B4.2 ecological niches

What are adaptations of predators to find and kill prey?

Sharp claws/talons, powerful jaws and teeth, speed and agility, camouflage, chemical adaptations (like venom), hunting in packs, ambush tactics.

What adaptations do prey have to avoid predators?

Armor or protective coverings, swiftness, camouflage, mimicry, chemical adaptations (such as secreting toxins through the skin), group travel, swarms, alarm calls, nocturnality/diurnality.

What is an ecological niche?

It describes the role of an organism, including factors that affect growth, survival, reproduction, nutrition, and interactions.

What distinguishes obligate anaerobes from facultative anaerobes?

Obligate anaerobes cannot survive in oxygen, while facultative anaerobes can survive with or without oxygen.

Define photosynthesis as a mode of nutrition.

Photosynthesis is the production of organic compounds using light energy by plants, algae, and some prokaryotes.

What is holozoic nutrition in animals?

A form of heterotrophic nutrition where an organism ingests food, digests it internally, and assimilates the nutrients.

How do mixotrophs obtain nutrients?

They can perform photosynthesis like autotrophs or feed on other organisms like heterotrophs.

What is saprotrophic nutrition?

It is the process where heterotrophs obtain nutrients through external digestion of food.

Archaea

Archaea are unicellular organisms (generally prokaryotes) that inhabit various environments and are metabolically diverse but all produce ATP.

What can the dentition of members of the Hominidae family reveal about their diet?

It provides clues to their diet based on the structure of their teeth, with certain shapes indicating herbivorous or omnivorous diets.

How do plants resist herbivory?

Through physical structures like thorns and tough leaves, and by producing chemicals that deter consumption.

What is the difference between a fundamental niche and a realized niche?

The fundamental niche is the potential role an organism could occupy without competition, while the realized niche is the actual role due to competition.

What does competitive exclusion state?

Two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist in the same niche; the better adapted one will outcompete the other, excluding it completely or isolating it to one part of the niche

What are some types of metabolism found in archaea?

• phototrophs, which use light energy to produce ATP

• chemolitotrophs, which obtain energy from inorganic compounds

• organotrophs, which consume organic material

What are autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition?

Autotrophic nutrition is the process by which organisms produce their own food using light or chemical energy, while heterotrophic nutrition involves obtaining food by consuming other organisms.

Adaptations of plants for harvesting light

• Trees that reach the canopy: tall, broad leaves and crown structure

• Lianas (woody vines): climbing mechanisms up trunks, rapid growth of flexible and this stems and broad leaves

• Epiphytes: grow on canopy trees, broad flat leaves and flexible growth

• Strangler epiphytes

• Shade tolerant shrubs/herbs on forest floor: branching, broad leaves, high concentration of chlorophyll