Chapter 2

Question 1

Abiotic Components

Answer 1

Factors such as light, temperature, wind, water, and soil characteristics. They
play an important role in determining the distribution of biotic components. (p. 62)

Question 2

Aerobic

Answer 2

Organisms that require oxygen. (p. 51)

Question 3

Aichi Targets

Answer 3

Proportions of terrestrial (and freshwater) and marine ecosystems to be designated as
protected areas by the year 2020, agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity. (p. 75)

Question 4

Apex Predators

Answer 4

Super-predators at the very top of the food chain. (p. 56)

Question 5

Assimilated Food Energy

Answer 5

The proportion of ingested energy actually absorbed by an organism

Question 6

Atmosphere

Answer 6

The layer(s) of gas-containing air that surrounds the earth. (p. 44)

Question 7

Autotrophs

Answer 7

Organisms that produce their own food, generally via photosynthesis (e.g. plants) but
sometimes via chemosynthesis.

Question 8

Biodiversity

Answer 8

The variety of life forms that inhabit the Earth. It includes genetic diversity, species diversity,
and ecosystem diversity. (p. 70)

Question 9

Biodiversity Hotspots

Answer 9

Areas with high numbers of endemic species. They are found mainly in tropical
forests. (p. 73)

Question 10

Biomass

Answer 10

Living matter. Total biomass is the sum of all living material, or of all living material of particular
species, in a given environment. (p. 50)

Question 11

Biomass Pyramid

Answer 11

Related to the fact that in terrestrial ecosystems, greater biomass generally exists at
the level of primary consumers, with the least total biomass at the highest trophic levels. In marine
ecosystems the pyramid is inverted, with greater biomass at the highest trophic level, while the primary
consumers, phytoplankton, at any given time comprise much less biomass but reproduce rapidly.
(p. 56)

Question 12

Biome

Answer 12

A number of ecosystems classified together according to their similar dominant vegetation
and animal types. (p. 62)

Question 13

Biotic Components

Answer 13

Those parts of ecosystems that are living; organisms. (p. 62

Question 14

Bottom-up control

Answer 14

Ecosystems that are seemingly dominated by prey populations. (p. 54)

Question 15

Calorie

Answer 15

The amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram (1 ml) of water by
1°C. (p. 46)

Question 16

Carnivores

Answer 16

Organisms that consume only animals. (p. 51)

Question 17

Cellular respiration

Answer 17

Metabolic processes through which living cells produce energy. (p. 50)

Question 18

Chemoautotrophs

Answer 18

Producer organisms that convert inorganic chemical compounds into energy. (p.
50)

Question 19

Chlorophylls

Answer 19

Green pigments in plant cells that absorb sunlight, thus enabling plants to capture solar
energy. (p. 50)

Question 20

Commensalism

Answer 20

An interaction between two species that benefits one species and neither harms, nor
benefits, the other. (p. 68)

Question 21

Community

Answer 21

All of the populations of all species in a particular environment. (p. 61)

Question 22

Competitive Exclusion Principle

Answer 22

The principle that competition between two species with similar
requirements will result in the exclusion of one of the species; no two species can occupy the same
niche in the same area. (p. 67)

Question 23

Consumers

Answer 23

Heterotrophs that cannot produce their own food and must get it by eating or decomposing
other organisms (in economics, those who use goods and services). (p. 50)

Question 24

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Answer 24

An international treaty that emerged from the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 that requires signatories, including
Canada, to develop biodiversity strategies, identify and monitor important components of biodiversity,
develop endangered species legislation/protected areas systems, and promote environmentally
sound and sustainable development in areas adjacent to protected areas. (p. 73)

Question 25

Cryosphere

Answer 25

The frozen portion of the hydrosphere. (p. 44)

Question 26

Decomposer Food Chain

Answer 26

A specific nutrient and energy pathway in an ecosystem in which decomposer organisms (e.g. bacteria and fungi) consume dead plants and animals as well as animal wastes. Decomposer food chains are essential for the return of nutrients to soil and carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Also called detritus food chain. (p. 51)

Question 27

Ecological Redundancy (Functional Compensation)

Answer 27

The presence of many species in an ecosystem such that the chance of other species combining to fulfill the ecological role of a depleted one is high. Where a given role in an ecosystem (e.g., as decomposer or as prey) can be fulfilled by more than one species within that system. (p. 54)

Question 28

Ecosphere

Answer 28

The entire global ecosystem, which includes the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. These three spheres combine to produce the conditions necessary for life. (p. 43)

Question 29

Ecosystem

Answer 29

A community of organisms occupying a given region, the physical and chemical environment of that region, and all the interactions amongst organisms and their environment. Short for ecological system. (p. 61)

Question 30

Ecosystem Diversity

Answer 30

The variety of ecosystems in an area. (p. 71)

Question 31

Endemism

Answer 31

A concept of biodiversity where a species confined to, or exclusive to, a specific area. (pp. 55, 73)

Question 32

Energy

Answer 32

The capacity to do work; found in many forms, including heat, light, sound, electricity, coal, oil, and gasoline. (p. 46)

Question 33

Energy Efficiency

Answer 33

The amount of total energy input of a system that is transformed into work or some other usable form of energy. May be as low as 1 per cent. (p. 56)

Question 34

Entropy

Answer 34

A measure of disorder. The second law of thermodynamics applied to matter says that all systems proceed to maximum disorder (maximum entropy). (p. 47)

Question 35

Epiphytes

Answer 35

Plants that use others for support but not nourishment.

Question 36

Estuaries

Answer 36

Coastal regions, such as inlets or mouths of rivers, where salt water and fresh water mix. (p. 57)

Question 37

Euphotic Zone

Answer 37

Zone of the ocean to which light from the sun reaches. (p. 55)

Question 38

Extirpated

Answer 38

An official designation assigned by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada to any indigenous species or subspecies or geographically separate population of fauna or flora no longer known to exist in the wild in Canada but occurring elsewhere

Question 39

Facts

Answer 39

Observations widely accepted as truthful. (p. 42)

Question 40

Food Chain

Answer 40

Specific nutrient and energy pathway in an ecosystem proceeding from producer to consumer. Along the pathway, organisms in higher trophic levels gain energy and nutrients by consuming organisms at lower trophic levels. (p. 51)

Question 41

Food Web

Answer 41

A complex intermeshing of individual food chains in an ecosystem, with many competing organisms and energy paths. (p. 54)

Question 42

Functional Connectivity

Answer 42

The behavioural responses of organisms to physical links among habitat patches. (p. 69)

Question 43

Generalist

Answer 43

A species with a very broad niche where few things organic are not considered a potential food item, making them successful in anthropogenic environments. (p. 67)

Question 44

Genetic Diversity

Answer 44

The variability in genetic makeup among individuals of the same species. (p. 70)

Question 45

Glaciation

Answer 45

Period of global cooling when alpine glaciers increase and continental ice sheets cover and scour vast land masses. (p. 65)

Question 46

Grazing Food Chains

Answer 46

Food chains where energy transfer among organisms is directly dependent on solar radiation as the primary source of energy, and where the producers (plants) are eaten by organisms that are subsequently eaten by other organisms. (p. 51)

Question 47

Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)

Answer 47

The total amount of energy produced by autotrophs (mainly | plants) over a given period of time. (p. 57)

Question 48

Habitat

Answer 48

The environment in which a population or individual lives. (p. 67)

Question 49

Heat

Answer 49

The total energy of all moving atoms. (p. 46)