Animal Ecology

Question 1

Ecology

Answer 1

Study of relationship to organisms to their environment

Question 2

Niche

Answer 2

The way an organism fits into ecosystem or environment via resources used, conditions lived in, and functional role.

Question 3

Levels of Ecological Organization

Answer 3

Individual Organism, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Biosphere

Question 4

Primary Producers

Answer 4

Green Plants or Algae, produce energy from the sun

Question 5

Consumers

Answer 5

Eat other organisms

Question 6

Carnivores

Answer 6

Feed on herbivores or other carnivores

Question 7

Herbivores

Answer 7

Eats plants

Question 8

Decomposers

Answer 8

Break dead organic matter into mineral components for reuse by plants. Mainly Fungi and Bacteria.

Question 9

Photosynthesis

Answer 9

Process by which Primary Producers turn sunlight into useable energy

Question 10

Symbioses

Answer 10

Close interaction between two species. Often one species requiring the other for survival.

Question 11

Explain, apply, and identify three symbiotic relationships

Answer 11

Parasitism: Parasite benefits, host is harmed. Wasp laying egg in aphid.
Mutualism: Both species benefit. Ants living on acacia tree.
Commensalism: One species benefits, other is neither helped nor harmed. Remora fish hiding on, riding on, and eating the scraps of sharks.

Question 12

Ectoparasite

Answer 12

Host provides nutrients and aids in dispersal of parasite. Flea living on host.

Question 13

Endoparasite

Answer 13

Lost ability to choose habitat, must have tremendous reproductive output to ensure offspring will reach another host. Tapeworm living in hosts digestive tract.

Question 14

Competition

Answer 14

Limited amount of resources

Question 15

Predation

Answer 15

Organism feeding on living organism that leads to death of prey

Question 16

Carrying Capactiy

Answer 16

Largest population that a limiting resource can support

Question 17

Keystone Species. Define, Explanation of importance, and example.

Answer 17

A species that is so pervasive to a community that its absence drastically changes a community. Reduce competition and allow more species to coexist on same resource. Prairie dogs create burrows for ferrets, owls, and salamanders, feed predators like ferrets and snakes, and help soil composition that creates thriving vegetation that is fed on by herbivores.

Question 18

Food Web

Answer 18

Series of interlocking and interdependent food chains

Question 19

Trophic Levels

Answer 19

Position that an organism occupies in a food web

Question 20

Logistic vs Exponential Growth, include examples of each

Answer 20

Exponential is when resources are unlimited, so populations exhibit growth on a J-shaped curve. Bacteria are an example of this type of growth. Logistic is when population growth decreases as resources become limited, so populations exhibit growth on an S-shaped curve. Locusts are an example of this type of growth.