Question | Answer |
community | A group of populations living close enough together for potential interaction |
species diversity | a measure that combines the number of species in a community with the relative abundances of those species. |
interspecific interactions | Relationships between different species in the community |
interspecific competition | Two different species compete for the same limited resource |
niche | Sum of an organism’s use of biotic and abiotic resources |
Interspecific competition occurs when | the niches of two populations overlap |
How does competition impact the carrying capacity of competing populations? | lowers it |
mutualism | Interspecific relationship in which both species benefits from the relationship |
predation | Interspecific relationship in which one species attacks and eats the other species |
adaptation | a trait that helps an organism survive in its environment |
herbivory | Interspecific relationship in which an animal consumes plant material (not usually fatal to plant) |
herbivory leads to diverse _____ in plants | adaptations |
A few defenses plants have against herbivory are | spines, thorns, toxins |
coevolution | occurs when two or more different species evolve in response to each other |
parasitism | Interspecific relationship in which one species obtains its nutrients from the body of another. |
host | the organism that a parasite lives in or on |
pathogen | disease causing parasite |
invasive species | Non-native species that are introduced in new environments, spread far beyond the original point of introduction, and cause damage are called |
Why are invasive species so destructive to a community? | They may outcompete native species thereby reducing their population and disrupting the balance in the community |
trophic structure | A pattern of feeding relationships consisting of several different levels |
food chain | Sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels |
producers | Support all other trophic levels by transforming the sun's energy into the chemical energy of organic molecules (sugar) |
autotroph | "self feeder"; an organism that can transform the sun's energy into organic molecules (plants, algae, cyanobacteria) |
heterotroph | "other feeder"; an organism that eats other organisms (animals, fungi, some protists & bacteria) |
primary consumer | an organism that eats producers |
secondary consumer | an organism that eats primary consumers |
tertiary consumer | an organism that eats secondary consumers |
quaternary consumer | an organism that eats tertiary consumers |
detrivore / decomposer | an organism that gets its energy from eating dead matter and or wastes |
food web | A network of interconnecting food chains |
Only 10% of the energy in one tropic level is | passed to the next |
If 10 % of the energy in one trophic level is passed to the next level, what happens to the other 90% of the energy? | it is used for cellular work and then released into the atmosphere as heat |
If you wanted to conserve more energy in the ecosystem, what kind of food would you eat? | plants |
keystone species | A species whose impact on its community is larger than its biomass or abundance indicates |
disturbances | Events that damage biological communities |
Communities ____ drastically following a severe disturbance | change |
ecological succession | A succession of change gradually replaces other species as each species responds differently to the changing environment |
primary succession | Begins in a virtually lifeless area with no soil |
secondary succession | When a disturbance destroyed an existing community but left the soil intact |
primary succession takes longer than secondary succession because ____ must first form | soil |
ecosystem | All the organisms in a community as well as the abiotic environment |
Energy flows ____ an ecosystem. | through |
chemicals cycle ____ within an ecosystem. | within |
producer productivity | The amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs |
biomass | Amount of living organic material in an ecosystem |
biome that has the highest producer productivity | algal beds and coral reefs |
Ecosystems are supplied with a continual influx of energy from the ____ | sun |
Life depends on energy from the sun & the ____ of chemicals | recycling |
Organisms acquire chemicals as ____ and lose chemicals as ____ products | nutrients; waste |
biogeochemical cycles | Cycle chemicals between organisms and the Earth |
____ is the major ingredient of all organic molecules | carbon |
The return of CO2 to the atmosphere by ___ closely balances its removal by ____ | respiration; photosynthesis |
The carbon cycle is affected by burning ___ and ____ ____. | wood; fossil fuels |
Organisms require ____, among other molecules for nucleic acids, phospholipids, and ATP | phosphorus |
The phosphorus cycle depends on the weathering of ____ | rock |
Plants absorb phosphate ions in the ____ and build them into organic compounds | soil |
The nitrogen cycle depends on ____ | bacteria |
____ is an essential component of proteins and nucleic acids | nitrogen |
___ ___ converts nitrogen gas in the atmosphere into ammonium and nitrates plants can absorb from the soil | nitrogen fixation |
____ on the roots of plants carry out nitrogen fixation | bacteria |