IB Biology Quiz Ecology Packets

Ecological niche

A specific role of a species within an ecosystem, including its use of resources, and relationships with other species.

Zones of tolerance

Abiotic variables determine the habitat of a species- where it lives in the ecosystem

Food supply

-Biotic element

-Adaptations are required to access food

Anoxic habitats

Habitats without oxygen (or very little amount of oxygen)

Anoxic habitats examples

-Swamps

-Water-logged soil

-Mud

-Intestinal tracts (guts) of animals

-Deep in lakes or seas

Obligate

Strict

Facultative

Flexible

Obligate aerobes

-Oxygen must be continuously available for aerobic respiration

-All plants and animals

-Micrococcus luteus (a bacterium)

Obligate anaerobes

-Conditions must be anoxic as oxygen kills or inhibits the organism

-Clostridium tetani (tetanus bacterium)

-Methanogenic archaea

Facultative anaerobes

-Oxygen is used if available but anoxic conditions are tolerated

-Escherichia coli (a gut bacterium)

-Saccharomyces (yeast)

Organisms that do photosynthesis

-Plants (mosses, ferns, conifers, and flowering plant)

-Eukaryotic algae (seaweeds and unicellular algae like Chlorella)

-Cyanobacteria

-Occurs only in eukaryotes and bacteria

Holozoic Nutrition

Whole pieces of food are swallowed and are then fully digested

Five stages of getting food in

1. ingestion

2. digestion

3. absorption

4. assimilation

5. egestion

Ingestion

Taking the food into the gut

Digestion

Breaking large food molecules into smaller molecules

Absorption

Transport of digested food across the plasma membrane of epidermis cells and thus into the blood and tissues of the body

Assimilation

Using digested foods to synthesize proteins and other macromolecules; this makes them part of the body's tissues

Egestion

Voiding undigested material from the end of the gut

Animals that digest food externally are not

holozoic

How do some organisms, like spiders, digest food externally

By injecting digestive enzymes into their prey and suck out the liquids produced

-They absorb the products of digestion in their gut and then assimilate them

Mixotrophic

Not exclusively autotrophic or heterotrophic

Facultative mixotroph

Can be entirely heterotrophic, entirely autotrophic, or use both modes

Example of facultative mixotrophs

Euglena gracilis

-Has chloroplast for photosynthesis but also can feed on detritus (dead organisms/waste) or smaller organisms

Obligate mixotrophs

Require both autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of nutrition to survive

Example of obligate mixotrophs

Protists

-Doesn't have own chloroplasts so it consumes algae to get kleptochloroplasts to conduct photosynthesis

Archaea

-Unicellular

-No nucleus

-Some adapted to extreme environments such as hot springs, salt lakes and soda lakes

Soda lakes

Highly alkaline environments of water

Anabolic

Building up/creating

Catabolic

Breaking down

Chemoheterotrophs and energy for ATP production

Oxidation of carbon compounds obtained from other organisms

Chemoheterotrophs and carbon compounds

Obtained from other organisms- not photosynthesis

Photoheterotrophs and energy for ATP production

Absorption of light using pigments (not chlorophyll in archaea)

Photoheterotrophs and carbon compounds

Obtained from other organisms- not photosynthesis

Chemoautotrophs and energy for ATP production

Oxidation of inorganic chemicals, for example Fe2+ ions oxidized to Fe3+ ions

Chemoautotrophs and carbon compounds

Synthesized from carbon dioxide by anabolic reactions

Saprotrophic

Decomposer

How do saprotrophic digest food

They secrete digestive enzymes into dead organic matter around them and digest it externally

-Secretion of proteases to digest proteins into amino acids

What happens if small, soluble products of digestion diffuse to the saprotroph's plasma membrane?

