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Study Questions for Bio 101
Community Interactions,
1. Define the terms “community”, “habitat”, and “niche”.
2. Describe the difference between the symbioses known as commensalism, mutualism,
predation, and parasitism.
3. Explain how competition can lead to competitive exclusion.
4. Explain how resource partitioning can allow several species to coexist in the same
habitat.
5. Describe how predator and prey populations are linked and why they rise and fall
together in cycles.
6. Define the term “coevolution” with respect to predators and prey, and parasites and
hosts.
7. Name strategies that prey might develop over time to escape being eaten.
8. Name and describe the steps of primary and secondary succession, giving an example
of specific plants that would be present in a Northwest evergreen forest ecosystem.
9. Name and describe some factors that affect the stability and diversity of a community.
10. Define the term “biodiversity” and explain its importance to community stability.
11. Name some factors that affect the biodiversity of a habitat.