Final Review: Unit 2

Question 1

ecology

Answer 1

the study of relationships between livings things with each other and the environment

Question 2

environmentalism

Answer 2

concern with or advocacy of protecting the environment

Question 3

why is it difficult for ecologists to study organisms

Answer 3

there are too many variables in their natural habitats

Question 4

biosphere

Answer 4

the portion of life that supports life

Question 5

biotic factors

Answer 5

all the living factors in the environment

Question 5

abiotic factors

Answer 5

all the nonliving factors in the environment

Question 6

levels of ecological organization

Answer 6

organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere

Question 7

organism

Answer 7

a single living thing

Question 8

population

Answer 8

individual organisms of the same species in the same geographic location

Question 9

community

Answer 9

a group of interacting population in the same area at the same time

Question 10

ecosystem

Answer 10

a community with the affecting abiotic factors

Question 11

biome

Answer 11

large group of ecosystems with the same climate and similar communities

Question 12

habitat

Answer 12

area where an organism lives

Question 13

niche

Answer 13

role or position an organism plays in its environment

Question 14

competition

Answer 14

when organisms compete for the same resources

Question 15

predation

Answer 15

act of killing and consuming animals for food

Question 16

predator

Answer 16

organism hunting

Question 17

prey

Answer 17

organism being hunted

Question 18

symbiosis

Answer 18

close relationship between species living together

Question 19

mutualism

Answer 19

both organisms benefit in relationship

Question 20

commensalism

Answer 20

one organism benefits and one is unaffected in relationship

Question 21

parasitism

Answer 21

one organism benefits at the expense of the other in relationship

Question 22

autotroph

Answer 22

organism that gets energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to make its own food

Question 23

heterotrophs

Answer 23

organisms that get their energy by consuming other organisms

Question 24

herbivores

Answer 24

heterotrophs that only eat plants

Question 25

carnivores

Answer 25

heterotrophs that only eat other heterotrophs

Question 26

omnivores

Answer 26

organisms thta eat both plants and animals

Question 27

detritivores

Answer 27

organisms that eat dead organisms by breaking down dead matter and returnign the nutrients to the environment

Question 28

trophic level

Answer 28

each step in a food chain/web

Question 29

food chains

Answer 29

simple pathway showing one-way energy flow from organism to organism

Question 30

food web

Answer 30

model with many interconnected food chains or pathways of energy flow

Question 31

ecological pyramids

Answer 31

shows the decrease of relative amounts of energy, biomass, number of organisms at each level

Question 32

how much energy is passed from each level; what is the rest for

Answer 32

10%; cellular processes

Question 33

law of conservation of matter

Answer 33

matter cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed

Question 34

matter

Answer 34

anything that takes up space and has mass

Question 35

nutrient

Answer 35

a chemical substance that an organism must obtain from its environment to sustain life and to undergo life processes

Question 36

biogeochemical cycle

Answer 36

the exchange of matter through the biosphere

Question 37

water cycle

Answer 37

water is evaporated from bodies of water, soil, organisms, water vapor condenses in clouds, it falls as precipitation, it runs off into bodies of water, repeats

Question 38

where does most water evaporate from, where does the other come from

Answer 38

bodies of water; transpiration from the surface of plants

Question 39

major sources of carbon in biosphere

Answer 39

living organisms, atmosphere, water, soil

Question 40

carbon cycle

Answer 40

photosynthesis, respiratoin, decomposition (carbon from dead bodies returns to soil), human activity (after burning fossil fuels)

Question 41

oxygen cycle

Answer 41

photosynthesis, respiration, decomposers (use energy to break down organic matter), fossil fuels (required for combustion)

Question 42

where is nitrogen found

Answer 42

atmosphere, proteins

Question 43

nitrogen cycle

Answer 43

leaves atmosphere, bacteria capture it, nitrogen fixation, plants absorb + convert to protein, moves through food chain, returns to soil, denitrification

Question 44

nitrogen fixation

Answer 44

bacteria convert nitrogen into a form usable by plants

Question 45

denitrification

Answer 45

when soil bacteria convert nitrogen compounds to nitrogen gas

Question 46

detritus

Answer 46

dead organic matter