1. Define: Community, Ecosystem, Biome
Community – An interacting group of various species that live in a certain area.
Ecosystem – The community, plus the abiotic factors in the area.
Biome – All of the similar ecosystems that make up a large area.

2. Define the types of symbiosis & give an example of each
Mutualism
Both organisms benefit
Examples: dogs & humans, goby fish & shrimp, etc.
Commensalism
One organism benefits, the other is not harmed or helped.
Examples: cattle egrets & cattle, spider & tree, etc.
Parasitism
One organism benefits and the other is harmed.
Examples:

3. What is the difference between a habitat and a niche?
Habitat – the area where an organism lives.
Niche – the role of an organism the the ecosystem

4. What is the difference between predation and competition?
Predation: When one organism (predator) feeds on another (prey).
Competition: When two organisms compete for resources (food, habitat, water, etc).

5. What is the law of conservation of energy & matter?
Matter or energy is never created or destroyed; it is only transferred from one form into another.

6. How does energy enter the food chain?
At the producer level
Energy from sunlight is captured through photosynthesis

7. How does energy leave the food chain?
Energy exits the food chain by:
Being released by the organism as waste.
Being used by organisms for metabolic processes (respiration)
Being released as heat into the system.

8. How does energy transfer up the food chain?
When organisms are consumed, any energy stored in their tissues is passed on to the next trophic level.

9. If an organism eats 80kJ of energy and 10kJ are used to build its own tissues, what percent of energy leaves the trophic system due to heat, respiration, and waste?
87.5%

10. In this same organism, 25kJ of energy leaves the trophic system as waste (urine, fecal matter, etc) How much energy left the trophic system due to this organism’s cellular respiratory process?

11. What is bioaccumulation?
Bioaccumulation (or biomagnification) – The tendency of pollutants to concentrate as they move up the food chain.

12. Which trophic level is often most affected by toxins and why?
The highest level is usually the most affected because the highest level consumes the toxins of all of the levels below it.

13. What is the difference between:
Biodiversity
The variety of life on earth across all of the different levels of organization.
Genetic diversity
The variety of genes within a population.
Ecological diversity
The variety of ecosystems found in a region.

14. What are five factors that threaten biodiversity & why?

15. What is the difference between an invasive and a native species?
Native species – A species that is naturally occurring within an ecosystem.
Invasive species – A species that is not native to an area and that has a tendency to spread and cause damage to the ecosystem.

16. Compare the two types of succession
Primary succession
Starts from bare rock
No soil
First species are lichens
Secondary succession
Starts from a previously removed ecosystem
Soil
First species are small plants

17. What is the difference between a pioneer species and a climax species?
Pioneer species – the first species to grow in a ecosystem during succession.
Climax species – the species that exist in an area after succession has occurred and the ecosystem has reached its “climax community”.

18. Draw & explain the carbon cycle

19. Explain the environmental impact of excess carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon is a greenhouse gas. It traps heat within our atmosphere, keeping the planet warm. Too much of this gas can cause rapid climate change.

20. What are the limiting resources in an aquatic system, such as lakes?
Phosphorus
Nitrogen
Sunlight
Etc..

21. What types of human activities have increased this resource thus causing uncontrolled growth of algae?
Runoff from fertilizers

22. Explain the environmental impact of uncontrolled growth of algae in aquatic systems.
Uncontrolled algae growth depletes oxygen from the water. This can kill aquatic organisms, decreasing the biodiversity in an area.

23. Compare & Contrast: pyramid of numbers, pyramid of biomass, pyramid of energy

24. Which pyramid can take on an alternative shape?
Pyramid of numbers

25. Explain how human activities have negatively impacted the ecosystem
Explain how human activities have negatively impacted the ecosystem. Use specific examples that have note been discussed previously in this study guide.
(answers will vary – brainstorm ideas with the class and type them here)

26. Calculate how much carbon would be contained a 15-acre forest of red cedar if there were 40 trees planted in each acre.
Formula for calculating biomass M=aDb
To calculate carbon for hardwoods (like red cedar) multiply by
Red Cedar:
a = .1019
b =
D = 20