Friday, September 7, 2007

1st Test SG

1) Know the different levels of a food/energy pyramid. Which types of organisms are typically found at each level and what do they eat.

- Primary Consumer (plants) & Primary (herbivores),
Secondary (carnivores), Tertiary, and Quaternary Consumer.


2) Know the definition/functions of producers, consumers and decomposers.

- Producers: Autotrophs, converts inorganic cmpds to organic cmpds. Makes own food.
- Consumers: Heterotrophs, can’t make own food. Eats other organisms to get energy.
- Decomposers: Break down complex organic cmpds, while “cleaning” the waste.

3) Know which levels of food web/energy pyramids they occupy and examples of each in the terrestrial and aquatic biomes.


- Terrestrial: Grass è Grasshopper è Snake è Eagle è Fungi
- Aquatic: Phytoplankton è Zooplankton è Lantern fish è Squid

4) Know how to interpret food chains and webs, know there are similar trophic levels within a web.

- Trophic levels are the feeding position in a food web.

5) Know why there are limitations to the length of food chains/webs.

- B/C there is a loss of energy b/t trophic levels, there can only be so many trophic levels to sustain enough energy.

6) Know what biological magnification is and how/why it occurs, which levels of the food chain are most “toxic” if ingested. How does this contamination affect their young.

- A cumulative increase in the concentration of a persistent particle in successively higher levels of the food chain.

7) Know what a niche is and why they exist in nature.

- Niche : The sum total of an organism‘s utilization of the biotic and abiotic resources in its environment.
- When resources are limited, coexisting species can resource partion to use different niches available in the environment.

8) Know the difference b/t DD & DI

- DD: have an increased effect on population as population density increases. Neg. feedback.
- DI : unrelated to population density.

9) Know the diff. biomes: aquatic & terrestrial.

- T: Grasslands, Desert, Savanna, Tropical Forest, Temperate Grasslands, Tundra, Polar Regions, Temperate Deciduous Forests, Coniferous Forest.

- A: Coral Reef, Lake, Estatuary, River, Wetland

10) What are the defining abiotic and biotic char.

- Abiotic: Climate(S,W, W, T), Rocks & Soil, and Periodic Disturbances.

- Biotic: Community è Population è Organism è Regulators or Conformers.

11) Know the differences/similarities b/t the terms biomass, primary productivity, gross, and net primary productivity.

- Biomass: A organic material which contains stored energy from the sun, which is renewable.
- PP: the rate at which light energy is converted by autotrophs.
- GPP: Total Primary Productivity of an ecosystem.
- NPP: GPP minus the energy used by the producers for cellular respiration.

12) Which biotic factors contribute to the levels of an energy pyramid.

- Diversity of Community & Population

13) Know the different forms of camouflage warning coloration/mimicry - purpose and specific examples.

- Aposematic Coloration : Bright-colored, Bee
- Bastesian Mimicry : Copycat, Monarch B-fly
- Cryptic Coloration : Blender, walking stick
- Mullerian mimicry : Mutual, Viceroy Butterfly
14) Know the different types of animal behavior and specific examples of each.

- Muscular: Predator chasing prey.
- Non-M: Animal secreting a phermone to attract.

15) Know how to interpret the 3 diff. forms of human demographics (stable, unstable, etc.)
- Calculate %’s of individual or both sexes at diff. ages.
- Calculate ratios of “ “ “
- How do birth and death rates affect these graphs
- How can you determine the trends of infant mortality and life expectancy from these graphs.

16) Know the arrangement of the different levels of biotic and abiotic factors from smallest to greatest, & vice-versa

17)Know that different forms of dispersion and which one is most common.

- All the abiotic factors (PD, RS, C) but esp. Climate.

18) Know the difference b/t K- and R-selected species, also know specific examples of animals which follow these patterns.

- K: equilibrial populations, Ex. Humans
- R: Opportunistic population, Ex. Mice

19)Know the 3 types of survivorship curves and examples of species for each curve.

- I: Mortality occurs in elders (Ex. Humans)
- II: Constant Mortality (Ex. Squirrels)
- III: Mortality occurs in early life (Ex. Oysters)

- Know that for the past 200 years that human population has experienced exponential growth

20) Know what kinds of social behaviors have lead to this growth.

- Industrial Revolution

21) Know the difference b/t the -ism’s.

- Predation: +/-
- Competition: 0/-
- Commensalism: +/0
- Symbiosis: +/+
- Parsitism: +/-

22) Know the difference b/t the term -troph’s

Friday, August 31, 2007

SHW - Pg. 15

22. What happens in biological magnification?
- A trophic process in which retained substances become more concentrated with each link in the food chain.

23. What would be some of the properties of molecules that could be candidates for biological magnification?
- toxic materials, including synthetics which become even more toxic as they are converted to more toxic products by reaction with other substances or by the metabolism of microorganism.

24. What are possible reasons for global warming call the green house effect?
- Burning fossil fuels and wood; Increased productivity by vegetation is one consequence of increasing Carbon-dioxide levels; Rising atmospheric CO-2 levels may have an impact on Earth’s heat budget.

25. Is depletion of the ozone layer a possible reason for global warming?
- Yes, b/c the result of a reduction in the ozone layer may be increased levels of UV radiation that reach the surface of the Earth.


