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| A group of different species that live together in one area. |
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| The study of the interactions among living things, and between living things and their surroudnings. |
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| A species that has an unusually large effect on its ecosystem |
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| Consumers that get their energy from other organisms |
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| Organisms that only eat plants |
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| A consumer that primarily eats one specific organism or feeds on a very small number of organisms. |
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| The movement of a particular chemical through the biological and goelogical, or living and nonliving, parts of an ecosystem. |
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| When certain types of bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia (NH3) |
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| Includes all of the organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks, and other nonliving things in a given area. |
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| Nonliving things like moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, and soil |
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| Organisms that get their energy from nonliving resources, or, they make their own food |
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| The process by which an organism forms carbohydrates using chemicals, rather than light, as an energy source. |
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| Organisms that eat only animals |
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| Consumers that have a varying diet |
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| A diagram that compares energy used by producers, primary consumers, and other trophic levels. |
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| A major regional or global community of organisms |
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| Living things such as plants, andimals, fungi, and bacteria. |
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| Another name for producer. It means that an organism can produce its own energy |
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| A sequence that links species by their feeding relationships. |
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| Organisms that eat both plants and animals. |
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| A model that shows the complex network of feeding relationships and the flow of energy within and sometime beyond an ecosystem. |
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| A measure of the total dry mass of organisms in a given area. |
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| Levels of nourishment in a food chain |
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| The assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem. |
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| Organisms that get their energy by eating other living or once-living resources, such as plants and animals. |
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| Organisms that eat detritus, or dead organic matter |
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| Detritivores that break down organic matter into simpler compounds |
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| The circular pathway of water on Earth from the atmosphere to the surface, below ground, and back |
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Definition
| When water vapor is released from plant leaves. |
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| List and describe the ecological levels of organization. |
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Definition
- Organism- an individual living thing, such as an aligator
- Population- A group of the same species that live together in one area.
- Community- A group of different species that live together in one area.
- Ecosystem- Includes all organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks, and other nonliving organisms
- Biome- A major regional or global community of organisms. Usually characterized by climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there.
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| Name and describe three research methods used by ecologists |
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Definition
- Observation- The act of carefully watching something over time.
- Experimentation- Scientists may perform experiments in the lab or field.
- Modeling- Scientists use computer and mathematical models to describe and model nature.
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| Name the difference between direct and indirect surveys. |
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Definition
Direct surveys are used for species that are easy to follow.
Indirect surveys are used for species that are difficult to track |
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| List examples of biotic and abiotic factors. |
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Definition
- Biotic Factors- Plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria
- Abiotic Factors- Moisture, wind, temperature, sunlight, and soil
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| Explain how biodiversity is distributed on Earth. |
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Definition
| In a rain forest, there is a large assortment of different species living near one another. |
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| Explain the concept of keystone species in terms of its importance to an ecosystem. |
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Definition
| Without keystone species, ecosystems would be pointless. The keystone species hold the ecosystem together. |
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| What do producers contribute to an ecosystem? How do they obtain their energy? |
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Definition
| Producers give energy to all consumers in some way through the food chain. They are autotrophs, so they obtain their energy either through photosynthesis, or chemosynthesis. |
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| What is the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers? List one example of each. |
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Definition
- Primary consumers are mostly herbivores and feed off of producers. Ex. desert cottontails.
- Secondary consumers are mostly onmivores and obtain their energy from either primary consumers, or producers. Ex Kangaroo rats.
- Tertiary consumers are mostly carnivores that obtain their energy from other animals. Ex. Harris's hawks
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Distinguish between the following terms.
a. Herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore
b. Detritivore and decomposer
c. Specialist and generalist |
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Definition
a. herbivore: eats only plants. carnivore: eats only animals. omnivore: eats both plants and animals
b. detritivore: eat dead organic matter. decomposer: breaks down the dead matter into a simpler compound
c. specialist: eats only certain organisms. generalist: eats pretty much anything |
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| Provide an example of a food chain. |
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Definition
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| How does a food web differ from a food chain? |
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Definition
A food chain is a sequence that that links species by their feeding relationship, and is not necessarily a model.
A food web is a model that shows the complex network of feeding relationships and the flow of energy within and sometimes beyond an ecosystem. |
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| Explain how water is cycled through the hydrologic cycle. |
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Definition
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| What 2 processes drive the oxygen cycle? |
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Definition
| Cellular respiration, and Photosynthesis |
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| Where does the nitrogen cycle take place? |
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Definition
| In certain types of bacteria |
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| What happens to the nutrients of the body of an organism when it dies? |
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Definition
| They are consumed by detritivores |
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| What types of organisms are fungi? |
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Definition
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| Draw an example of an energy pyramid |
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Definition
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| How are energy pyramids, biomass pyramids, and pyramids of numbers different? Explain why you need different pyramids. |
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Definition
- Energy pyramids compare energy used by producers, primary consumers, and other trophic levels.
- Biomass pyramids compare the biomass of different types of trophic levels within an ecosystem.
- Pyramids of numbers show the numbers of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem.
- We need different pyramids, because they all explain different things.
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| How much energy is available to an organism at the second level of the energy pyramid? |
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Definition
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| What is the maximum number of trophic levels in an ecological pyramid? |
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| In going from one level to the next higher trophic level, the amount of usable energy ____. |
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Definition
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| Explain how a change in the habitat of a species affects the entire ecosystem. |
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Definition
| It could cause the species to migrate to another location, which means that another species below it on the food chain will not have any food. |
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| Why are decomposers necessary for the continuation of life on Earth? |
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Definition
| They break the body down into simpler compounds which can turn into a type of fertilizer to help plants grow. |
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| How might the destruction of vegetation in a given area affect its ecosystem? (What would happen to the animals?) |
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Definition
- There would be no producers, or plants to give off oxygen
- Herbivores would have no food and would die which would cause all the trophic levels above it to die out
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