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🌿 STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS: CHAPTERS 41–42

1. How does competition contribute to:

   • Competitive exclusion:

   • Resource partitioning?

   • Character displacement?

2. How does predation contribute to:

   • Changes in coloration (aposematic and cryptic)?

   • Evolution of mimicry (Batesian and Müllerian)?

3. Provide one example each of mutualism and parasitism.

   • How does each example fit its definition?

4. Why are ecologists unsettled about whether any interactions are truly commensal?

5. What are foundation species and keystone species? Provide an example of each and explain why it fits.

6. What is biodiversity? How is it measured?

7. How do you calculate the Shannon Diversity Index? What does it tell you about a community?

8. How are food chains and food webs different? How do they each represent trophic structure?

9. How do keystone species and energetic considerations affect the trophic structure of ecosystems? Provide an example of each.

10. Why is there less energy available at higher trophic levels?

11. What is a disturbance? How does it contribute to changes in community structure?

12. What’s the difference between primary and secondary succession? Give an example of each.

13. How do climate, area, and island-like isolation shape the structure of a community?

14. What does island biogeography theory predict about species richness? How do island size and distance affect biodiversity?

15. What regions on Earth have the highest net primary productivity (NPP) and why?

16. What is the difference between Gross Primary Production (GPP) and Net Primary Production (NPP)? What factors affect each?

17. How is energy flow in ecosystems different from the cycling of matter?

18. Why is nitrogen often a limiting nutrient, despite being abundant in the atmosphere?

19. How do community interactions (like mutualism, predation, competition) contribute to emergent properties in ecosystems?

20. How do energetic and environmental factors influence both trophic structure and species diversity in a community?

21. How do you calculate the amount of energy available at a specific trophic level? (Think 10% rule)

22. How does island biogeography theory apply to trophic structure and biodiversity?

23. How do you calculate GPP and NPP using biomass or energy data?

24. How does each biogeochemical cycle (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, water) work and how do they differ?

📘 VOCABULARY DEFINITIONS (For Quick Reference)

• Community: A group of populations of different species living and interacting in the same area.

• Interspecific interactions: Relationships between species in a community (e.g., competition, predation, mutualism).

• Competition: Interaction where species vie for the same limited resource.

• Competitive exclusion: One species outcompetes another, leading to local extinction.

• Ecological niche: The role and space an organism fills in its environment.

• Resource partitioning: Dividing resources to reduce competition.

• Character displacement: Species evolve differences where they overlap.

• Exploitation: One species benefits while the other is harmed (e.g., predation, parasitism).

• Cryptic coloration: Camouflage to avoid detection by predators.

• Aposematic coloration: Bright colors that warn predators of toxicity.

• Batesian mimicry: A harmless species mimics a harmful one.

• Müllerian mimicry: Two harmful species evolve to look alike.

• Parasitism: One organism benefits at the expense of another.

• Mutualism: Both species benefit.

• Commensalism: One benefits, the other is unaffected.

• Species diversity: Variety of species in a community.

• Relative abundance: Proportion of each species in a community.

• Shannon diversity index: A calculation of species diversity based on richness and evenness.

• Biomass: Total mass of organisms in a given area.

• Introduced species: Non-native species brought to a new habitat.

• Trophic structure: Feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

• Trophic level: Position in a food chain/web.

• Foundation species: Species that have large effects due to high abundance or biomass.

• Keystone species: Species that have large effects despite low abundance.

• Ecosystem engineers: Species that alter the environment (e.g., beavers).

• Bottom-up model: Ecosystem control originates from producers/nutrients.

• Top-down model: Predators control structure by limiting herbivores.

• Disturbance: Event that changes a community (e.g., fire, storm).

• Nonequilibrium model: Communities are constantly changing due to disturbances.

• Intermediate disturbance hypothesis: Moderate disturbances foster greatest diversity.

• Ecological succession: Gradual change in species composition over time.

• Primary succession: Occurs on new surfaces with no soil (e.g., lava).

• Secondary succession: Occurs in disturbed areas with soil (e.g., after fire).

• Evapotranspiration: Water loss via evaporation and plant transpiration.

• Species-area curve: Larger areas have more species.

• Zoonotic pathogens: Diseases transferred from animals to humans.

• Primary producers: Organisms that produce biomass from sunlight or chemicals.

• Primary consumers: Herbivores that eat producers.

• Secondary consumers: Carnivores that eat herbivores.

• Tertiary consumers: Carnivores that eat other carnivores.

• Detritivores: Organisms that consume dead matter.

• Decomposers: Break down dead material and recycle nutrients.

• Detritus: Nonliving organic material (e.g., dead organisms).

• Primary production: Amount of light energy converted to chemical energy.

• Gross primary production (GPP): Total primary production.

• Net primary production (NPP): GPP minus energy used by producers (R).

• Net ecosystem production (NEP): Total biomass accumulation by the whole ecosystem.

• Limiting nutrient: The scarcest nutrient that limits growth.

• Eutrophication: Excess nutrients cause algae blooms and oxygen depletion.

• Secondary production: Energy in consumers' food converted to new biomass.

• Production efficiency: % of food energy not lost to respiration.

• Trophic efficiency: % of energy transferred between trophic levels (≈10%).

• Biogeochemical cycles: Movement of matter through biotic and abiotic systems.

• Bioremediation: Using organisms to detoxify polluted environments.

• Conservation biology: Study of preserving biodiversity.

• Endangered species: At risk of extinction.

• Threatened species: Likely to become endangered.

• Ecosystem services: Benefits humans gain from ecosystems.

• Effective population size: Number contributing to next generation.

• Movement corridor: Habitat strip connecting isolated populations.

• Biodiversity hotspot: Area with high species richness and threat.

• Zoned reserve: Region with protected core and sustainable buffer zones.

• Critical load: Max nutrient level ecosystems can absorb without harm.

• Biological magnification: Toxins increase in concentration at higher trophic levels.

• Climate change: Long-term alteration of Earth's climate.

• Ecological footprint: Human demand on natural resources.

• Sustainability: Using resources without depleting them for future generations.

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