NAME ______

CH. 2 – PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY STUDY GUIDE

  1. What do you call the portion of Earth supports the existence of living things?
  1. Name the different types of abiotic factor?
  1. The illustration below shows living and nonliving factors that interact in a certain area. Which term or vocabulary word best describes the interactions shown in the diagram? (individual, population, biological community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere)

4.What process in the water cycle returns water to Earth's surface?

5.During the carbon cycle, in what form are carbon atoms generally returned to the atmosphere? (Name the gas)

6.A food web is represented in the diagram below. What does the X mostly likely represent?

7.According to the energy pyramid to the right, which organisms are the primary consumers?

8.What is the definition of ecology?

9.What types of organisms isan autotroph?

10.What is the definition of predation and give an example?

11.What is the definition of mutualism and give an example?

12.Some birds are known as honey guides because they may be followed by humans to wild beehives. When the humans take honey from the hives, the birds are able to feast on the honey and bees, too. The relationship between honey guides and humans can best be described as what type of symbiotic relationship.

Figure 2-1

13.Referring to Figure 2-1, suppose 10, 000 units of energy are available at the level of the grasses. What is the total number of energy units received by the coyote?

  1. What is the total number of energy units lost by the time it reaches the coyote?

14.Referring to Figure 2-1, what level of consumer are the coyotes?

15.What is the definition of a population?

Figure 2-3

16.In the ecological pyramid shown in Figure 2-3, which level has the largest number of organisms?

17.A flea, tick, and/or tapeworm would be involved in which type of symbiosis? (mutualism, commensalism or parasitism)

18.Organisms with overlapping niches probably have which type of relationship?

19.Would “soil type” be considered an abiotic or biotic factor to an earthworm?

20.What is biomass?

21. Explain why the amount of biomass decrease as you go up in each trophic level.

22.Describe nitrogen fixation.

23.Describe how predation allows the flow of energy through an ecosystem to happen?

24.What is the definition of commensalism?

25.What is the definition of consumer?

26.Explain what niche is and give an example?

27.What is transpiration and what type of organism does it?

28.Living things are formed from carbon-containing molecules. Is the carbon cycle the only biogeochemical cycle that affects humans? If no, what other cycles are involved?

29.Is nitrogen fixation a biotic factor or abiotic factor for the plant?

30.What are some biotic factors that affect an organism?

31.Even though you need sunlight for some bodily processes, such as synthesizing vitamin D, do you still have to eat a producer to use solar energy for respiration and movement? Explain your answer.

32.Do all the biogeochemical cycles involve both biotic and abiotic factors? What are those factors.

33.During photosynthesis, where do the autotrophs obtain the water from?

34.What is the ultimate energy source driving the biogeochemical cycles?

35.What species interaction is most frequently represented in a food chain?

36.What biogeochemical cycle is the only one that lacks an atmospheric reservoir?

37.What is competition?

38.One organism benefits, while another is unharmed during a long-term relationship between the two. What type of symbiotic relationship does this describe?

39.White-tailed deer eat tree leaves. What type of relationship does this describe?

40.

Study the graph above.

a. Identify the biomes with a constant warm temperature (>20°C).

b. Hypothesize why savanna and shrubland biomes have no forests.

42.Using the pyramid below, infer the effect on organism’s numbers if humans aggressively hunted and eliminated most of the snakes from the ecosystem.

Figure 2-6

43.Use the diagram in Figure 2-6 to complete Table 2-1. Classify each member of the food web as autotroph or heterotroph, and identify the heterotrophs as herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores.

Table 2-1
Autotrophs / Heterotrophs / Herbivore, carnivore,
or omnivore

44. A scientist wrote the following summary of her observations:

Milkweed is a plant commonly found throughout fields and pastures and along roadsides in eastern and central North America. It gets its name from the milky white sap that oozes when the plant is broken or cut. Milkweed plants bloom in June and July. When fertilized, the flowers form large seedpods that open in the fall. The following observations were taken from a scientist's field study of milkweed plants from spring through fall.

In the summer, the sugary nectar secreted by the milkweed's flowers attracts many bees, butterflies, moths, and a variety of smaller insects that carry away pollen when they depart. Milkweed nectar seems to be the major source of nutrition for several species of small moths, flies, mosquitoes, and ants. Monarch butterflies, which visit in large numbers, lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and the hatching caterpillars feed on the leaves. As fall approaches, milkweed bugs begin to attack the developing seeds, and milkweed beetles eat the foliage.

Aphids, which suck milkweed sap, are found throughout the year. Crab spiders do not feed on the plant itself, but rather on most of the insects that visit the plant. In the two to three weeks while the milkweed plants are in bloom, successful adult female crab spiders may increase ten times in mass before laying their eggs on the inner surface of leaves. Some species of flies and wasps, which feed on crab spider eggs, visit the plants periodically. Harvestmen, also known as "daddy longlegs," recover the remains left by predators.

45.How would you describe the symbiotic relationship between the milkweed plant and aphids?

46.From the scientist's data, infer which abiotic factor affects milkweed. Explain how the data support your inference.

47.Based on the scientist's observations, what is one food chain that begins with a milkweed plant?

48.What would you call a patch of milkweed plants plus all the other organisms that visit or live on the plants?