Ecology

Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment, looks at living and nonliving things

Question 2

Earth’s climate varies by _____ and ______.

Answer 2

latitudes, seasons

Question 3

climate

Answer 3

the long term prevailing weather conditions

Question 4

equator

Answer 4

where the sun hits the earth on a direct line

Question 5

global ecology

Answer 5

study large regions of the planet (temp., large scale distribution of resources)

Question 6

biosphere

Answer 6

sum of all the life on the planet

Question 7

landscape

Answer 7

mosaic of connected ecosystems, seascape- aquatic

Question 8

landscape ecology

Answer 8

how energy, materials, and organisms flow through these

Question 9

ecosystem ecology

Answer 9

how communities interact wit nonliving things (energy flow, chemical cycling, nutrient cycling, how water is used, chemical resources being used, weather patterns)

Question 10

ecosystem

Answer 10

a community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which the organisms interact

Question 11

community ecology

Answer 11

competition- plants competing for water, sunlight, and nitrogen and animals competing for plants (prey), mates, food, water
predation, food chain

Question 12

community

Answer 12

a group of populations in the same areas with different species (all living things - plants and animals)

Question 13

population ecology

Answer 13

how the environment affects the population (population sizes, death rates, growth rates, repro. rates)

Question 14

population

Answer 14

a group of the same species living in the same area (so they can breed with one another in the same species)

Question 15

organismal ecology

Answer 15

how an organism’s structure, physiology (life processes), and behavior allow it to interact with its environment

Question 16

tropics

Answer 16

hottest spot on plant, 28 degrees south and north, Cancer and Capricorn, have subtropics

Question 17

microclimate

Answer 17

small localized climates (rock in a backyard)

Question 18

macroclimate

Answer 18

landscape, regional, global climate

Question 19

biotic

Answer 19

living factors (symbiosis)

Question 20

abiotic

Answer 20

nonliving factors (soil, nutrient availability, water, sunlight, wind, oxygen, air)

Question 21

the four major abiotic factors of climate

Answer 21

sunlight (affected by season and latitudes)
temperature (“)
precipitation
wind/air circulation

Question 22

biomes

Answer 22

major life zone characterized by vegetation type (land) or by physical environment (water/aquatic)

Question 23

climograph

Answer 23

biomes and their different temp and precipitation

Question 24

ecotone

Answer 24

regions in between different biomes

Question 25

vegetation layers

Answer 25

importance: provide oxygen (primary producers) and food for animals

Question 26

canopy layer

Answer 26

tropical rain forest, hard to study because hundreds of feet in the air, insects, birds, snakes all privy to canopy (never leave)

Question 27

disturbance

Answer 27

natural disaster (tornado, flood, hurricane), humans - deforestation, harvesting plants, hunting, pollution, fire- major disturbance but no always bad because animals have been adapted for it

Question 28

savanna

Answer 28

equatorial, sub-equatorial, rainy season, vegetation: grasslands with a few trees, adapted to fire because grass grows back quickly, drought adapted: slow transpiration, oily leaves

Question 29

chaparral

Answer 29

mid-latitude coastal regions (3 cool dry seasons, 1 hot summer, 1 rainy winter), mediterranean, near large bodies of water, vegetation: shrubs, grass, few trees animals: goats, deer, reptiles, birds

Question 30

lakes and rivers/streams

Answer 30

river/stream- constantly moving b/c of currents lake- contained body of water oligotrophic lake- low in nutrients, clear water, rock bottoms, west, high oxygen content eutrophic lake- nutrient rich and oxygen poor (decomposers, not a lot of plant life, mud bottom)

Question 31

wetlands

Answer 31

fresh water area (swamp), covered by water half of time so adapted to water, dominant vegetation: grasses

Question 32

estuaries

Answer 32

marine wetland, fresh and salt water meet, rivers running into ocean, nurseries of sea, high productivity (all photosynthetic things keep photosynthesizing, adapted to tidal flux)

Question 33

intertidal zones

Answer 33

between high and low tide, rocky- ocean = rough, animals exposed at low tide and covered at high tide, adapted to temp, solidity, moisture changes, hang on tight

Question 34

pelagic zone

Answer 34

deep open oceans (low in nutrients, high in oxygen, circulated by wind and currents), whales, tuna, marlins

Question 35

coral reefs

Answer 35

oasis in desert, warm tropical water, abundance of life, lots of color, basis of food chain: cnidaria, nutrient poor, symbiotic relationship between algae and coral (coral has algae inside of them, algae give oxygen and glucose and coral gives safe place and carbon dioxide)

Question 36

benthic zone

Answer 36

bottom of the ocean, even if shallow, deep sea hydrothermic vent communities, animals = benthus, eat detritus or animals, catfish, flounder

Question 37

abyssal zone

Answer 37

tube worms- live in symbiotic relationship with bacteria that take up chemicals coming from vents, deep sea hydrothermic vent communities

Question 38

neritic zone

Answer 38

water over continental shelf, fishing (100-200 ft. deep)

Question 39

detritus

Answer 39

"marine snow", dead organic matter and waste trickling down, eaten

Question 40

photic zone

Answer 40

light penetrates the water, vegetation (primary producers)

Question 41

aphotic zone

Answer 41

light does not penetrate, a lake may not have one if shallow, animals eat other animals or detritus

Question 42

littoral zone

Answer 42

plants rooted close to the shore of lake, grasses, water lilies

Question 43

limnetic zone

Answer 43

no rooted vegetation, photosynthetic plankton floating

Question 44

6 North American biomes

Answer 44

tundra, desert, temperate deciduous forests, coniferous forests (taiga), grasslands, tropical rainforests