Ecology Study Guide
· Categorizing Roles Within Ecosystems
· Food webs
· Energy Flow in Living Systems
· Reproductive Strategy and the the r-K Scale
· Animal Interactions
· Ecology and Evolution
Ecology Terminology:
Levels of Organization
Organism- ______
Population- ______
Community- ______
Ecosystem- ______
Biosphere- ______
Ecology Terminology:
Biotic vs. Abiotic Factors
Biotic- ______
Abiotic- ______
Examples: ______
So Many “Spheres”
Categorizing Roles Within Ecosystems
Within any given ecosystem, all living things ______. These categories include:
______, ______, ______, ______, ______
Producers
Producers are organisms, like green plants, that ______. Producers are one type of ______.
Herbivores
A Herbivore is an example of a ______, an organism that ______from another organism; In this case producers (plants).
Herbivores are ______, organisms unable to ______food.
Omnivores
Omnivores are animals that ______. Examples of omnivores include ______.
What other omnivores can you name? ______
______, or top-level consumers, eat ______
.
Scavengers and Decomposers
Scavengers are unique consumers who specialize in ______.
Decomposers or saprobes include ______, these organisms acquire nutrients by ______of dead plants and animals.
Food Webs
A food web shows all of the ______within a living system. Producers are the ______for every food web.
What kinds of living foodwebs did we go over in class? ______
The “Keystone” Species
Keystone species have a ______typically relative to their abundance. They play a ______within ecological communities.
Keystone species affect many other organisms in an ecosystem, and are central in determining the ______in the community.
Energy Flow in Living Systems
The Sun is the ______for virtually all ecosystems on planet Earth.
Producers “fix” ______into organic molecules.
What is this process called? ______Can you describe the chemical process? ______
Energy Flow in Living Systems : Biomass
Biomass, in ecology, is ______in a given ecosystem at a given time.Biomass is always predominantly ______
Energy Efficiency in Living Systems
Ecological efficiency is the ______from one trophic level to the next: A range of ______ is standard
What does this say about the amount of energy lost at each level?
______
Energy Efficiency in Living Systems
The “r ” Reproductive Strategy: Characteristics: ______
Examples: ______
The “K” Reproductive strategy Characteristics: ______
Examples: ______
Describe the J and K population curves: ______
______
What is carrying capacity? ______
Population Growth in Ecosystems The “J” Curve
The J-shape population curve depicts ______in population size.
Growth is characteristic of populations that are ______of new, ideal environmental conditions, or populations that were ______in large number and are ______.
Population Growth in Ecosystems The “S” Curve
The S curve reflects ______in which the population slows down as it reaches the ______(K). Limiting factors ______restrict continued growth in population size.
Population Curves : The Lynx and the Hare
· Describe the relationship between the lynx and the hare as indicated by the graph.
______
______
· Describe Ecological Succession: ______
______Example:______
Animal Interactions
symbiosis describes close and often long-term ______species within any ecosystem.
Animal Interactions: Prey Adaptations
______ occurs when a species evolves to share ______to “mimic” another organism. This similarity can be in ______, or location.
Examples from class: ______
Animal Interactions: Prey Adaptations
Cryptic coloration- allows an organism to ______and therefore become ______or, in the case of predators, recognition by prey.
Example: ______
Animal Interactions: Predator Adaptations
Examples: ______
Animal Interactions
Mutualism is any relationship between two different species in which ______
Example: ______.
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one ______of its host.
Example: ______.
commensalism describes a relationship between two organisms in which ______unaffected.
Example: ______.
Ecology and Evolution
Natural selection is the driving force behind ______.
All animals evolve in response to ______in their local ______.
Coevolution reflects the ______to a corresponding change in another.
Example: ______