PES- Unit #3 Study Guide
Species Interactions and Community Ecology
Name:___________________________________________
1: What makes the Zebra Mussel an invasive species?
They have no natural competators
2: Define the following species interactions:
* Competition: Both species are harmed
* Predation, Parasitism, and Herbivore: One species benefits and other is harmed
* Mutualism: both species benefit
3: What are some of the resources that species compete for in competition?
Food and water
4: Define Competitive Exclusion:
One species completely excludes other species
5: What must happen for species to co-exist?
Neither species fully excludes the other from resources, so both live side by side
6: What is the difference between fundamental and realized niche? Explain why a species
wouldn’t fulfill its fundamental niche?
Fundamental niche is is when an individual fulfills it's entire role by using all the available resources while realized is only the portion of the fundamental niche that is filled
7: Give an example of resource partitioning:
One species is active at night other at day time
8: How does character displacement help with competition?
by helping species physical characteristic that reflect their reliance on the portion of the resource
9: Explain how predator and prey populations depend on each other: 10: How does Natural Selection strengthen population “fitness”?
The predator consumes pray for living
10: How does natural selection strengthen population "fitness'?
it makes predators better hunters
11: Define the following:
* Cryptic Coloration: Coloring that conceals the animals shape
*Warning Coloration: markings that serve to warn off potential predators
* Mimicry: Similarity of one species to another
12: Define Parasitism:
Relationship in which one organism depends on another for nourishment or other benefit
13: What is the idea of “coevolution”?
Hosts and parasites become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations
14: What are some plant adaptations that help to protect plants against herbivory?
Chemicals, toxic, thorns, spines, other animals
15: Explain how pollination is a form of mutualism:
The animals that pollinate get their eggs fertilizes, while the plant gets
pollen.
16: Define the following:
* Allelopathy: Certain plants release harmful chemicals
* Commensalism: Relationship in which one organism benefits while the other remains unaffected
* Facilitation: Plants that create shade and leaf litter allow seedlings to grow.
17: What is a community of organisms?
an assemblage of species living in the same place at the same time
18: Draw a trophic level pyramid with the following terms/definitions (examples) below: (picture on top)
Autotrophs : Make their own food
Primary Consumers: consume Producers
Secondary Consumers: organisms that prey on primary consumers
Tertiary Consumers: Consume Secondary consumers
Omnivores: consumers that eat both plants and animals
Detritivores: Scavenge waste or dead body
Decomposers: Breakdown non living material
19: How is most energy lost in an ecosystem?
Energy is lost as waste heat through respiration
20: Explain why this statement is true: “ A human vegetarian’s ecological footprint is smaller
than a meat-eater’s footprint.”
Meat products go through a lot of process that pollute different things
21: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
Food chain is energy transferred up in trophic levels while food web is a more complex relationship of feeding and energy flow
22: What is a keystone species and what happens to an ecosystem when it gets removed?
Has strong impact far out of proportion to it's abundance
23: What is a trophic cascade? Why is it important?
Predators at high trophic levels can indirectly affect populations of organisms, to balance the organisms
24: Communities of organisms respond to disturbances differently. Explain resistance and
resilience.
Resistance is when they resist change and remain stable while resilience is w changes response to a disturbance
25: What is an invasive species? How do we control a species that has become invasive? (Name
several ways)
Exotic organisms that spread widely
26: What is happening with ecological restoration in the Florida Everglades?
27: Biomes: Name the type of SOILS in the following:
*Temperate deciduous forests: Fertile
*Temperate rainforests: Fertile
*Tropical rainforests: Not-fertile
*Tropical dry forest: Erosion prone
* Desert: Saline
*Tundra: Frozen
*Boreal forest (Taiga) : non Fertile and acidic
28: How do biomes change with altitude? Explain.
Species Interactions and Community Ecology
Name:___________________________________________
1: What makes the Zebra Mussel an invasive species?
They have no natural competators
2: Define the following species interactions:
* Competition: Both species are harmed
* Predation, Parasitism, and Herbivore: One species benefits and other is harmed
* Mutualism: both species benefit
3: What are some of the resources that species compete for in competition?
Food and water
4: Define Competitive Exclusion:
One species completely excludes other species
5: What must happen for species to co-exist?
Neither species fully excludes the other from resources, so both live side by side
6: What is the difference between fundamental and realized niche? Explain why a species
wouldn’t fulfill its fundamental niche?
Fundamental niche is is when an individual fulfills it's entire role by using all the available resources while realized is only the portion of the fundamental niche that is filled
7: Give an example of resource partitioning:
One species is active at night other at day time
8: How does character displacement help with competition?
by helping species physical characteristic that reflect their reliance on the portion of the resource
9: Explain how predator and prey populations depend on each other: 10: How does Natural Selection strengthen population “fitness”?
The predator consumes pray for living
10: How does natural selection strengthen population "fitness'?
it makes predators better hunters
11: Define the following:
* Cryptic Coloration: Coloring that conceals the animals shape
*Warning Coloration: markings that serve to warn off potential predators
* Mimicry: Similarity of one species to another
12: Define Parasitism:
Relationship in which one organism depends on another for nourishment or other benefit
13: What is the idea of “coevolution”?
Hosts and parasites become locked in a duel of escalating adaptations
14: What are some plant adaptations that help to protect plants against herbivory?
Chemicals, toxic, thorns, spines, other animals
15: Explain how pollination is a form of mutualism:
The animals that pollinate get their eggs fertilizes, while the plant gets
pollen.
16: Define the following:
* Allelopathy: Certain plants release harmful chemicals
* Commensalism: Relationship in which one organism benefits while the other remains unaffected
* Facilitation: Plants that create shade and leaf litter allow seedlings to grow.
17: What is a community of organisms?
an assemblage of species living in the same place at the same time
18: Draw a trophic level pyramid with the following terms/definitions (examples) below: (picture on top)
Autotrophs : Make their own food
Primary Consumers: consume Producers
Secondary Consumers: organisms that prey on primary consumers
Tertiary Consumers: Consume Secondary consumers
Omnivores: consumers that eat both plants and animals
Detritivores: Scavenge waste or dead body
Decomposers: Breakdown non living material
19: How is most energy lost in an ecosystem?
Energy is lost as waste heat through respiration
20: Explain why this statement is true: “ A human vegetarian’s ecological footprint is smaller
than a meat-eater’s footprint.”
Meat products go through a lot of process that pollute different things
21: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
Food chain is energy transferred up in trophic levels while food web is a more complex relationship of feeding and energy flow
22: What is a keystone species and what happens to an ecosystem when it gets removed?
Has strong impact far out of proportion to it's abundance
23: What is a trophic cascade? Why is it important?
Predators at high trophic levels can indirectly affect populations of organisms, to balance the organisms
24: Communities of organisms respond to disturbances differently. Explain resistance and
resilience.
Resistance is when they resist change and remain stable while resilience is w changes response to a disturbance
25: What is an invasive species? How do we control a species that has become invasive? (Name
several ways)
Exotic organisms that spread widely
26: What is happening with ecological restoration in the Florida Everglades?
27: Biomes: Name the type of SOILS in the following:
*Temperate deciduous forests: Fertile
*Temperate rainforests: Fertile
*Tropical rainforests: Not-fertile
*Tropical dry forest: Erosion prone
* Desert: Saline
*Tundra: Frozen
*Boreal forest (Taiga) : non Fertile and acidic
28: How do biomes change with altitude? Explain.