Study-guide
APES- Unit #3 Study Guide
Species Interactions and Community Ecology
1: What makes the Zebra Mussel an invasive species?
- Within 2 years, the zebra mussels invaded all 5 Great Lakes. Their populations grew exponentially and they caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to property.
2: Define the following species interactions:
* Competition: Both of the species are harmed.
* Predation, Parasitism, and Herbivory: one species getting benefits and the other are harmed.
* Mutualism: both species getting benefit.
3: What are some of the resources that species compete for in competition?
- Food, water, space, shelter, mates and sunlight.
4: Define Competitive Exclusion:
- One species completely excludes another species from using the resource.
5: What must happen for species to co-exist? -
- The species adjust to minimize competition by using only a part of the available resource.
6: What is the difference between fundamental and realized niche? Explain why a species wouldn’t fulfill its fundamental niche?
- Fundamental is when an individual fulfills its entire role by using all the available resources and realized is the portion of the fundamental niche that is actually filled.
7: Give an example of resource partitioning:
- Two species of birds that eat fruit from the same tree.
8: How does character displacement help with competition?
- Competing species evolve physical characteristics that reflect their reliance on the portion of the resource they use.
9: Explain how predator and prey populations depend on each other:
- The increasing of prey’s population increases predator’s populations, the increasing predator’s populations decrease prey’s populations. The decreasing prey’s population causes starvation of predators, the decreased predator’s populations increases prey populations
10: How does Natural Selection strengthen population “fitness”?
- The predators that better at hunting live longer, healthier lives, take better care of offspring. The prey develops elaborate defenses against being eaten by the predators.
11: Define the following:
* Cryptic Coloration: Camouflage is a set of methods of concealment that allows otherwise visible animals, military vehicles, or other objects to remain unnoticed by blending with their environment or by resembling something else. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly.
* Warning Coloration: A form of aposematism in which a prey organism has conspicuous colors that function in deterring predators from consuming it.
* Mimicry: The resemblance of one organism to another or to an object in its surroundings for concealment and protection from predators.
12: Define Parasitism: the relationship in which one organism depends on another for nourishment or
other benefit.
13: What is the idea of “coevolution”? The hosts and parasites become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations.
14: What are some plant adaptations that help to protect plants against herbivory?
- They protect by toxic or distasteful parts, thorns, spines, or irritating hairs and use other animals protect the plant.
15: Explain how pollination is a form of mutualism:
- Because both species helping each other to survive.
16: Define the following:
* Allelopathy: certain plants release harmful chemicals.
* Commensalism: a relationship in which one organism benefits, while the other remains unaffected.
* Facilitation: plants that create shade and leaf litter allow seedlings to grow.
17: What is a community of organisms?
- A community of organisms is made up of populations of different species that interact with each other in some way..
19: How is most energy lost in an ecosystem?
- Less and less energy is available in each successive trophic level; each level contains only 10% of the energy of the trophic level below it
20: Explain why this statement is true: “A human vegetarian’s ecological footprint is smaller than a meat-eater’s footprint.”
- Because vegetarian consume more energy from plant and veggies while the meat-eater consume less energy from meat.
21: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
- A food chain is a single line of organisms, where each is preceded by something that it consumes and is followed by something that consumes it. A food web branches out in all directions with arrows pointing from organisms to any number of organisms that consume it.
22: What is a keystone species and what happens to an ecosystem when it gets removed?
- It has a strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance; the removal of a keystone species has substantial ripple effects.
23: What is a trophic cascade? Why is it important?
- Trophic cascade occur when predators in a food web suppress the abundance and/or alter traits of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation. It is important for understanding the effects of removing top predators from food webs
24: Communities of organisms respond to disturbances differently. Explain resistance and resilience.
- Resistance is a community of organisms resists change and remains stable despite the disturbance. Resilience is a community changes in response to a disturbance, but later returns to its original state
25: What is an invasive species? How do we control a species that has become invasive? (Name several ways)
- Invasive species are non-native (exotic) organisms that spread widely and become dominant in a community. We control them by remove manually, toxic chemicals, drying them out, depriving of oxygen, stressing them
27: Biomes: Name the type of SOILS in the following:
*Temperate deciduous forests: Fertile soils
*Temperate rainforests: erosion and landslides
*Tropical rainforests: poor, acidic soils
*Tropical dry forest: Erosion-prone soil
* Desert: Saline soils
*Tundra: permanently frozen soil
*Boreal forest (Taiga): Poor and acidic soil
28: How do biomes change with altitude? Explain.
- Different places with different weather and altitude evolve the plants and vegetations .differently so they can survive and reprod.
18: Draw a trophic level pyramid with the following terms/definitions (examples) below:
Species Interactions and Community Ecology
1: What makes the Zebra Mussel an invasive species?
