Download Name

Biology
Questions on "The Creation of Ecosystems"
9.18.15
Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper (in your own words, of course).
*Note: Being as this assignment is worth the usual 100 points but is only 6 questions in length,
a reasonable student should conclude that Mr. Mason is looking for some detailed answers here
- something longer than a sentence per question that includes examples and references to the
information included in the article. That reasonable student would be correct.
1. What two factors affect community organization (what species are found in a suitable
habitat)? (Note: the answer has nothing to do with "perfect order and total disorder",
though that seems to be a common incorrect answer to this question.)
2. Define a keystone species in your own words. What happens (at least three possibilities) to
the species composition of a community if you remove the keystone species?
3. Why can new species often invade a habitat after a keystone species is removed?
4. Why are sea otters considered "The most potent keystone species known in the world…"?
Explain with examples from the reading.
5. How do the large herbivores of Africa's savannas and dry woodlands enrich biodiversity,
even though it seems that they’re destroying a lot of life as they tromp through the forest?
6. We often think of keystone species as those that benefit nearly every other species found in
an ecosystem. Driver ants are a bit different, though. Explain the claim made in the article
that a colony of driver ants could be considered a keystone species.
THESAURUS







compose: are part of
obtain: consist of this
economical: easy; simple
discipline: branch of science
address: try to answer or solve it
consequently: therefore
coincide: match up







symbioses: working together for a
common good
envision: see
unprecedented: not seen before
abundance: lots of them
invariably: will happen
potent: strong effect
languorously: relaxed
















veritable: very close to the real thing
waxed: grew in size or number
waned: shrunk in size or number
luxuriance: full and thick
breaks: small areas without full
growth
dismayingly: sadly
tenfold: ten times
reverberates: small, rapid back and
forth swings
herbivores: plant eaters
physiognomy: physical structure
mosaic: patches
evasion: escape from
copse: clump of trees
pseudopodium: the part of an
Amoebae that reaches out for food
legions: groups of soldiers
scythe: cut away