Environmental Change & Ecosystems
A flood or drought may cause organisms to do one of three things: thrive, move, or _______.
What is perish?
Organisms that make their own food using sunlight.
What are producers?
Living factors in an ecosystem.
What are biotic factors?
The original source of energy for most ecosystems.
What is the Sun?
Traits passed from parents to offspring.
What are inherited traits?
The basic unit of structure and function in living things.
What is a cell?
A drought-tolerant plant surviving dry conditions is an example of this outcome.
What is thriving?
Photosynthesis uses sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make this
What is glucose (chemical energy)?
Nonliving factors like water, sunlight, and temperature.
What are abiotic factors?
This type of succession occurs after a fire where soil already exists.
What is secondary succession?
A behavior an organism is born knowing how to do.
What is an instinct?
Cells that do NOT have a nucleus.
What are prokaryotic cells?
Environmental change shifts which traits are most helpful for this.
What is survival?
Energy flows one-way in food webs, but this, cycles through ecosystems.
What is matter
When two species fight for the same limited resource, this occurs.
What is competition?
Why higher trophic levels support fewer organisms.
What is energy is lost as heat and used for life processes?
Webbed feet helping an animal swim is an example of this concept.
What is structure and function? (evolution)
Cells → tissues → organs → _______ → organism.
What are organ systems?
Removing producers from an ecosystem most directly affects this.
What is energy available to consumers?
Decomposers are important because they do this to nutrients.
What is recycle them back into the environment?
Name the symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits and the other is harmed.
What is parasitism?
Primary succession begins in areas with this condition.
What is no soil (bare rock)?
A learned hunting strategy passed through teaching, not genes.
What is a learned behavior?
This body system works with the respiratory system to transport oxygen.
What is the circulatory system?
Why do changes in ecosystems often “ripple” through food webs?
What is organisms are interconnected and depend on each other for energy and matter?
What would happen to plant growth if decomposers declined?
What is nutrients would recycle slower, reducing growth?
Why does limited water increase competition more than abundant water?
What is fewer resources increase competition intensity?
Why does higher biodiversity increase ecosystem stability?
What is more species can fill roles if others decline?
Why are acquired traits not passed to offspring?
What is they are not encoded in genes?
Natural selection changes this level over time, not individuals.
What are populations?