26. What is the cause for the depletion of the ozone layer? Why is it a problem?
- The destruction of ozone probably results from the accumulation of CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons—chemicals used in refrigeration, as propellant in aerosol cans, and for certain manufacturing processes. The result of a reduction in the ozone layer may be increased levels of UV radiation that reach the surface of the Earth.

27. List several additional disruptive impacts humans have had on the environment.
- Endangered species, water contamination, and decreasing forests.

SHW - Pg. 14

17. ID the role of each of the following in the nitrogen cycle:
a. Nitrogen fixation: The assimilation of atmospheric nitrogen by certain prokaryotes into nitrogenous compounds that can be directly used by plants.
b. Ammonification: The decomposition of organic nitrogen back to Ammonium.
c. Nitrification: Oxidation of ammonium to nitrite and then to nitrate.
d. Denitrification: Process which converts Nitrate converted to Nitrite, which returns to the atmosphere.
e. Assimilation: The process of transferring the nitrates from the ground to plants.

18. Why is human population growth at the root of environmental issues?
- Humans introduce many toxic chemicals into ecosystems. Human activities may be causing climate change by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide

19. Define eutrophication. Why is it a problem?
- Eutrophication is the addition of a substance which will nurture a population. This is a problem because as the nutrients are extracted from the lake, the population will become less diverse and will not grow to natural state.

20. What is the source of acid rain?
- Humans introduce many toxic chemicals into ecosystems. Combustion of fossil fuels is the main cause of acid precipitation.

21. Why is acid rain a problem?
- Toxic chemicals are ingested and metabolized by organisms and can accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals. These toxins become more concentrated in successive trophic levels of a food web, a process called biological magnification. Many toxins cannot be degraded by microbes and persist in the environment for years or decades.

SHW - Pg. 13

10. Why is the open ocean so low in productivity?
- The Average NPP of the Ocean is so low because the ocean’s volume (mostly useless space), in comparison to the amount of producers, is massive. Therefore the NPP is very small.

11. What is secondary productivity?
- The rate at which all the heterotrophy in an ecosystem incorporate organic material into new biomass which can be equated to chemical energy.

12. What happens to the size in each level in the idealized pyramid as energy is transferred through the trophic levels?
- 80–95% of the energy available at one trophic level is not transferred to the next

13. Explain what happens to the energy and biomass as it is passed through the trophic levels?
- This loss is multiplied over the length of a food chain. If 10% of energy is transferred from primary producers to primary consumers, and 10% of that energy is transferred to secondary consumers, then only 1% of net primary production is available to secondary consumers. *Trophic efficiencies must always be less than production efficiencies because they take into account not only the energy lost through respiration and contained in feces, but also the energy in organic material at lower trophic levels that is not consumed.

14. Why is it essential that elements move through biogeochemical cycles in the ecosystem?
- It is essential in order to move nutrients among organic and inorganic compartment and recycle essential chemical elements.

15. What are the major processes that move carbon through the ecosystem?
- Fossilization, Erosion, Respiration, Decomposition, Excretion, Weathering, Assimilation.

16. What is the impact of combustion on the carbon cycle?
- More Carbon Dioxide is readily available, and so there is an increase in Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. Plants have more supply of Carbon Dioxide and so the animals, through assimilation, gain more carbon, and therefore excess carbon is circulated in the carbon cycle.

SHW - Pg. 12

5. How does the definition of ecosystems expand on the concept of the community?
- The ecosystem consists of all the organisms living in a community AND the abiotic factors with which they interact with.

6. What is needed to maintain a self-sustaining ecosystem?
- Primary producers, or autotrophs

7. Define the following energy budget terms:
a. Primary productivity - The rate at which light energy or inorganic chemical energy of organic compounds by autotrophs in an ecosystem that ultimately support all other levels; usu. A photosynthetic organism.
b. Gross primary productivity - The total primary productivity of an ecosystem.
c. Net primary productivity - The GPP minus the energy used by the producers for cellular respiration; represents the storage of chemical energy in an ecosystem available to consumers.

8. Which ecosystems have the highest productivity per unit area?
- Tropical rain forests, lakes &streams, and algal beds & reefs

9. What factors do you think contribute to such high productivity?
- They have the most amount of primary producers available and the least amount of consumers.

SHW - Pg. 11

Name____________________________ Period _______
Date____________________

CH. 54: ECOSYSTEMS

1. What is meant by the ”trophic structure” of a community?
- The routes of energy flow and chemical cycling.

2. List examples of marine and terrestrial food chains?

Type
Marine
Terrestrial

Primary Producer
Phytoplankton
Algae

Primary Consumer
Zooplankton
Grasshopper

Secondary Consumer
Salmon
Mouse

Tertiary Consumer
Killer whale
Eagle


3. What does a food web show that isn’t indicated by a food chain?
- Decomposer and all the possible routes of energy flow and chemical cycling.

4. What limits the length of food chain?
- the amount of energy that gets transferred from one level to the next.

SHW - Pg. 10

11. What is the difference b/t primary and secondary succession?
- PS: Type of ecological succession that occurs in an area where there was originally no organisms.
- SS: Type of succession that occurs where an existing community has been severely cleared by some disturbance.

12. What is responsible for causing most secondary succession?
- Competition among individual species for available resources

13. What is biogeography?
- The study of the past and present distribution of species.

14. What is the relationship b/t island size and species richness?
- Species richness is related to a community’s geographic size. Species richness on islands depends on island size and distance from the mainland.