Study Guide-Ecology Unit
1. Ecology is the study of __________________________________________
____________________________________________________________.
2. Non living parts of the environment are called ____________ and living parts are called
____________.
3. Ecological factors are organized into categories from largest to smallest, from the
biosphere down to individual organisms. List these in order: Biosphere,
______________, _______________, ________________, and individual organism.
4. The part of earth where life exists is called the ______________.
5. ________________ are made of all the abiotic and biotic factors in an area.
6. ________________ are divisions of ecosystems with specific features and different
species interacting with each other and competing with one another.
7. A _______________ is a group of one particular species living in a community.
8. The place where an organism lives is called its _____________. Organisms have specific
adaptations that help them survive in their habitats.
9. A _______________ is the role that an organism has in its habitat. This refers to how
it gets its food, where it sleeps, and how it mates.
10. Can two different species occupy the same niche? _______ Why? ___________
_____________________________________________________________ What
is it called when one species out competes another and drives it to extinction?
___________________________
11. ________________ is a close relationship between two different species. There are
three different symbiotic relationships, _________________, _______________, and
________________.
12. In parasitism on organism _____________ and the other is _____________. The one
that benefits is the parasite and the one harmed is the ____________. An example is
__________________________________________________.
13. A relationship in which both organisms benefit is called _________________. An
example is __________________________________________________.
14. In ________________ one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor
harmed. An example is ________________________________________.
15. What is an example of a predator-prey relationship? _____________________ Which
one is the predator? _______________ Prey? ________________
16. All organisms require energy. Some make their own and some must consume other
organisms to get energy. Producers, or _____________, make their own food.
Consumers, or ______________, must eat to get energy.
17. Heterotrophs are classified by the type of food they eat. _______________ eat only
plants, _______________ eat other animals, and _______________ eat both plants
and animals.
18. _____________ recycles nutrients in the air and soil by breaking down dead organisms.
19. _____________ are animals that eat the bodies of dead organisms. Ex. Vultures
20. A __________________ shows how energy moves in one direction through a community.
These are no more than 4 or 5 organisms long. The arrows always point in the direction
that the energy is moving.
21. A _________________ is more complex and shows all the possible feeding relationships
in a community. Food chains and webs always start with a _____________. Be able to
read and answer questions about food chains and food webs.
22. ______________ levels show how the energy transfer in food chain decreases with
each organism added. Most of the energy in a food chain is in the first trophic level, the
_______________. The least amount is in the top level.
23. Ecological pyramids give details about a community. There are three pyramids that we
use _____________________________, _____________________, and
_______________________________. What information can you get from each one?
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
24. What is biomass? _______________________________________________
25. Know the four biogeochemical cycles (next pages). How are they different from food
chains? ___________________________________________________
26. What is a limiting factor? ________________________________________
___________________________________________________________.
27. What does range of tolerance mean? ________________________________
_____________________. What are some organisms with a wide range of tolerance?
___________________________________________________
28. The predictable natural changes and ___________ replacements that take place in an
ecosystem are called _________________.
29. When an ecosystem has been completely destroyed and starting from nothing (like after
a volcanic eruption) it is undergoing ____________ succession. When a natural disaster
or human action occurs leaving nothing but soil in an ecosystem, it will undergo
______________ succession.
30. The first species to inhabit an area during succession is called a _____________
_________. An example for primary succession would be _____________. And for
secondary succession _____________ is an example.
31. Succession is a long process that must take place in order to reach a stable ecosystem
that undergoes little or no visible changes called a _______________ ____________.
32. A _______________ is a large group of ecosystems that share the same type of climax
community. Biomes are either __________________ or __________________.
33. Biomes that are located in water are called _________________. They are classified as
______________, _______________, or ________________ and they make up
_______% of the earth’s surface.
34. What type of water is found in each of these aquatic biomes?
a. Marine- _________________
b. Estuary- _________________
c. Freshwater- ______________
35. The marine biome is divided into three zones. The _____________ zone is the part near
the surface where light is present. The aphotic zone is
__________________________________________________________________
_______. And the intertidal zone is ____________________________.
36. What causes the ocean tides? ______________________________________.
37. Where in freshwater biomes is the population density lowest? ______________.
38. The bottom of ponds and lakes are made of _____________.
39. Biomes that are located on land are called _______________. There are six main
terrestrial biomes: ______________, _____________, _____________,
______________, ______________, and ______________.
40. The coldest biome is the _____________, which is also characterized by short growing
seasons and a layer of frozen soil called ______________. This soil prevents any large
trees from growing. The plant life is made up of _________
___________________________________________________________.
41. Just south of the tundra is the ____________. This biome is populated mostly by
__________________ trees.
42. The ________________________ is home to trees that lose their leaves annually
called ________________ trees. This is part of the reason for the rich layer of
________________.This is also the biome that we live in!
43. The ___________________ gets its name from the large amount of grasses it
supports. It also occupies ________ area than any other terrestrial biome. Other names
for it include _______________________________________.
44. The _____________ is the driest biome. It receives about ______ cm of precipitation
annually. __________ are the most abundant types of plants found here.
45. The biome with the most biodiversity is the _________________________. However,
the soil is _________ in nutrients. Why? ____________________
___________________________________________________________. This
biome is warmer than others because it is closer to the ______________.
46. As a population gets larger, it grows faster. What type of growth is it experiencing?
_________________ What would it look like on a graph? ___
47. When a population has reached the maximum amount that the ecosystem can support it
has reached the ____________________. This turns the J-shaped graph into an ___shaped graph. Be able to read a graph and determine when it is in exponential growth and
when it has reached carrying capacity.
48. What type of limiting factors affect a population greater as its density increases?
__________________ What are examples? __________________
49. What type of limiting factors affect populations the same no matter the density?
___________________ What are examples? _________________________
50. What two organism interactions in the community affect the population size?
___________________________ What example did we use for predation?
__________________ Explain their relationship. ______________________
____________________________________________________________________
51. What is demography? ____________________________________________
52. What can demographers look at to predict population growth in specific countries?
_____________________ What is emigration and immigration?
____________________________________________________________ Be able
to interpret an age structure chart.
53. What is biodiversity? ___________________________________________ There is
about ___ million species identified in the world. The estimated total is about ___
million!
54. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to _____________ as you get closer to the equator. The
tropical regions contain ____ of all land species on earth.
55. One of the reasons biodiversity is important is because people enjoy it. This is described
as _____________, meaning “love of life.” Also, if one species is lost it could
____________________________. People also depend on living things for many
reasons. List some reasons we need to protect biodiversity. _________
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
56. A species becomes ____________ when the numbers begin declining rapidly. A species
is ____________ when the numbers are so low that extinction is possible.
____________ occurs when there are no more organisms of a species left.
57. The biggest threat to biodiversity is _______________.
58. Habitat ______________ is the separation of wilderness areas from other areas. This
happens when roads are constructed or large building projects.
59. Habitat ____________ is when a habitat is damaged by pollution. The 3 types of
pollution are ______________________.
60. A species that has been brought into an area where it is not natively found is an
_______________. These can be problems for native species because they have no
natural predators and they may out compete for resources. What are some examples?
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
61. _____________ Biology is a new field of biology started to protect biodiversity. Also
the Endangered Species Act was started in _____ by President _________.
62. When an animal is held by people it is in ____________. Programs that hold animals
captive for a period of time and then release them back into the wild are called
_________________________.