Parts of an Ecosystem
What are the non-living parts of an ecosystem called?
Abiotic Factors
What is the predator in this relationship: Wolf and Deer
Wolf
What chemical cycle has been negatively impacted through burning of fossil fuels and deforestation?
Carbon Cycle
Before ecological succession can occur, what must first happen in an ecosystem?
A disturbance
Water availability, food availability, competition, space, and sunlight are all examples of what?
Limiting factors
What trophic level contains the members of the ecosystem who harness solar energy to start a food web?
Producer Level
The level of ecology that focuses on all living things in a particular area is the ____________________ level.
Community
Mutualisms, Commensalisms, and Parasitisms
When fertilizer runs-off with precipitation into bodies of water, it can cause what negative effect?
Eutrophication/Algae Blooms
What is the major difference between Primary and Secondary Succession?
Presence of soil at the beginning.
What do we call the maximum number of organisms an ecosystem can support?
The carrying capacity.
When making a food web, what direction should the arrows go?
From organism being eaten to organism eating.
An organism's role/job in its ecosystem is called a _______________.
Niche
A flea sucking the blood of a dog would be an example of what symbiotic relationship?
Parasitism
What TWO impacts does increased carbon levels in the atmosphere cause?
Accelerated global warming and ocean acidification
What organisms are often the "pioneer species" during succession?
Grasses, weeds, and wildflowers?
On a graph, what shape does normal population growth take?
S-Shape Curve
How much energy is passed from one trophic level to the next?
10%
What level of ecology consists of ecosystems that have similar environments and organisms.
Biome level
A bee and its pollinators would be in what type of symbiotic relationship?
Mutualism
What two things can complete the process of "Nitrogen Fixation"?
Bacteria and Lightning
What is the re-established ecosystem called at the end of succession?
Climax Community
Why can't populations maintain exponential growth forever?
Limited resources are available in an ecosystem.
What level in the trophic pyramid would have the LEAST energy?
Tertiary Consumer Level
Organisms whose niche is to break down dead plant/animal matter and return the nutrients to the soil are called what?
Decomposers
A squirrel forgets where he buried his acorns, "planting" the acorns away from the parent tree. This is an example of what symbiotic relationship?
Commensalism
What are the three process that can occur immediately after precipitation in the water cycle?
Run-off, Infiltration, Uptake
What organisms are responsible for building soil?
Lichens
Predators and they prey share a cyclical relationship, if the population of predators where to go down, what would happen to the population of their prey?
Prey population would rise.
The process where toxins build-up in higher-level consumers, due to their need to eat more lower-level consumers for energy is called what?
Biomagnification
What do we call an organism, that if removed from the community, would cause the collapse of that ecosystem?
A Keystone Species
What is the difference between a predator-prey relationship and a parasitism?
Predator intends to kill/eat prey, parasites do not attempt to kill host!
What process is where bacteria in the soil convert ammonia into nitrates?
Nitrification
What is the most common example of a positive disturbance in marine ecosystems?
Death of a large marine animal (Whale-fall)
If an invasive species enters an ecosystem, what do you expect to happen to the other species' populations?
They will decline due to increase competition/predation.
Use this food chain to answer the following question:
Acorn> Squirrel> Snake> Eagle
If a squirrel who eats 10 acorns, each acorn produced 50 calories, were to be eaten by a snake; how many of the original calories (produced by the acorns) would be passed on to the snake?
5 Calories