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the interactions between communities (all species of organisms in a defined area) with their abiotic environment - focus on NRG and nutrient transfer/flux |
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the temperature at which the air becomes saturated with water |
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A thermocline (sometimes metalimnion) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, such as an ocean or lake, or air, such as an atmosphere), in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below |
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the amount of time it takes something to be completely replaced in H2O cycle turnover would be the amount of time necessary for a body of water to renew it's self |
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cause based on historical or evolutionary perspective: 'why' does this occur instead of 'how' |
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an area demarcated by specific foliage - affected by soil and climmate (e.g. tropical rainforest, tundra, etc.) |
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Deduction involves hypothesis testing |
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At the equator the sun is directly overhead twice a year |
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About half the oceans volume is sufficiently lit to support photosynthesis |
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Ocean surface temperature varies a lot from place to place, salinity varies little |
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Zonation on sky islands is caused by the rain shadow effect |
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Adiabatic cooling is caused by pressure change on a gas |
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A hadley cell produces surface winds that move toward the equator |
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Testing a theory by gathering more and more examples is induction |
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Merriam's life zones are arrayed along a latitudinal gradient |
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Scientists are able to reconstruct past climate by examining pollen in lake sediments |
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A tentative answer to a causative question is called |
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Where besides the Mediterranean sea do you find Mediterranean biomes |
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Two elements of climate included in climate diagrams: |
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What info. not in a climate diagram might explain the kind of vegetation present in a particular location? |
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How does sunlight define 'tropics'? |
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tropics are the only places on earth where the sun is (at some point) directly overhead |
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In the pacific salmon example what was the specific pattern scientists were trying to link with process? |
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What vegetation type dominates savannahs? |
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What soil horizon has the most plant roots and why? |
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B - relatively deep and includes humus and nutrient runoff from layers O and A |
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Age specific schedule of survival and repoduction |
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Where to find Mediterranean biome in USA? |
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growth form described by dN/dt=rN(1-N/K) |
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Intrinsic (inherent) rate of natural increase (r) |
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Type of scientific reasoning that involves the formulation of hypotheses |
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level of biological organization at which natural selection operates |
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The maximum population size the environment can support (k) |
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Temperature at maximum density of water |
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One word that best describes the difference between an environmental "condition" and "resource" |
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Type of population limitation in which percent mortality does not change with population size |
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Process since 1750 where death rate, then birth rate declined in humans |
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Dispersion patterns of desert shrubs intensely competing for soil moisture |
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Dispersion pattern of honeybees |
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Mechanism in addition to natality that can increase population size |
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Rain shadow effect causes zonation in plant communities on sky islands |
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Increasing pressure on gas will heat it |
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A life table can be used to determine K |
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Growth rate in blowfly populations is density dependent |
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In chickens, young individuals avoid severe fighting and accept lower status for the good of the species |
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According to the mathematical model, if N>K, then dN/dt is 0 |
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K is a constant that does not vary |
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A local population with no immigration and NRR<1 will eventually become extinct |
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A hadley cell produces surface winds that move away from the equator |
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Natural selection involved differential reproduction among populations |
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not shareable requirement for life forms, something to compete over such as fruit or habitat space |
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competition for resources that are not clumped, more 1st come 1st served instead of contest |
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the area that a particular population or individual uses; frequents - if an animal is territorial it will defend this place |
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a group of individuals of the same species occupying an established space |
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the point at which water in the form of vapor (gas) turns into liquid - temp when it will rain |
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the thin layer of water (when it is vertically startified) that embodies a significant change in temperature |
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the process of scientific reasoning that goes from general to specific |
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the transfer of heat through physical contact between two biotic/abiotic organisms and/or factors |
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an organism who's body temperature varies with the temperature of it's environment |
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organisms require certain resources to survive, the first of these resources to run out is the limiting factor for the species |
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what do population, affluence, and technology have to do with human ecology? |
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Human Impact = Population*Influence*technology |
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A +,0 interspecific interaction |
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Type of competition used when chemical warfare is used between two species |
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the name of the broadest niche a species can occupy |
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The phenomenon where a population narrows it's use of resources in the presence of a competitor |
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the return to 'normal' conditions when a predator is removed |
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area used habitually by an organism and defended against intruding competitors |
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under what experimental conditions could two competing paramecium species coexist in a lab (according to Gause) |
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in competition equations, what are alpha and beta called? |
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Does the negative effect on species 1 increase or decrease as N2 increases? |
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In ecological time, is competition more likely to increase or decrease the number of species in the community? |
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is addition of a predator to a community of several competing species likely to increase or decrease the number of competitors present? |
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general term for predator with large influence on community structure |
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in paynes study of intertidal organisms what is the name of the keystone predator he identifies? |
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Type of response exhibited by a predator that consumes more prey items as prey numbers rise |
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why does a functional predatory response eventually level off? |
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type of predator response that involves an increase in the predator population |
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One word that best describes the difference between an environmental condition and a resource |
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The population size of the environment can continually support K |
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type of interspecific competition occuring directly through the resource |
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Intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) |
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general name for a competitor like pin cherry that moves from place to place and persists even though losing in competition |
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In ecological time, is competition more likely to increase or decrease species richness? |
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Is removal of a predator from a community of several competing species likely to increase or decrease species richness? |
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Give one example of a factor that may limit population growth in a density independent way |
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give one example of a factor that may limit population growth in a density dependent way. |
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type of "response" exhibited by an individual predator that consumes fewer prey as prey numbers increase |
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general term for a predator that has a large effect on community structure |
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why is black pepper a bad thing for 'tree huggers' but vanilla is ok? |
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pepper - from converted forest vanilla - intact forest |
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what is the major difference in how nutrients are distributed in tropical rainforests and in New England forests? |
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Tropical Rainforest - nutrients in plants, poor soil New England forests - nutrients in soils |
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In Dr. Pearsons Wilcox Playa studies, why was it important to determine if Tiger Beetles are resource limited? |
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objective : to assess competition if not resource limited, then no competition |
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accelerated cation losses from cut watersheds can be caused by acidification of ion exchanage sites. At Hubbard Brook, what process generated the acid? |
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Name one substance of which ion exchange particles are composed. |
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What effect did deforestation have on precipitation inputs? |
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What is the main drawback of clear-cutting New England forests to increase the yield of drinking water to major cities? |
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In New England, how do nutrients enter forested watersheds? |
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How do nutrients leave forested watersheds in New England? |
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At steady state, what becomes of rainwater that does not leave the system as evapotranspiration? |
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After cutting, what ion showed the most dramatic increase in concentration in stream water? |
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in ecosystems, what type of interaction involves a very small amount of energy or matter compared to it's effect? |
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What is defined as a "surface of relative discontinuity of interaction"? |
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At each step in the nutrient cycle, some materials are destroyed. |
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At each step in the nutrient cycle, some materials are destroyed. |
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At Hubbard Brook, nitrification was higher before the forest was cut then after. |
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Energy cycles through systems and can be used many times to do work. |
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At Hubbard Brook,forest cutting resulted in 4 fold increase in water output. |
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Ecosystem boundaries are closed to material fluxes |
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Natural selection involves differential reproduction among individuals. |
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In nature, carrying capacity is a constant for any given population |
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Tiger Beetles are carnivorous |
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Some tiger beetles have chemicals used in competition |
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Forest foliage complexity had a significant effect on tropical bird species richness |
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Island biogeography principles helped explain the bird diversity in tropical South America |
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ecological equivalency is very common among tropical birds |
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