition among species in an ecosystem
The modification or change of a species’ niche to avoid competition with another species: allows for more access to resources in a different niche