Ecology Basics
The study of how things interact with each other and with their environment is called ______.
What is ecology?
Grass that gains energy from the sun is a ______.
What is a producer?
what word best describes the mammals, fish, birds, sun, soil, air, and water in an area?
What is an ecosystem?
Which level in a food web will have the highest concentration of toxins due to biomagnification?
What is the top of the food chain (tertiary consumer)?
Aphids feed on plant sap. The plant is harmed, but the aphid benefits. this relationship is example of __________.
Parasitism
The smallest unit of ecological organization is called a(n) ________.
What is an organism?
What is 10%?
What is an example of an abiotic element that may change an area?
What is water flooding a prairie?
In a prairie food web, grasses produce 45,000 kcal of energy. How much energy is available to hawks at the top level?
What is 45 kcal (10% rule: 45,000 → 4,500 → 450 → 45)
Barnacles attach themselves to the shells of whales. The barnacles benefit by gaining access to nutrient-rich waters as the whale swims, while the whale is neither helped nor harmed. What type of relationship is this?
Commensalism
The five levels of organization in the environment are ...
What is organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere?
What abiotic factor that provides the ultimate source of energy is missing from food webs?
What type of growth shows a population increasing rapidly without environmental limits?
What is exponential growth?
A lion hunts and eats a zebra on the African savanna. What type of relationship is this?
Predator-Prey
If scientists are studying the egrets, herons, marsh crabs, and spartina grass, but not the water or rocks, they are studying a _____.
What is a community?
A bird eats a worm. Who is the predator?
What is the bird?
Which of the following includes only abiotic factors found in a grizzly bear's habitat?
A. Rivers, moose, blueberries
B. Sand, snow, cold temperatures
C. Bears, fish, forest fruits
D. Elk, bison, caves
B) sand, snow, cold temperatures
Which of the following is a density-dependent limiting factor?
A. Parasitic infection
B. Volcanic eruption
C. Climate shift
D. Wildfire
What is A. Parasitic infection?
Two male elk fight over territory and access to mates during mating season. What type of ecological relationship is this?
Infraspecific Competition
(RA- SAme species)
Which of the following is an example of a population? (think of the criteria to be a population (there are 2 factors))
What are gray wolves in a forest?
Coyotes prey on prairie dogs. In order for prairie dogs to surivive, there must be more or less prairie dogs than coyotes?
More
Grass → prairie dog → coyote is an example of a…
A Food chain
The grizzly bear's habitat includes cold winters, snowmelt in spring, and rivers full of fish. Identify one biotic and one abiotic factor from this description.
What is biotic: fish, abiotic: snow?
Clownfish live among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones. The clownfish are protected from predators, and the anemone benefits by eating scraps of the clownfish’s food and gaining protection from certain fish that the clownfish chases away. What type of relationship is this?
Mutualism