Ecology: ch3 Bio – Flashcards
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The branch of bio dealing eith interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment is called
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Ecology
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Which of the following descriptions about the organization of an ecosystem is correct?
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Species make up populations, which make up communities
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Which of the following is NOT a basic method used by ecologists to study the living world?
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Animal training
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Which ecological inquiry method is an ecologist using when he or she sets up a greenhouse and measures the effects of different levels of carbon dioxide on an endangered plant species
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Experimenting
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Plants are?
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Primary producers
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How do most primary producers make their own food?
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By using light energy to make carbohydrates
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Compared to land, the open oceans
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Are nutrient poor environments
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In what ways are herbivores and carnivores alike?
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They both obtain energy by consuming other organisms
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A model of the complex feeding interactions among organisms in a community from producers to decomposers is called a
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Food web
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What is the term for each step in the transfer of energy and matter within a food web?
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Tropic level
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A bird stalks, kills, and then eats an insect. What 2 ecological terms describes the bird?
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Carnivore and consumer
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Only 10% of the energy stored in an organism can be passed on to the next tropic level. Of the remaining energy, some is used for the organisms life processes
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Is eliminated as heat
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The average conditions of the atmosphere in a particular area are referred to as the areas
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Climate
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How does an areas weather differ from the areas climate
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Weather is the areas day to day conditions and climate is the areas average conditions
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All of the following factors contribute to Earths climate except
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Longitude
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The greenhouse effect is the
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A natural phenomenon that maintains earths temperature range
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Earth has three main climate zones because of the differences in latitude and thus
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Distribution of sunlight
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Why is an organisms niche like a persons occupation?
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An organism makes money by working in its niche
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An organisms niche is
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The range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way it obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce
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Several species of warblers can live in the same spruce tree ONLY because they
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Have different habitats within the tree
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Polar bears live in the attic. The Arctic is their
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Habitat
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What would happen if the population of the bird species in the ecosystem were to suddenly decrease
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The fish would occupy the birds niche
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The wolf pack hunts kills and feeds on a moose. In this interaction the wolves are the
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Predators
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A symbiotic relationship in which one organism is harmed and the other benefits is
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Parasitism
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What is one difference between primary and secondary succession?
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Secondary succession begins on soil and primary succession begins on newly exposed surfaces
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An example of a human caused disturbance is
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Forest clearing
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Which landforms are not classified into a major biome?
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Mountain ranges
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The nutrient availability of aquatic ecosystems is the
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Amount of nitrogen, oxygen, and other elements dissolved in the water
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The pattern of spacing between individuals across the range of a population is its
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Distribution
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A small farming community in Texas covers 14 square km. There are 420 individuals who live within the town limits. What is the population density of this community?
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30 individuals
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There are 150 Saguaro cactus plants per square lm in a 10 square I'm area in Arizona desert. To which population characteristic does this info refer?
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Population density
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Which of the following could describe a population that is decreasing in size
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The death rate is becoming higher than the birthrate
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The various growth phases through which most populations go are represented on
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A logistic growth curve
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As resources in a population become less available, the population
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Reaches carrying capacity
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Sea otters love in the ocean. Which of the following is NOT likely to be a limiting factor on the sea otter population?
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Drought
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Which will reduce competition within a species population?
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Fewer individuals
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Which of the following is a density independent limiting factor?
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Predator - prey relationship
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An ecologist who is studying a group of ecosystems that have similar climates and are home to similar organisms is studying a
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Biome
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Ecologists can make _ using ecological models
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Predictions
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In an ecological pyramid, the biomass of living things _ at each higher level
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Decrease
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_ is the average, year after year conditions of temp and precipitation in a particular region
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Climate
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Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor trap _ energy
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Heat
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_ species are the first species to colonize barren areas after a disturbance
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Pioneer
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As a _ travels downhill from its origin toward flatter areas, the water flow slows.
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Stream
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The zones of the marine ecosystem are determined by distance from shore and _
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Depth