They are absorbed and used

Herbivore teeth

Large and flat to grind fibrous plant tissues

Carnivore teeth

Shaper canines and incisors than herbivores to tear meat

Omnivores

Mix of both types of teeth (e.g humans have flat molars at back of mouth and sharp canines near front)

Insect mouthparts are

Homologous (they come from same ancestral mouthparts)

Insects that feed on leaves

Jaw-like mouthparts with tough mandibles for biting off, chewing, and ingesting

Insects that feed on phloem sap

Sharp, tubular mouthparts for piercing leaves or stems

Insects that feed on nectar

Tubular mouthparts long enough to reach nectar

Varied adaptations plants have had for deterring herbivore attacks

-Sharp spines

-Stings to cause pain

-Synthesis and storage of secondary metabolites that are toxic to herbivores (sometimes in seeds)

Adaptation of trees for harvesting light

Dominant leading shoot, allowing rapid growth in height up to the forest canopy so other trees do not cast shade

Adaptation of lianas for harvesting light

Lianas climb other trees, using them for support, so they need less xylem tissue than free-standing trees

Adaptation of epiphytes for harvesting light

They grow on trunks and branches of trees so they receive higher light intensity than if they grew on the forest floor, but there is minimal soil for their roots

Adaptation of strangler epiphytes for harvesting light

They climb up the trunks of trees, encircle them and outgrow the tree's branches, shading out its leaves

Adaptation of shade-tolerant shrubs and herbs for harvesting light

They absorb the small amounts of light that reach the forest floor

Fundamental niche

The range of abiotic conditions tolerated together with the requirements for biotic factors

Realized niche

Actual extent of potential range that a species occupies

Anthropogenic

Human activities

Caribbean monk seal

-Native to Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic

-Hunted for oil

-Overfishing of coral reefs led to starvation

Giant moa

-Native to New Zealand

-Maori iwi (Polynesian settlers) hunted it to extinction for their meat

Silphium

-Grew in Libya

-Became extinct with arrival of ancient Greeks

-Was used for birth control agent

-Overgrazing and desertification also may have caused it

Endemic species

Species that are native to and found only within a limited area

Mixed dipterocarp forest (MDF) of southeast Asia

-MDF has extremely high diversity

-MDF was targeted for logging and land conversion to palm oil plantations

-Global warming is also another cause

Loss of the Aral Sea

-A major water management scheme diverted two major rivers that fed the Aral sea for irrigation for a desert

-Ultimately led to Aral Sea turning into desert

-Increase in salinity led to ecosystem collapse (endemic species of fish all were extinct)

Agriculture

Main cause of ecosystem loss

Urbanization

Building of homes, offices, factories, roads and railways

Overexploitation

-Gathering of fuel wood, hunting of animals, and fishing

-Loss of single keystone species leads to collapse of ecosystem

Mining and smelting

-Cause pollution and widespread damage

Water management

-Reservoirs created by building dams can flood natural ecosystems

-Extraction of water greatly reduces river flow

Drying of wetlands

Swamps and other wetlands are drained for conversion to agriculture

Leaching

-Washing of fertilizers into rivers and lakes causes eutrophication and algal blooms

-Oligotrophic ecosystems have been lost

Climate change

Anthropogenic climate change is most common cause of loss

Citizen Science

Data collected by individuals who have monitored a population or an ecosystem regularly over many years

Splitters and Lumpers

Opposing factions in any academic discipline that has to place individual examples into rigorously defined categories.

In situ conservation

-Conservation method in which species are in their natural habitats

-Nature reserves, national parks

Rewilding

The return of degraded ecosystems to as natural a state as possible

Ex situ conservation

-Preservation of species outside their natural habitats

-Botanic gardens, zoos

Storage of germ plasm

-Long term ex situ conservation

-Seeds of plants and animal germ plasm are stored in certain conditions

"E" and "D" in EDGE of Existence program

Evolutionary Distinct: does species have few or no close relatives, so it is a member of a very small clade?

"G" and "E" in EDGE of Existence program

Globally Endangered: is the species likely to become extinct because all remaining populations are threatened?