BIOL211 Quiz Study Guide 4 Flashcards

A complete set of practice questions and answers covering ecology, population dynamics, community interactions, and conservation biology as presented in the BIOL211 quiz study guide.

What is the definition of an ecosystem?

An ecosystem consists of biotic in the community and the abiotic factors that they interact with.

What is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment?

Ecology

According to the lecture notes, what four concepts does the concept of an ecosystem imply?

Interactions between abiotic and biotic components, energy flow, matter recycling, and size variation.

What does organismal ecology study?

How an organism’s structure, physiology, and (for animals) behavior meet environmental challenges.

What is the focus of population ecology?

Factors affecting how many individuals of a species live in an area.

Which subfield of ecology deals with the whole array of interacting species in a community?

Community ecology

What does ecosystem ecology emphasize?

Energy flow and chemical cycling among the various biotic and abiotic components.

What is the study of arrays of ecosystems and how they are arranged in a geographic region?

Landscape ecology

What does global ecology examine?

The influence of energy and materials on organisms across the biosphere.

What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors?

Biotic factors are or are derived from living things, while abiotic factors are not associated with living things.

List the five abiotic factors mentioned in the notes.

Temperature, water, sunlight, soil, and wind.

What are the four major components of climate?

Temperature, sunlight, precipitation, and wind.

How do climate and weather differ?

Climate refers to long term patterns of temperature and moisture, while weather refers to short term variations.

What are microclimates?

Highly localized areas where temperature and moisture do not vary.

What are the four biogeochemical cycles of importance?

Water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

What are the five commonalities of ecosystems?

Energy, nutrients, decomposition, climates, and production.

Contrast how energy and chemicals move through an ecosystem.

Energy is processed through an ecosystem, while chemicals are cycled through an ecosystem.

What are trophic levels?

Levels to which energy moves from one to another in an ecosystem.

In what order does energy typically move through food chain levels?

From producers to primary to secondary to tertiary (the apex predator).

According to the transcript, what are the two pigments of plants that absorb energy from the sun?

Chlorophyll and leaves

Contrast gross primary production and net primary production.

Gross primary is the total production of energy, while net primary is the energy left over after respiration by plants.

What is crop biomass?

The total biomass of photosynthetic autotrophs at any one time.

Define secondary production.

The amount of new biomass produced as food.

What is production efficiency?

The fraction of energy that is stored and food and not used for respiration.

What is evapotranspiration?

The movement of water from the plants and land surface to the air.

What is a limiting nutrient?

An element that must be added for production to increase in an area.

What is a population?

A group of individuals of the same species and in the same place.

What are the four major characteristics of a population?

Size, density, dispersion, and demographics.

What factors dictate the range of a population?

Environment, temperature, precipitation, and food; it changes in response to predators and competition.

What is a metapopulation?

A spatially broad distribution of a single species connected by genetic exchange at the margins where sub-population ranges may or may not overlap.

Contrast density and dispersion.

Density is the number of individuals per unit area or volume, while dispersion is the pattern of spacing among individuals within the boundaries of the population.

In a source-sink metapopulation, what is the difference between sources and sinks?

Populations in better areas are the sources, while populations in poorer areas are sinks.

What are the three types of spacing/dispersion?

Clumped, uniform, and random.

Identify the three general types of dispersal mechanisms in plants.

Wind, water, and animals.

Describe the characteristics of random, uniform, and clumped spacing.

In random spacing individuals do not interact strongly; uniform spacing involves behavioral interactions and resource competition; clumped spacing involves uneven distribution of resources and is common in nature.

What four factors determine population density?

Births and immigration (add to population); deaths and emigration (subtract from population).

What is the quantitative study of populations called?

Demography

What is generation time?

The average interval between birth of an individual and birth of its offspring.

What is a cohort?

A group of individuals of the same age.

What are life tables?

Tables that show the probability of survival and reproduction through a cohort’s life.

Describe the three types of survivorship curves.

Type 1 has low death rates during early/middle life; Type 2 death rate is constant; Type 3 has high death rates for the young.

Contrast semelparity and iteroparity.

Semelparity (big-bang reproduction) involves reproducing once and dying; iteroparity involves repeated reproduction.

Describe the exponential growth model.

It applies to populations with no growth limits and results in a J-shaped curve.

What is carrying capacity ($K$)?

The maximum population size the environment can support.

Define zero population growth.

Occurs when birth rates equal death rates.

Describe the logistic growth model.

It applies to populations as they reach $K$ and produces an S-shaped curve.

Contrast K-selected and R-selected populations.

In K-selected populations, carrying capacity controls number of species; in R-selected populations, individuals with higher reproductive rates are selected for.

What is the difference between density dependent and density independent factors?

Density dependent factors increase with population size; density independent factors are unrelated to population size.

What is an age pyramid?

A bar graph displaying the number of people in each age category.

What is a community?

An assemblage of populations of various species living close enough for potential interaction.

Define the interaction types: predation, herbivory, and parasitism.

Predation is a (+/–) interaction where a predator eats prey; herbivory is a (+/–) interaction where an herbivore eats plants/alga; parasitism is a (+/–) interaction where a parasite harms a host for nourishment.

According to the guide, identify the interactions for commensalism and the (+/0) interaction.

Commensalism is listed as a (+/+) interaction benefiting both species; the unnamed (+/0) interaction is one where one species benefits and the other is unaffected.

What is an ecological niche?

The total of all the ways an organism uses the resources of its environment.

Contrast fundamental niche and realized niche.

Fundamental niche is the entire niche a species is capable of using; realized niche is the actual set of environmental conditions in which the species establishes a stable population.

Identify the principle of competitive exclusion.

No two species can occupy the same niche.

What is resource partitioning?

When a niche is subdivided to avoid direct competition.

What is character displacement?

When differences in morphology become evident between sympatric species.

Contrast Batesian and Mullerian mimicry.

Batesian mimicry is when mimics look like distasteful species; Mullerian mimicry is when several unrelated but poisonous species come to resemble one another.

What is a keystone species?

A species whose effects on community composition are greater than expected based on abundance.

Contrast dominant and invasive species.

Dominant species are most abundant or have highest biomass; invasive species are introduced by humans and often lack predators or disease.

What are ecosystem engineers (foundation species)?

Species that cause physical changes in the environment that affect community structure.

Contrast primary and secondary ecological succession.

Primary succession occurs where no soil exists; secondary succession begins in an area where soil remains after a disturbance.

What is habitat fragmentation?

The breaking up of habitats into smaller patches.

Define channelization.

Changing a stream or river to conform to human needs, making it stronger and deeper to increase water flow.

List the six consequences of deforestation mentioned in the notes.

No biodiversity, soil erosion, altered water cycle, more $CO_2$, climate change, and habitat loss.

What are the effects of dams?

To prevent flooding and prevent altered channels.

Contrast point source and non-point source chemicals.

These are the two types of sources for chemicals entering the environment.

What is nutrient load?

The amount of nutrient that plants can absorb.

What are two effects of acid rain?

Soil acidification and water acidification.

What is the most important gas contributing to global warming?

$$CO_2$$

Identify the three components of biodiversity.

Genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity.

What is a wildlife corridor?

A narrow strip of quality habitat connecting otherwise isolated patches.

Define a biodiversity hotspot.

A relatively small area with a great concentration of endemic species.

Contrast bioremediation and augmentation.

Bioremediation is the use of living organisms to detoxify ecosystems; both are key strategies in restoration ecology.

What is sustainable development?

Development that meets the needs of people today without limiting the ability of future generations to meet their needs.