BI 210 Chp 1 Review

In a grassland ecosystem, plants capture 180 units per day of solar energy, and they use up 70 units per day in respiration. Animals consume about 20 units per day of the plants. The NPP of this system is _______ units per day.

110

Which quality is a biotic feature of the environment? a. The density of consumers b. The average minimum temperature at night c. The number of days during which at least 1 mm of rain falls d. The pH of the soils

a

Of or referring to the physical or nonliving environment.

abiotic

A physiological, morphological, or behavioral trait with an underlying genetic basis that enhances the survival and reproduction of its bearers in their environment.

adaptation

Which statement about ecology is true? a. All organisms living in the same area are strongly connected to one another. b. All organisms interact with features in their environments. c. Organisms can only be directly connected through their ties to shared features of the environment. d. Both b and c

b

The highest level of biological organization, consisting of all living organisms on Earth plus the environments in which they live; located between the lithosphere and the troposphere.

biosphere

Which sequence represents the correct order of levels of biological organization, from largest to smallest?

biosphere; ecosystem; community; population

Of or referring to the living components of an environment.

biotic

Which statement about the concept of natural selection is false? Select one: a. Natural selection is an evolutionary process whereby different individuals survive and reproduce at different rates based on particular characteristics they possess. b. According to the concept of natural selection, those who survive and reproduce at a greater rate pass on more of their genes to the next generation, as compared to those who have a lower survival and reproduction rate. c. The frequency of a trait favored by natural selection will increase over generations whether the trait is heritable or not. d. Only natural selection can produce adaptations consistently.

c

Directional change in climate over a period of three decades or longer.

climate change

A group of interacting species that occur together at the same place and time.

community

An association of populations of different species living in the same area is called a(n)

community

An organism that obtains its energy by eating other organisms or their remains.

consumer

A standard scientific approach in which an experimental group (that has the factor being tested) is compared with a control group (that lacks the factor being tested).

controlled experiment

Which statement about ecological studies is true? a. They usually focus on individuals. b. They usually focus on populations. c. They usually focus on ecosystems. d. The can focus on any level of biological organization from individuals up through to the level of the biosphere.

d

Which trait cannot evolve by natural selection? Select one: a. A trait that increases the time during which females are reproductively competent b. A trait that increases the ability of an organism to survive high temperatures, at the expensive of survival at low temperatures c. A trait that increases the ability of an organism to survive low temperatures, at the expensive of survival at high temperatures d. A trait that is the result of an individual's life experiences and does not have a genetic basis

d

The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment.

ecology

All the organisms in a given area as well as the physical environment in which they live; can include one or more communities.

ecosystem

An interdisciplinary field of study that incorporates concepts from the natural sciences (including ecology) and the social sciences (e.g., politics, economics, ethics), focused on how people affect the environment and how we can address environmental problems.

environmental science

A possible answer to a question developed using previous knowledge or intuition.

hypothesis

An area that is spatially heterogeneous in one or more features of the environment, such as the number or arrangement of different habitat types; typically includes multiple ecosystems.

landscape

The process by which individuals with certain heritable characteristics tend to survive and reproduce more successfully than other individuals because of those characteristics.

natural selection

The amount of energy per unit of time that producers capture by photosynthesis and chemosynthesis, minus the amount they use in cellular respiration.

net primary production NPP

The cyclic movement of nutrients between organisms and the physical environment.

nutrient cycle

A group of individuals of the same species that live within a particular area and interact with one another.

population

An organism that can produce its own food by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis; also called a primary producer or autotroph.

producer

The performance of each treatment of a controlled experiment, including the control, more than once

replication

The spatial or temporal dimension at which ecological observations are collected.

scale

Suppose that individuals of a particular genetic strain of Drosophila melanogaster reproduce at an earlier age than do other strains of this species. As a consequence, they tend to die sooner. Which maxim does this phenomenon exemplify?

there is no such thing as a free lunch

What is one reason that amphibians are especially good biological indicators of environmental conditions?

they live in both terrestrial and aquatic environments

Events in the natural world are interconnected. For example, evidence suggests that warming sea temperatures as a result of global warming may be causing feminization of a large sea turtle population that inhabits the Great Barrier Reef. This connection between global warming and sex determination may result the complete feminization of this population (i.e., no male sea turtles produced). True or False

true