Environmental Relationships/Introduction to Biomes
Fill in the Blank Notes
Voc. List: Habitat, Niche, Specialized species, Generalized species, Competition, Predator, Keystone
Predator, Prey, Competitive exclusion, Evolution, Convergent Evolution, Artificial selection, Adaptation,
Behavioral Adaptation, Mimicry, Structural Adaptation, Camouflage, Warning coloration, Resistance,
Pesticide, Symbiosis, Parasitism, Commensalism, Mutualism, Coevolution, Biomes
Relationships in the Ecosystem
Habitats and Niches
______________________-Where an organism lives
______________________-The role of an organism plays within an ecosystem
 Includes biotic and abiotic factors
o ______________________________-An organism with a small niche and
generally eats only one thing.
 Vulnerable to extinct
 Example-Koalas only eat the leaves of eucalyptus trees and Panda bears
only eat bamboo
o ______________________________-An organism with a wide niche
 They have several food sources
 Examples: Mice and cockroaches
______________________________-is a relationship in which more than one species attempts to use
the same limited resource
______________________________-is an organism that actively hunts other organisms
 _____________________________________________-A predator that promotes a
great niche diversity in its habitat
__________________-The organism that is hunted
 Predator plays an important role in increasing niche diversity by decreasing the
population of the prey population
__________________________________________________-extinction of a population in one area only
Evolution and Adaptation
__________________________________________-is a change in the characteristics of a population of
organisms over time.
 ________________________________________________-The independent
development of similar adaptations in two species with similar niches.
o Example:
 The wings of birds and bats
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
________________________________________________-The selective breeding of
organisms by humans for a specific characteristic/s.
o Examples: dogs, fruits, vegetables, and grains
 Humans bred wolves over time to produce the dogs we have today.
 Humans are saving the seeds from the largest and sweetest fruits and
the most nutritious grains. Then the farmers use those seeds to plant
the next batch to insure they are going to get the best products.
____________________________________________________- the ability to change to be able to live
in an environment either by structural changes or actions
 Two types of adaptation
o _________________________________-instinct or actions
Examples:
 ___________________________-Harmless species having the same
behavior of a species that has a chemical protection.
 Example: Harmless insect acting like a bee or a wasp
 Squirrels gathering acorns so it has food in the winter is an example of
an action
o __________________________________-bodily change
 ___________________________ –disguising their recognizable features
 Example: In the winter time the Arctic hare has white hair to
protect itself from predators
 _______________________________________________-Alerts
potential predators to stay away and protects the prey species from
damage
 Examples:
o Patterns with black stripes and red, orange, or yellow
are common in several species of wasps, bees, snakes,
skunks, and poisonous frogs
 ___________________________________________________________-unwanted
Adaptations
o ________________________________________-the ability of one or more
organisms to tolerate a particular chemical designed to kill it.
 Examples:
 Plant diseases being resistance to
________________________________________ (a chemical
substance created to kill insects or other pest on plants)
 ________________________________________________
becoming resistance to Antibiotics
Symbiosis and Coevolution
_________________________________ is the close permanent relationship between different species
for survival.
There are three types:
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1. _______________________________– When one species ___________________ (parasite),
and the other is harmed-the ______________
 Example: tick (parasite) on a dog (host)
 Parasites do not usually kill the host as it would leave them without a food source
2. _______________________________ – When both species benefit from the relationship
 Example: ants and acacia tree
3. _______________________________– When one species benefits and the other is neither
harmed or benefited
 Example: moss growing on trees)
______________________________________________-The process where species that interact closely
together adapt to each other’s existents and sometimes depend on one another for survival
Examples:
 The acacia tree is benefited because the ants ______________ any organism (by
either killing it or driving it away) that lands on the tree and the ant
_______________ away the vegetation near by the tree so the tree can get the
proper amount of sunlight.

Hawaiian honeycreeper has a __________________ beak so it can retrieve the
nectar of the lobelia flower and the flower gets pollinated during the process by
the pollen being forced on the bird’s ______________ from the last flower it
visited
Introduction to Biomes
 Climate is determined by _________________________ location on Earth
 _______________________ are major types of ecosystems with distinctive
____________________, ______________________________, and ________________________
Two types of Biomes:
i. _________________ (terrestrial)
ii. _________________ (Marine or Fresh water)
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Terrestrial Biomes
___________________ (Alpine and Arctic)
 ________________ tundra found in mountainous areas
 ________________ tundra found in areas near the North Pole
 Is cold with little rainfall (lots of snow)
 Underneath the top layer of soil is the __________________________, which is permanently
frozen
__________________ (coniferous or boreal forest) is south of the _______________tundra
 Is warmer and wetter than tundra
 Has mostly trees with _____________________ (such as fir trees)-___________________
Desert (hot and cold) is the _____________________ biome with little plant life
 Animals are adapted to _____________________ temperatures and little
________________
The Grasslands (few types) have rich ________________ and _____________________
 No enough rain to support _________________
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5. The ______________________________________ (deciduous forest) is dominated by
___________________________ trees that ________________ their leaves annually
6. The Rain forest (few types)has more diversity of species than any other biome on Earth
 ________________ rainfall of any biome
 Most common type is the Tropical Rain Forest located near the _____________________
o Warm
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