Bio Interdependent Relationships/Human Impacts Quiz
Describe the competitive exclusion principle, and the role this interaction plays in structuring ecosystems.
-
I can define an evolutionary adaptation.
-
I can describe the benefits that an opposable thumb affords primates.
-
I can describe the features that all primates share with one another.
-
Describe the process of eutrophication and how eutrophication impacts the environment.
- Eutrophication is a process in which fertilizer gets dumped into a body of water in the form of run-off. After the fertilizer meets with the body of water, algae could grow at an exponential rate and grow large amounts of it at one time. Algae and plants at the bottom will die from lack of sunlight. Then the algae gets decomposed by bacteria. Then the oxygen levels in the water will reduce drastically and the aquatic organisms would soon die after from lack of oxygen.
Define carbon footprint. Describe factors that impact one's carbon footprint.
-A carbon footprint is a way to indicate how efficient one is in using things such as gas and electricity. It calculates the emissions that result from using these things necessary to create energy. Burning fossil fuels, combustion of manufacturing, heating, and transportation can affect your carbon foot print depending on how efficient you are in completing these tasks. If you don't use these in the proper way and you use it excessively, then your carbon footprint will be bad enough that you will need at least a few earths if everyone were to live that inefficiently.
Define biodiversity and describe the importance of biodiversity in maintaining the stability of an ecosystem.
-Biodiversity is the variety of life in a given ecosystem. Biodiversity is necessary in an ecosystem because it maintains all other life. If this was decreased, there would be more of one species of organisms capable of dominating a habitat or habitats. For example, if there were high amounts of deforestation, there would be more erosion and it would make certain species lose their habitat.
Define climate change and give examples of how humans are contributing to climate change.
-Climate change is the change in the atmospheric temperature that humans significantly contribute to this. By burning fossil fuels, they are polluting the air with hot smoke causing the temperature to slowly rise. Most climate change is due to the fact that humans are increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Define extinction and describe how extinction affects the environment.
-Extinction is a process in which a species of organisms completely die out from specific environmental factors. Extinction would cause a huge blow to an environment because there are other organisms that rely on them as a food source. If they were extinct, other organisms would have to move out or they would die too.
Describe the role of keystone species in an ecosystem.
-Keystone species are species that are the most necessary to sustain the environment and all organisms in it. They indirectly provide benefits for other organisms. In a case study about a kangaroo rat. The kangaroo rat reduces/sustains the amount of vegetation that occurs. When removed, grasslands started to grow massively and started to affect other organisms like birds from flying low and get food for them or their offspring.
Identify the 5 types of keystone species and their respective roles in maintaining biodiversity in ecosystems.
-Predators: Gray Wolf Purple seastar American alligator Regulates amount of organisms in a population Modifiers: American alligator Black tailed prairie dog Changes habitat in order to allow other organisms to live there Prey: Pacific Salmon Black bellied salamander Benefits birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. They are able to keep a healthy population even while being prayed upon. Mutualists: Rufous Hummingbird Link species Beak specifically shaped to get pollen from a certain flower. They provide a mutual benefit through their interactions. Hosts: Quaking Aspen Red-neck bird Opens so that it can allow insects to enter Provide shelter or other services to other organisms in a shared habitat.
I can define the three component parts of an ecosystem.
1.abiotic:A nonliving factor that can impact an environment, any physical feature of an ecosystem. 2.Biotic:Organisms 3.Interactions between biotic and abiotic factors
I can differentiate among the three types of symbiosis: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.
A mutually symbiotic relationship is any relationship between two organisms where both organisms benefit. It is mutually beneficial. Mutually symbiotic relationships can even extend to the point where both organisms need each other to survive. Mutualistic relationships confer a number of benefits to the organisms in them, including protection and nutrition. In commensalism, one organism benefits from the relationship with the other is unharmed by it. Very frequently these scenarios involve one organism depending on another for transport, nutrients, or shelter while the host organism doesn't benefit and is more or less unharmed. Parasitic relationships are those which involve one organism living off of another organism, to the detriment of the other organism, possibly including the death of the other organism. Frequently the parasite actively lives on the body of the host, consuming nutrients from its blood or other parts of its body.
Describe the characteristics of organisms that have Type I, Type II and Type III life histories. Be able to interpret a survivorship curve.
A type I survivorship curve shows individuals that have a high probability of surviving through early and middle life but have a rapid decline in the number of individuals surviving into late life. This basically means that most of the individuals will make it to adulthood but the proportion surviving into old age is greatly decreased. A type I survivorship curve is plotted as a convex curve on a graph. A type II survivorship curve shows a roughly constant mortality rate for the species through its entire life. This means that the individual's chance of dying is independent of their age. Type II survivorship curves are plotted as a diagonal line going downward on a graph. A type III survivorship curve depicts species where few individuals will live to adulthood and die as they get older because the greatest mortality for these individuals is experienced early in life. This type of survivorship curve is drawn as a concave curve on a graph.
