Unit 1

Question 1

Climate

Answer 1

Average weather in a given region over a long period of time

Question 2

Weather

Answer 2

Short term conditions of the atmosphere in a local area: temperature, humidity, wind speed, precipitation

Question 3

Organism

Answer 3

-Most fundamental unit of ecology
-multi & unicellular organisms

Question 4

Population

Answer 4

-Group of species living together in a particular area
-interbreed
-compete w/ each other for resources

Question 5

Community

Answer 5

-several populations that interact & inhabit common environment & are independent

Question 6

Ecosystem

Answer 6

All biotic & abiotic components existing & interacting in a given area

Question 7

Biosphere

Answer 7

-part of the earths crust
-includes all biotic and abiotic factors that support life

Question 8

Interspecific competition

Answer 8

-diff specie fighting for same resource
-ex: Lions & Leopards

Question 9

How do organisms overcome the stress of competition?

Answer 9

-temporal resource partition
-spatial resource partitioning
-morphological resource partitioning

Question 10

How do organisms overcome the stress of predation?

Answer 10

Defenses:
-Behavioral (hiding, reduced movement),
-morphological (camouflage, spines)
-chemical

Question 11

Difference between exotic (alien) species and invasive species:

Answer 11

-exotic live outside their historical range (just chillin’)
-invasive spreads rapidly across large areas and does harm (not chillin’)

Question 12

Biome

Answer 12

Biotic & abiotic factors found in a particular region of the world

Question 13

2 main environmental factors that define a biome:

Answer 13

-temperature
-precipitation

Question 14

3 major factors that define aquatic biomes

Answer 14

-salinity
-depth
Water flow

Question 15

How much of Earth’s total water is freshwater?

Answer 15

Only 2% holy shit

Question 16

2 major threats to streams and rivers

Answer 16

-excessive nutrients
-pollutants

Question 17

The 4 zones of ponds & lakes:

Answer 17

Littoral, limnetic, profundal, benthic

Question 18

Littoral zone:

Answer 18

-shallow area near shore
-most emergent vegetation grows here
-most photosynthesis happens

Question 19

Limnetic zone

Answer 19

-open water only as deep as sunlight can reach
-photosynthesis action restricted to phytoplankton

Question 20

Profundal Zone

Answer 20

-no sunlight doesn’t reach
-bacteria breaking down detritus & consuming a lot of oxygen
-large organisms can’t survive because bacteria are hogging all the oxygens (assholes)

Question 21

Benthic Zone

Answer 21

The muddy bottom

Question 22

Oligotrophic lakes

Answer 22

-little nutrient, therefore little phytoplankton
-crystal clear water

Question 23

Mesotrophic lakes

Answer 23

Moderately fertile

Question 24

Eutrophic lakes

Answer 24

-highly fertile
-can be thick as pea soup
-typically lots of trees growing around

Question 25

Freshwater wetland

Answer 25

An area that is submerged for at least half of the year

Question 26

Hydric Soils

Answer 26

Soil formed under saturated conditions, resulting in anaerobic conditions (very little oxygen in soil)

Question 27

Differentiate between swamps & marshes:

Answer 27

-swamps contain woody plants w/ submerged roots -marches contain only emergent vegetation

Question 28

Purpose of cellular respiration

Answer 28

Using glucose & oxygen to create ATP & CO2 as a byproduct (ATP is the energy we use)

Question 29

Anaerobic respiration

Answer 29

Creates ATP w/out O2, using only glucose; less efficient

Question 30

Gross primary productivity (GPP)

Answer 30

Total amount of solar energy producers capture via photosynthesis over time

Question 31

Net Primary Productivity

Answer 31

GPP Minus the energy lost to producers respiring

Question 32

Food Chain

Answer 32

Successive levels of organisms consuming one another

Question 33

Food web

Answer 33

Model of how energy/matter moves through 2+ food chains

Question 34

Positive feedback loop

Answer 34

Change that causes an increase in change

Question 35

Negative feedback loop

Answer 35

Change that causes things to return to normal

Question 36

Terrestrial biome boundaries have:

Answer 36

shifted over time due to changes in precipitation and temperature patterns

Question 37

The majority of Earth's freshwater is unavailable for human consumption because:

Answer 37

it is contained in ice and glaciers

Question 38

Which of the cycles does not include an atmospheric component?

Answer 38

Phosphorus

Question 39

During what stage of the hydrologic cycle is water released to the atmosphere from plants?

Answer 39

Transpiration

Question 40

What human activities have affected the phosphorus cycle?

Answer 40

the use of dishwashing detergents

Question 41

What is the relationship between temperature of terrestrial ecosystem and net productivity

Answer 41

the warmer the ecosystem, the higher the productivity