1. Ecology Unit Mini-Lessons
Chapters

2. 24.1 Mini-Lesson Question Answer What is a biosphere?
The portion of the Earth that supports life.
What is an ecosystem?
Made up of the living and non-living parts of an area.
What is a community?
All the populations in an ecosystem
What is a habitat?
1. Where an organism lives.
Example: You are an organism and you live in your home. Your home is your habitat.
2. Provides an organism shelter, food, water, and the right temperature.

3. Mini-Lesson 24.2 Question Answer What is competition?
What does competition do to a population?
When one or more organism needs the same resources.
Limits population size

4. Mini-Lesson 24.2 Questions Answers
What are important facts about populations in ecology?
Population Density is the number of individuals per unit of area.
Limiting Factors are resources that restrict population sizes.
Carrying Capacity is the largest population an ecosystem can support.
Biotic Potential is the highest possible rate of growth for a population.

5. Mini-Lesson 24.2 Question Answer What changes occur in populations?
Birthrates, Death rates, and movement from place to place (migration or immigration)

6. 24.3 Mini-Lesson Question Answer What do all organisms need?
All life requires a constant supply of energy.
How do producers obtain energy?
Most producers make energy using photosynthesis using light energy.
How do consumers obtain energy?
Consumers cannot make food; it is obtained through energy through eating producers or other consumers.
What are food chains and webs?
Food chains and food webs model feeding relationships between species.

7. 24.3 Mini-Lesson Question Answer What is symbiosis?
What types of symbiotic relationships exist?
Symbiosis is any close relationship between species.
3 types of symbiosis: commensalism, parasitism, and mutualism.
What is a niche?
An organisms niche is defined by how an organism obtains food, avoids danger, finds shelter, and finds a mate.

8. Chapter 25.1 Mini Lesson Question Answer
What are environmental factors?
Factors that organisms depend on for life including sunlight, temperature, air, water and soil.
How is air important to life in an ecosystem?
Gases in the air like nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon provide substances to support life.
Nitrogen is fixed and is essential for cells to make DNA
Oxygen is essential for animals and humans in respiration.
Carbon is the base for life

9. Chapter 25.1 Mini Lesson Question Answer
How is water important to life in an ecosystem?
Water is a major component of cells in all organisms.
How is soil important to life in an ecosystem?
Soil promotes and supports plant growth.
How is light important to life in an ecosystem?
Light energy supports almost all life on Earth.
Light is essential for photosynthesis in producers, the foundation of food webs.

10. 25.1 Mini-Lesson Question Answer
How is temperature important to life in an ecosystem?
Most organisms require a temperature between 0°C and 50°C to survive.
What is climate?
Climate is primarily determined by temperature and precipitation.
How is climate important to life in an ecosystem?
For most organisms, temperature and precipitation are two of the most important components of climate.
Precipitation and temperature help determine what types of organisms can live in an ecosystem.

11. 25.2 Mini Lesson Question Answer
Why is matter cycled through the environment?
-Earth’s biosphere contains a fixed amount of water, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and other minerals.
-These resources are necessary for all life on Earth
How is water cycled through the environment?
The water cycle is a continuous cycle that does not have a beginning or end.
Liquid water is warmed from the thermal energy of the sun. The liquid water undergoes a phase change to a gas called water vapor. This process is evaporation.

12. 25.2 Mini Lesson Question Answer
How is water cycled through the environment?
As the water vapor rises in the atmosphere it begins to cool causing the gas to condense and turn back into liquid water.
The small droplets of water combine with dust, pollen, and salts in the air to form clouds. This is called condensation.
When the cloud becomes fully saturated (filled and too heavy), the water falls to the ground. This is called precipitation.
Examples of Precipitation Rain, Snow, Sleet, Hail, Dew, Fog

13. 25.2 Mini Lesson Question Answer
How is water cycled through the environment?
-The precipitation can infiltrate (soak) into the soil and becomes a resource for plants and animals as ground water.
-The precipitation can flow over the ground and become run-off. This water will flow into sewers, rivers, streams, creeks, lakes, ponds and oceans.

