29 Questions
What is the primary focus of ecology as a field of study?
The primary focus of ecology is the interaction of organisms with their living and non-living environments.
What are the five levels of organization that ecologists focus on?
Organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere.
What is the difference between population ecology and community ecology?
Population ecology focuses on the dynamics of a single species' population, while community ecology examines the interactions between multiple populations.
What is the branch of ecology that examines the relationship between an animal's behavior and its environment?
Behavioral ecology
What is the definition of a population in ecology?
A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same place at the same time.
What is the term for the study of the interactions between different populations of organisms?
Community ecology
What is a community in terms of biology?
A community consists of all the populations of different species that live in a particular place.
What are the main components of an ecosystem?
A community of different species interacting with one another and with their nonliving environment of soil, water, other forms of matter, and energy, mostly from the sun.
What is the biosphere?
The regions of the surface and atmosphere of the earth or another planet occupied by living organisms.
What are biomes?
A group of ecosystems sharing the same characteristics and are well adapted to the prevailing abiotic factors.
What are some examples of artificial ecosystems?
Crop fields, tree farms, and reservoirs.
What is the main difference between a community and an ecosystem?
A community only consists of living organisms, while an ecosystem includes both living and nonliving components.
What is the primary way that energy enters most ecosystems?
photosynthesis
What is the term for organisms that cannot produce their own nutrients and must obtain them by consuming other organisms?
heterotrophs or consumers
What is the difference between primary consumers and secondary consumers?
Primary consumers eat producers, while secondary consumers eat primary consumers
What is the role of decomposers in an ecosystem?
to release nutrients from dead organisms and return them to the environment
What is the main difference between herbivores and carnivores?
Herbivores eat plants, while carnivores eat meat (other animals)
What is unique about omnivores?
They eat both plants and animals
What is the primary source of energy for ecosystems and the biosphere?
The sun
What happens to energy after it has been used to do biological work for an organism?
It is converted to heat and given off to the surroundings, becoming unavailable to other organisms.
What is the term for the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms that detritivores feed on?
Detritus
What is the characteristic of organisms in most ecosystems that leads to the formation of a complex network of food chains?
Most organisms feed on and are eaten by more than one type of consumer.
What is the main difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food web is a larger network of interconnected food chains.
Why do detritivores, such as catfish and vultures, play an important role in ecosystems?
They help to decompose organic matter and recycle nutrients.
What is a major limitation of using food chains to represent the flow of energy in an ecosystem?
Food chains fail to show the interconnectedness of multiple trophic levels.
What is the main advantage of using a food web over a food chain to represent energy flow?
A food web displays the interactions between different organisms.
What happens to the usable chemical energy as it flows through trophic levels in an ecosystem?
The amount of usable chemical energy decreases with each transfer.
What is the term for the percentage of usable chemical energy transferred from one trophic level to the next?
Ecological efficiency.
Why is energy transfer through food chains and webs not very efficient?
Some usable chemical energy is degraded and lost to the environment as low-quality heat with each transfer.
Learn about the basics of ecology, including the study of interactions between organisms and their environment, and the levels of organization of matter in nature. This quiz covers the fundamental concepts of ecology, from biotic and abiotic factors to the biosphere.
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