Interdependencies between species

Question 1

What is an ecosystem?

Answer 1

• Multiple communities (Biotic > Living), interacting with each other and their physical environment (Abiotic, non living).

Question 2

What is a community?

Answer 2

• A group of interacting populations living in the same geographic area.

Question 3

What is a population?

Answer 3

• A group of individuals of the same species living in the same geographic area.

Question 4

What is an organism

Answer 4

• A living thing made of one or more cells.

Question 5

What is a cell?

Answer 5

• Smallest functional unit of a living organism.

Question 6

What is a species?

Answer 6

• Organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring.

Question 7

What is carrying capacity?

Answer 7

• The maximum population size an environment can sustain indefinitely.

Question 8

What are density independent factors?

Answer 8

• Properties of the environment that are unaffected by the density of a population.

Question 9

What are density dependent factors?

Answer 9

• Properties of an environment that change with the density of a species.

Question 10

Definition of symbiosis

Answer 10

• Interaction between two organisms of different species living in close proximity (Can be beneficial, natural or negative).

Question 11

Definition of immigration

Answer 11

• Migration of individuals into the population.

Question 12

Definition of Emigration

Answer 12

• Migration of individuals out of the population.

Question 13

How could we describe/measure the structure of a species population?

Answer 13

• Population size, distibution or density/

Question 14

Outline 2 factors that affect a species population distribution

Answer 14

• Ideal of habitat of a species.
• Tolerance to abiotic conditions.
• Species geographical distributions.

Question 15

True or False? (The pattern of a species, changes all the time as environmental conditions change)?

Answer 15

True

Question 16

What type of distributions will organisms requiring a large amount of space have?

Answer 16

Uniform distributions.

Question 17

What type of distribution will organisms that form colonies, packs or are social?

Answer 17

Clumped distribution

Question 18

What is population density?

Answer 18

Number of individuals in a population, per unit area.

Question 19

Define Mutualism

Answer 19

Interactions where both organisms benefit.

Question 20

Define commensalism

Answer 20

Interactions where one organism benefits and the other is not seriously harmed.

Question 21

Define predation

Answer 21

One organism hunting and killing the other for food.

Question 22

Define parsitism

Answer 22

Interactions where an organism obtains nutrients at the expense of a host.

Question 23

Define Amensalism

Answer 23

Interactions where one organism experiences some negative effect, while the other is unaffected.

Question 24

Define competition

Answer 24

Interactions between two organisms (Can be different or same species), where they are competing for the same pool of resources.

Question 25

What is a keystone species?

Answer 25

A species whose effects on an ecosystem are greater than expected to its population size.

Question 26

True or false. Removing a keystone species typically has a larger effect than removing other species?

Answer 26

True