14. 25.2 Mini Lesson Question Answer How is nitrogen fixed?
Why is the nitrogen cycled important to life?
Nitrogen is fixed through nitrogen-fixing bacteria that combine nitrogen and other elements to make a nitrogen compound that all living organisms can use.
Nitrogen compounds are necessary for making proteins and amino acids.
*Think about DNA in cells.*

15. 25.2 Mini Lesson Question Answer How does the carbon cycled work?
-Producers remove CO2 from the air during photosynthesis and release O2 .
-Consumers remove O2 from the air during respirations and exhale CO2 into the air.
What is the equation for photosynthesis and cellular respirations?
Photosynthesis
(Light Energy)
6CO2 + 6H2O  6C6H12O6 + 6O2
[Water] [Sugar] + [Oxygen]
  Respirations
 Means Yields or Produces

16. Mini Lesson 25.3 Question Answer
How is energy converted in food chains and food webs?
-Most producers convert light energy into chemical energy. (photosynthesis)
-Some producers can produce their own food using energy from chemicals such as sulfur found near hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. (chemosynthesis)
How is energy transfer in food chains and food webs?
-Producers convert energy into forms that other organisms can use.
-Food chains show how matter and energy are passed from one organism to another.

17. Mini Lesson 25.3 Question Answer
How do energy pyramids model the flow of energy in a food web or food chain?
-Energy pyramids show the amount of energy available at each feeding level.
-Energy pyramids show that the amount of available energy decreases from the base to the top.
-The energy pyramid demonstrated that all food chains start with a producer.
Only 10% of the energy is passed on to the next level.

18. Mini Lesson 26.1 Question Answer What is ecological succession?
Succession is the natural, gradual changes over time of species in a community.
What is primary succession?
Primary succession occurs in areas that did not have soil or any plant life.
What is secondary succession?
Secondary succession occurs in areas where soil has been disturbed.
Examples: after a forest fire, hurricane, tornado, deforestation or harvesting.

19. Mini Lesson 26.1 Question Answer What is a climax community?
A climax community is when a community has reached an end stage of succession and the community is stable.
Climax communities have less biodiversity than communities in mid-succession.

20. Mini- Lesson Chapter 26.2 Question: Answer
What are important tundra facts?
The tundra, sometimes called a cold desert, can be divided into two types: artic and alpine.
What are important taiga facts?
Taiga is the world’s largest biome. It is a cold forest region with long winters.
What are important temperate region facts?
Temperate regions have either a deciduous forest biome or a rain forest biome.

21. Mini- Lesson Chapter 26.2 Question: Answer
What are important tropical rainforest facts?
-Tropical rain forest are one of the most biologically diverse biomes.
-Humans have a huge impact on tropical rain forest.
What are important desert facts?
The desert is the driest biome. Desert organisms are adapted for extreme dryness and temperatures.
What are important grassland region facts?
Grasslands provide food for wildlife, livestock, and humans.

22. Mini-Lesson 26.3 Question Answer
What are the important facts about freshwater ecosystems?
- Temperature, light, salt and dissolved oxygen are important factors in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.
-Freshwater Ecosystems include:
Rivers, Streams, Lakes, Ponds, and Wetlands
-Human activities, such as using too much fertilizer on lawns and crops, can pollute aquatic ecosystems through run-off.

23. Mini-Lesson 26.3 Question Answer
What are the important facts about saltwater ecosystems?
-About 95% of the Earth’s water contains dissolved salts.
-Saltwater Ecosystems include:
Open Oceans, Coral Reefs, Intertidal Zones (Seashores) and Estuaries
-Organisms that live in intertidal zones have adaptations that enable them to survive dramatic changes in temperatures, moisture and salinity.
-Estuaries (a.k.a. bays, lagoons, harbors) serve as nurseries for many species of ocean fish.
For example: Shrimp, Crabs, Clams, Oysters, Salt-Tolerant Grasses