Ecology Populations Review
Define ecology
The study of the interaction of living organisms with each other in their physical environment.
What is a group of species or organisms called?
A population
What are a group of different populations called?
A community
What are a group of different communities called?
An ecosystem or biome
What are a group of ecosystems or biomes called?
The biosphere
List five abiotic and biotic factors of a community.
Biotic: Abiotic: Plants Soil Animals Water Bacteria Temperature Decomposers (fungi) Energy Algae
What is a habitat?
The place where a organism lives
What is a niche?
Where, what and when an organism lives. It is it’s role in the habitat.
The organisms that make nutrients are called________________.
Producers (autotrophs)
What is biomass?
The total of all the weight of all the organisms
Name an herbivore.
A cow
Name a carnivore
A lion
What is an omnivore?
An organism that eats both plants and other animals.
How is nitrogen released back into the environment after an organism dies?
It has to go through decomposition to be released
What is a food web?
A series of interacting organisms that feed off of each other.
List an herbivore
What are the levels of the food chain called?
Trophic levels
Which level of the food chain has the smallest biomass?
The top predator
Where on the food chain will the producers be found?
The bottom
What percent of energy is lost at each trophic level of a food chain?
10%
Water, carbon dioxide/oxygen, nitrogen are all examples of ________________ cycles
biogeochemical
Which cycle contains precipitation, transpiration, and evaporation
The water cycle
Why do humans and all organisms need nitrogen in their diets?
To make proteins
What is the source of coal, oil and natural gas?
From once living things: Coal: plants Oil: decomposed dinosaurs, marine animals Natural gas: underground microorganisms
What negative impact do humans have on the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle?
Clear cutting Burning
What has helped the human population go into an exponential growth?
Better health care Better nutrition Better living conditions
Explain what the carrying capacity of a population is.
Births equal deaths, the population stabilizes
What was the impact of the agricultural revolution on population?
It increased dramatically
What type of graph is this?
exponential
What is the correlation between this type of graph and limiting factors?
There aren’t many limiting factors preventing growth.
Which year has the greatest human population growth?