I can differentiate between biotic and abiotic limiting factors.
Abiotic, A nonliving factor that can impact an environment, any physical feature of an ecosystem. Examples: water, weather, geography. Biotic, living organisms. Examples: plants and animals.
Describe what is meant by a trophic cascades. Support with examples.
An apex predator of an ecosystem controls the distribution of resources and directly impacts/controls all levels of the food chain for that ecosystem. A trophic cascade is the impact a keystone species or any organism can have on the ecosystem, specifically the food web, it is a part of when it is removed or introduced. The sea urchin experiment shows evidence of a trophic cascade. This is so because the introduction of orcas to the environment where urchins were a part of caused an increased level of urchins and a decrease in the population of kelp. The new keystone species, orcas, caused the level of sea otters to decrease, urchins to increase, and kelp to decrease. This proves to be a trophic cascade as there was a large effect on each level of the food web when there were changes to the keystone species.
Describe the role of keystone species in trophic cascades.
As long as that keystone species is in the environment and performing its job, the ecosystem will function normally and organisms will thrive. However, if a keystone species is removed or added back into an ecosystem, there will be massive changes to the nature of that ecosystem. This is called a trophic cascade. A trophic cascade is when the keystone is removed, and all of the other organisms become affected. A good example of this would be when the sea star was entirely removed from tidal pools, and within 7 years the biodiversity of that ecosystem had completely disappeared. There are also things called reverse-trophic cascades. This is where a keystone species is introduced to the environment, and all of the organisms are impacted positively. An example of this happening would be when wolves were reinstated into Yellowstone park. Within years, the biodiversity and plant life in Yellowstone had increased drastically. This is because the wolves, the keystone species, helped to balance out the deer population and in turn the rest of the food web.
Differentiate between organisms that exhibit an equilibrial life history and organisms that exhibit an opportunistic life history.
Basically R and K selection; equilibrial- slow maturity, low reproduction, well-cared for offspring; i.e. mother bear and her one or two cubs. Opportunistic- high reproduction rate, mature early, little to no care for offspring; i.e. guppy population (textbook)
Define ecosystem services.
Benefit the natural world provides us for free such as -Filtering water -Producing food -Sucking carbon dioxide out of the air
I can differentiate between density dependent and density independent limiting factors.
Density-dependent factors are those that depend on the population density. These are the factors whose effects on the population vary depending on the density of population. Density-dependent factors only come into play when the population reaches a certain level. Larger the population, stronger the impact. These include availability of food, competition, predation, parasitism, diseases, etc. Density-independent factors are the ones that are not dependent on the population density. They affect the species regardless of how dense the population is. Density-independent factors do not have size constraint. They are effective in the case of both, large populations and small populations. These include natural disasters, like floods, drought, tornadoes, etc., climate, and even human activities.
HIPPO stands for (she said in class a few weeks ago this would be on the quiz)
H - Habitat Loss -including that caused by climate change I - Invasive species - aliens, predators, diseases, that displace and outcompete native species P- Pollution P - Human population growth O- Overharvesting, overuse, exploitation of the organisms and earth
I can describe how limiting factors maintain populations size near carrying capacity.
If it were not for these limiting factors, it would not have been possible to regulate the population, and that, in turn, would have had interrupted the ecological balance.
Describe the role that interspecific competition plays in structuring communities.
Interspecific Competition - two species competing for the same resource, which can result in the interference of the growth of both or either of the species. Interspecific competition can lead to one species going extinct, or lead to coexistence. The Northeast barnacles represent competitive exclusion, as the species known as the Chthamalus holds a competitive advantage over the Balanus. The Chthamalus can survive longer exposure to air than the Balanus. This results in different locations of each species of barnacle, with the Balanus living at a lower level on the rocks than the Chthamalus. The Chthamalus are more suited for the environments, so they outcompete the Balanus. This is also an example of resource partitioning because both of the species of barnacle had to change their location on the rock in order to coexist. The resource of space or location is being shared through compromises by both of the barnacles.
I can describe why invasive species negatively impact an ecosystem.
Invasive species are a non-native species that has spread far beyond the original point of introduction and causes environmental or economic damage by colonizing and dominating suitable habitats. These invasive species have devastating effects on native species because they spread and destroy native species as they take over in the new area.
Describe the four types of ecosystem services and provide an example of each type.
Support Services: A cycles which recycles nutrients necessary for life. Provisioning Services: Providing use with things we need to live like water, food, etc. Regulating Services: Things like temperature of the climate and the amount of water available. Cultural Services: Aesthetic a habitat provides.
36.4 Textbook- Population Growth
The exponential population growth model indicates, the expansion of a population in an ideal, unlimited environment. This model shows population size on the vertical line and time on the horizontal line. This graph also shows the rate of population growth and how it increases with population size. The second chart, called the logistic population growth model, is used when growth is slowed by limiting factors. This chart predicts what a population's growth rate will be when the population size is small or large, or reaching its carrying capacity.