Definitions
The study of the interactions between living and nonliving things.
Ecology
We always need a critical ______ between living and nonliving factors.
Balance
Organisms that break down the dead remains of other organisms.
Decomposers
Pyramid-shaped diagrams that show the amount of energy or matter at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
Ecological pyramid
Where does most of the water vapor in the air come from?
Evaporation from the oceans
The sum of all of Earth’s ecosystems in land, water, or air.
Biosphere
Any living part of an environment.
Biotic factors
An organism that eats producers. And would this be a carnivore or herbivore?
Primary consumer
Herbivore
A measure of the total amount of living tissue of organisms within a trophic level in an ecosystem.
Biomass
What are three possible "fates" for water that falls on land as precipitation?
--evaporate from land
--be absorbed through plant roots
--evaporate from leaves of plants (transpiration)
--flow back to sea, lake, or river as surface runoff,
--be absorbed by soil and become part of groundwater.
A group of populations living and interacting in the same area.
Community
The nonliving physical and chemical conditions affecting organisms.
An organism that eats primary consumers.
Secondary consumer
Approximately how much energy is lost going from one step of the food pyramid to the next? (for instance, from plants to primary consumers)? 90%, 50%, or 30%?
90%
Name two types of precipitation
Rain, snow, hail, sleet
An association of living organisms and their physical environment.
Ecosystem
What does reproductively isolated mean?
Reproductively isolated means that certain organisms cannot reproduce with these other organisms.
What is a quaternary consumer?
An organism that eats tertiary consumers.
Why do apex predators have no further predators?
The original producers can only support 3-4 trophic levels; beyond that, there is not enough energy to support another level of consumption.
What holds more water vapor: warm air or cool air?
Warm air
A unit of one or more populations of individuals that can reproduce under normal conditions, produce fertile offspring, and are reproductively isolated from other such units.
Species
Name three possible abiotic factors in an ecosystem
sunlight, water, temperature, soil, wind, fire, hurricanes, droughts, floods,
What are producers?
Organisms that produce their own food.
What are 2 reasons why energy is lost each time you move up a trophic level in an ecosystem?
--The eating organism must support its life functions; energy is lost as heat
--waste
--only a small portion of food is used for growth (manufacture of new biomass)
--Organisms don’t eat the entire other organism (bones, fur, etc.) so this energy is lost.
Why does water on earth never get used up?
Water that evaporates from the oceans is eventually replenished through streams and rivers, as well as precipitation over the ocean.