- Within 2 years, the zebra mussels invaded all 5 Great Lakes. Their populations grew exponentially and they caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to property.
2: Define the following species interactions:
* Competition: Both of the species are harmed.
* Predation, Parasitism, and Herbivory: one species getting benefits and the other are harmed.
* Mutualism: both species getting benefit.
3: What are some of the resources that species compete for in competition?
- Food, water, space, shelter, mates and sunlight.
4: Define Competitive Exclusion:
- One species completely excludes another species from using the resource.
5: What must happen for species to co-exist? -
- The species adjust to minimize competition by using only a part of the available resource.
6: What is the difference between fundamental and realized niche? Explain why a species wouldn’t fulfill its fundamental niche?
- Fundamental is when an individual fulfills its entire role by using all the available resources and realized is the portion of the fundamental niche that is actually filled.
7: Give an example of resource partitioning:
- Two species of birds that eat fruit from the same tree.
8: How does character displacement help with competition?
- Competing species evolve physical characteristics that reflect their reliance on the portion of the resource they use.
9: Explain how predator and prey populations depend on each other:
- The increasing of prey’s population increases predator’s populations, the increasing predator’s populations decrease prey’s populations. The decreasing prey’s population causes starvation of predators, the decreased predator’s populations increases prey populations
10: How does Natural Selection strengthen population “fitness”?
- The predators that better at hunting live longer, healthier lives, take better care of offspring. The prey develops elaborate defenses against being eaten by the predators.
11: Define the following:
* Cryptic Coloration: Camouflage is a set of methods of concealment that allows otherwise visible animals, military vehicles, or other objects to remain unnoticed by blending with their environment or by resembling something else. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly.
* Warning Coloration: A form of aposematism in which a prey organism has conspicuous colors that function in deterring predators from consuming it.
* Mimicry: The resemblance of one organism to another or to an object in its surroundings for concealment and protection from predators.
12: Define Parasitism: the relationship in which one organism depends on another for nourishment or
other benefit.
13: What is the idea of “coevolution”? The hosts and parasites become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations.
14: What are some plant adaptations that help to protect plants against herbivory?
- They protect by toxic or distasteful parts, thorns, spines, or irritating hairs and use other animals protect the plant.
15: Explain how pollination is a form of mutualism:
- Because both species helping each other to survive.
16: Define the following:
* Allelopathy: certain plants release harmful chemicals.
* Commensalism: a relationship in which one organism benefits, while the other remains unaffected.
* Facilitation: plants that create shade and leaf litter allow seedlings to grow.
17: What is a community of organisms?
- A community of organisms is made up of populations of different species that interact with each other in some way..
19: How is most energy lost in an ecosystem?
- Less and less energy is available in each successive trophic level; each level contains only 10% of the energy of the trophic level below it
20: Explain why this statement is true: “A human vegetarian’s ecological footprint is smaller than a meat-eater’s footprint.”
- Because vegetarian consume more energy from plant and veggies while the meat-eater consume less energy from meat.
21: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
- A food chain is a single line of organisms, where each is preceded by something that it consumes and is followed by something that consumes it. A food web branches out in all directions with arrows pointing from organisms to any number of organisms that consume it.
22: What is a keystone species and what happens to an ecosystem when it gets removed?
- It has a strong or wide-reaching impact far out of proportion to its abundance; the removal of a keystone species has substantial ripple effects.
23: What is a trophic cascade? Why is it important?
- Trophic cascade occur when predators in a food web suppress the abundance and/or alter traits of their prey, thereby releasing the next lower trophic level from predation. It is important for understanding the effects of removing top predators from food webs
24: Communities of organisms respond to disturbances differently. Explain resistance and resilience.
- Resistance is a community of organisms resists change and remains stable despite the disturbance. Resilience is a community changes in response to a disturbance, but later returns to its original state
25: What is an invasive species? How do we control a species that has become invasive? (Name several ways)
- Invasive species are non-native (exotic) organisms that spread widely and become dominant in a community. We control them by remove manually, toxic chemicals, drying them out, depriving of oxygen, stressing them
27: Biomes: Name the type of SOILS in the following:
*Temperate deciduous forests: Fertile soils
*Temperate rainforests: erosion and landslides
*Tropical rainforests: poor, acidic soils
*Tropical dry forest: Erosion-prone soil
* Desert: Saline soils
*Tundra: permanently frozen soil
*Boreal forest (Taiga): Poor and acidic soil
28: How do biomes change with altitude? Explain.
- Different places with different weather and altitude evolve the plants and vegetations .differently so they can survive and reprod.
18: Draw a trophic level pyramid with the following terms/definitions (examples) below: