Biology Module 10 (Study Guides Questions)
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When fruits or vegetables are imported into the U.S. from a foreign country, they are always very closely inspected for insects, even though the vast majority of insects are not really harmful. Why is the inspection done?
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If an insect not native to the U.S. were carried into the country through foreign fruits and vegetables, it could ruin the balance of the U.S ecosystem.
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Name the participants in the three new symbiotic relation ships that we learned in this module. Briefly describe the roles of each participant.
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The clownfish and the sea anemone form a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. The clownfish is protected by the sea anemone and it attracts food to the sea anemone. The goby and the blind shrimp have a mutualistic symbiotic relationship in which the goby protects the blind shrimp, and the blind shrimp provides a home for the goby. Finally, the Oriental sweetlips and blue-streak wrasse form a mutualistic symbiotic relationship win which the sweetlips gets it teeth cleaned by the wrasse and the wrasse gets food from the sweetlips' teeth.
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What fundamental assumption of macroevolution does mutualism seem to contradict?
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Mutualism seems to contradict the idea that organisms always battle for survival.
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In the water cycle of an ocean shore ecosystem, more water evaporates from the ocean than falls back into the ocean in the form of rain. Why doesn't the ocean lose water?
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The ocean does not lose water because the land gets the excess water, and that excess water flows back into the ocean via surface runoff.
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What does the water cycle accomplish besides balancing the water in an ecosystem?
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It transports nutrients.
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What is the possible consequence if deforestation occurs in a watershed?
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If too many trees and plants are removed from a watershed, too many nutrients will flow into the river or stream, throwing off the ecosystem.
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What is the principal means by which oxygen is taken from the air? What is the principal means by which it is restored to the air?
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Oxygen is taken from the air principally by respiration and is restored principally by photosynthesis.
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Name the other ways that oxygen is removed from the air.
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Oxygen is also removed from the air by fire, ozone formation, and the rusting of metals and minerals.
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Name the other ways that oxygen is replenished in the air.
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Oxygen is also restored by ozone destruction and water vapor destruction.
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Name the ways in which carbon dioxide is removed from the air.
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Carbon dioxide leaves the air by photosynthesis and by dissolving in the ocean.
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Name the ways in which carbon dioxide is replenished in the air.
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Carbon dioxide enters the air via decomposition, fossil fuel burning, fire, and respiration.
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What human activity worries those who think that global warming is a problem?
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Fuel burning.
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Is human-produced global warming occurring now?
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No.
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What is nitrogen fixation? What type of organisms perform it?
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Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen gas from the atmosphere is converted into nitrogen-containing molecules that are useful to most of organisms in creation. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria perform it.
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What two ways does the nitrogen in organisms get put back into the environment?
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Organisms emit some nitrogen in their wastes, and the rest is turned back into useful forms of nitrogen by the decomposers that feed on their decaying remains.
