Download biology study guide: ecology

BIOLOGY STUDY GUIDE: ECOLOGY
Objectives:
1. Summarize the characteristics of living things.
2. Distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors in the environment.
3. Compare how organisms satisfy their nutritional needs.
4. Trace the path of energy and matter in an ecosystem.
5. Analyze how nutrients are cycled in the biosphere,
6. Explain how limiting factors and ranges of tolerance affect the distribution of organisms.
7. Sequence the stages of ecological succession.
8. Distinguish among biomes.
9. Predict effects of environmental factors on population growth.
10. Explain biodiversity and its importance.
11. Relate various threats to the loss of biodiversity.
12. Describe strategies used in conservation biology.
AKS: 12
Vocabulary Terms:
1. ecology*
2. biosphere
3. ecosystem*
4. abiotic factors *
5. biotic factors *
6. levels of ecological organization
7. habitat*
8. niche *
9. symbiosis *
10. commensalisms*
11. parasitism*
12. mutualism*
13. autotrophs *
14. heterotrophs *
15. scavengers
16. decomposers *
17. food chain *
18. trophic levels *
19. food web *
20. ecological pyramids *
21. water cycle
22. carbon cycle
23. nitrogen cycle
24. phosphorus cycle
25. density independent limiting factors *
26. density dependent limiting factors *
27. ecological succession *
28. primary succession
29. secondary succession
30. climax community*
31. biome*
32. population *
33. exponential growth
34. carrying capacity *
35. J-curve*
36. S curve*
37. biodiversity
38. organism *
39. organization
40. reproduction
41. species
42. growth/assimilation
43. development
44. environment *
45. stimulus
46. response
47. sensitivity
48. homeostasis *
49. energy
50. adaptation *
51. biological magnification*
Ecology Study Questions
1.
Identify five functions of living organisms.
2.
What are four examples of producers in a community and why are they important to the other members of the community?
3.
Name four examples of consumers in a community.
4.
What role do decomposers play in a community? Name two examples of decomposers.
5.
Can energy be recycled in the living world in the same way that food materials are? Explain.
6.
What is the original source of energy for the living world?
7.
Why might the carrying capacity of a given environment fluctuate during the year? Give an example and draw a graph to
illustrate.
8.
Explain why most organisms do not reach their biotic potential.
9.
Distinguish between density dependent and density independent limiting factors. Give two examples of each type.
10. Describe ways in which predation is beneficial to a prey population.
11. What explanations can be given for the exponential growth of the human population since
1650?
12. Why are autotrophs so vital to the life of other organisms?
13. Why is energy in the living world referred to as a pyramid?
14. Why does a food chain rarely have more than four levels or links?
15. List the ways that carbon is recycled in the world.
16. Give an example for each of the following symbiotic relationships:
a. commensalism
b. parasitism
c. mutualism
17. Explain how each of the following abiotic factors can affect ecosystems:
a. soil
b. light
c. temperature
18. Describe a situation in which man has disturbed the balance of nature in an ecosystem. What has been the result of such
disruption?
19. What causes ecological succession?
20. What determines the kinds of animals that live in an area?
21. What factors play a role in determining the types of plants that inhabit an area?
22. Describe the series of changes that occur in the succession of a pond community to a forest.
23. Give an example of secondary succession.
24. Using the primary succession of a forest community from bare rock as an example , explain how changes during succession
illustrate each of the following trends in succession:
a. increase in species diversity
b. change in the size of dominant plant forms
c. greater complexity of food webs
d. increase in the amount of light energy trapped