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What is ecology?
study of the interactions between organisms and their environment
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What is an abiotic environment?
environment and the living
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What are the levels of biological organization?
- Organism: individual unit of an ecological system
- Population: group of organisms of the same species living together in a given location
- Community: different species interacting with each other
- Ecosystem: interaction between abiotic and biotic environments
- Biosphere: atmosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere
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What is the definition of a species?
able to produce offspring
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What is the ultimate source of energy for all organisms?
sunlight
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What is the top layer of water in which light can penetrate?
photic zone
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What is humus?
decaying pland and animal life in the soil
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How does a niche differ from a habitat?
niche defines the funtional role of an organism in its ecosystem while a habitat is the physical place where an organism lives
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Can two species occupy the same niche?
No, one will become superior or they will become divergent.
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Are herbivores or carnivores more adept in defense? Why?
herbivores because they are often prey
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What are omnivores?
animals which eat both plants and animals
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What are the three types of symbiosis?
commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism
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What is saprophytism?
protists and fungi that decompose dead organic matter externally and absorb the nutrients
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What percent of the bodies energy is given off as heat?
60%
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What's another way to say cold-blooded?
poikilothermic
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What's another way to say warm blooded?
homeothermic
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What are the five steps of the food chain?
- producer, plants and chemosynthetic bacteria
- primary consumer, herbivores
- secondary consumer
- tertiary consumer
- decomposer
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What is the second law of thermodynamics?
every energy transfer involves a loss of energy
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What are the three different food pyramids?
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Explain the nitrogen cycle
- N2 converted to nitrates, NO3- by nitrogen fixing bacteria
- Eaten by plants to protein synthesis
- eaten by animals to protein synthesis
- after death or waste, converted to ammonia, NH3
- Either converted to nitrites, NO2 by nitrifying bacteria, or to N2 by denitrifying bacteria
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Explain the CO2 cycle
- CO2 in atmosphere
- photosynthesis
- ingestion
- decay back into atmosphere
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What is a climax community?
stable, living part of the ecosystem in which populations exist in balance with each other and with the environment. Won't change unless equilibrium is upset by outside factors
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A community stage during ecological succession is called what?
a sere
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What are the 8 terrestrial biomes?
- 1. Desert
- 2. Grassland
- 3. Tropical Rain Forest: contain plants that grow on other plants (epiphytes)
- 4. Temperate Deciduous Forest: cold winters, warm summers
- 5. Temperate Coniferous Forest: needle shaped leaves
- 6. Taiga: long cold winters, only contain spruce
- 7. Tundra: frozen plain, short growing season
- 8. Polar: no vegetation and terrestrial animals
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What are the 5 types of Marine Biomes?
- 1. Intertidal: where waves hit
- 2. Littoral: shallow water on continental shelf
- 3. Pelagic: open seas, two parts, photic and aphotic zones
- 4. Photic: sunlit layer of deep water
- 5. Aphotic: no sunlight here
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How do freshwater biomes differ from marine biomes?
hypotonic, currents, and change in temperature
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