Community Ecology
What is parasitism?
While one organism benefits, the other is harmed.
What is an ecosystem?
What is a biosphere?
The sum total of all places where living organisms can be found
What is re-wilding?
What is biodegradation?
The naturally occurring breakdown of materials my microorganisms such as bacterial and/or fungi
What is a niche in biology?
all of the environmental factors and interspecies relationships that influence the species.
What is the trophic structure?
The hierarchical arrangement of organisms in an ecosystem based on their feeding relationships and how energy is transferred between them. Food Web/Food chain
What is the difference between temperate and tropical biomes?
Temperate is from 60-30 degrees
Tropical is from 23.5 N to 23.5 S
What is sustainability?
The process or use of the Earth's resources in a way that will not permanently destroy or deplete them.
What is a food web?
The network of who eats whom across all trophic levels
What is one example of a parasite-host interaction?
Mosquitoes, fleas, ticks
What is the energy transfer between the levels of the trophic structure?
10%: Energy transfer constrains/limits structure of ecosystem and number of trophic levels that can be supported.
Which biome contains the highest daily temperature variation?
The desert. Vegetation holds heat, and the desert lacks dense vegetation, making the temperature change extreme.
What is the primary cause of the loss of biodiversity?
Habitat destruction
Particularly concerned about keystone species (bats in tropics, etc)
What is the most important factor in determining variation in climate?
Variation in solar radiation.
What is commensalism?
While one organism benefits, the other is unaffected.
What are three impacts that DDT had on human health?
Breast and other cancers
Male infertility
Miscarriages & low birth weight
Developmental delay
Nervous system and liver damage
Tropical Rainforest- due to the canopy, the ground isn't ideal for growth.
What are biodiversity hotspots?
Relatively small areas with unusually high concentrations of endemic species(found in specific areas) and endangered species.
What is the greenhouse effect? What are the consequences?
Trapping of heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
Global warming and Climate change.
What is colony collapse disorder(CCD)?
the sudden mass disappearance of the majority of worker bees in a colony. The causes of the phenomenon are unclear, though many possible causes or contributory factors have been proposed, such as diseases, pathogens, pesticides, and changes in habitat.
What are two processes within the carbon cycle?
Photosynthesis, Respiration, Decomposition, and Combustion
Review the other cycles and know the processes within them as well.
Which biome contains these characteristics:
- warm moist air from ocean rises and releases lots or rain
- warm winters, cool summers (moderate coastal climate)
Temperate rainforest (pacific northwest)
Describe metapopulations
Series of populations that support a species (no pop exists forever). Species exists as a set of interacting populations w/ migration between populations. There is a balance between them.
List all the temperate biomes.
Temperate rainforest, chaparral/Mediterranean, Temperate Grassland, Temperate Deciduous Forest, and desert.