14.1.1 Ecological Organization: The Functional Divisions of the Ecologist

Question 1

Ecological Organization: The Functional Divisions of the Ecologist

Answer 1

• Ecology is the study of organisms and how they interact with their environment (including biotic and abiotic factors.)
• Ecology can be divided into six levels of greater inclusiveness:
 1. organism
 2. population
 3. community
 4. ecosystem
 5. biome
 6. biosphere
• The abiotic component of the environment consists of nonliving physical and chemical factors including:
 · temperature
 · water
 · light availability
 · wind
 · substrate
 · pH
 · periodic disturbances

Question 2

ecology

Answer 2

• Review: Science is a systematic process that involves collecting information by performing experiments. The
  narrower the focus of study, the easier it is to run a controlled experiment and gain information about the subject at hand.
• Ecologists have a challenging task since they focus on the interactions between organisms and their environment. It is difficult to design experiments when so many variables are present.

Question 3

biotic and abiotic factors

Answer 3

• Aspects of an organism’s environment include both biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors pertain to the living organisms in the environment. Abiotic factors are physical factors like temperature and light availability.
• Since organisms are constantly exchanging materials with their environment, the environment can influence the state of an organism. For example, water is a limited resource in desert settings that influences the distribution of plants and animals.

Question 4

note

Answer 4

• To study different levels of interaction between organisms and their environment, ecologists look at different levels of complexity. The list on the left shows the six basic levels of organization that ecologists use for making and testing predictions.

Question 5

How might water in an estuary influence a community of seagrass?

Answer 5

• It may affect the osmotic pressure in the cells of the plants.
• It may affect the conditions of the sediment.
• It may affect the availability of light to the plant.

Question 6

A group of potentially interbreeding organisms that may or may not live in the same area is referred to as a

Answer 6

• species

Question 7

The ecological unit composed of organisms and their physical environment is

Answer 7

• ecosystem

Question 8

Abiotic factors include all but which of the following?

Answer 8

• biome

Question 9

Which of the following does not involve biotic factors?

Answer 9

• Periodic disturbances

Question 10

Ecology is

Answer 10

• the study of the interaction between organisms and their environment.