Ecology & Evolution

Front 1

Branch of science concerned with interrelationships of organisms and their environments

Back 1

ecology

Front 2

What is a non-living factor that influences living things?

Back 2

Abiotic factor

Front 3

What are living factors that influence living thing?

Back 3

Biotic factors

Front 4

Name two abiotic factors.

Back 4

Light intensity
Temperature range

Front 5

Name two biotic factors

Back 5

disease
predation

Front 6

In how many directions does energy flow through ecosystems?

Back 6

One

Front 7

Chart the path of energy through the ecosystem

Back 7

Sun
photosynthetic organisms
herbivores
carnivores
decomposers

Front 8

Number of organisms an environment can support

Back 8

carrying capacity

Front 9

What are some of the limited factors of an environment's carrying capacity?

Back 9

Energy
Water
Oxygen
Minerals
Ability of ecosystem to recycle dead organisms

Front 10

What is caused by the finite resources in an environment?

Back 10

competition among organisms

Front 11

What is a material or matter cycle?

Back 11

Molecules and atoms are recycled throughout the biosphere

Front 12

What are some of the ways that organisms may interact with one another?

Back 12

producer/consumer
predator/prey
parasite/host
scavenge
decompose

Front 13

What is the number of different organisms in an environment?

Back 13

Biodiversity

Front 14

What are changes in an ecosystem over time?

Back 14

ecological succession

Front 15

What is an organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy?

Back 15

autotroph

Front 16

What is another word for autotroph?

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Producer

Front 17

What is another word for consumer?

Back 17

heterotroph

Front 18

What shows the transfer of energy through an ecosystem?

Back 18

Food chain

Front 19

What is a food web?

Back 19

Series of interrelated food chains

Front 20

How is energy lost in the energy flow of an ecosystem or food chain?

Back 20

Through heat loss

Front 21

What are the main parts of the water cycle?

Back 21

Evaporation
Condensation
Precipitation
Collection

Front 22

What is the loss of water to the atmosphere by the activities of plants?

Back 22

transpiration

Front 23

What type of molecules are used in photosynthesis to form energy-rich organic sugar compounds?

Back 23

Carbon dioxide

Front 24

How is carbon dioxide returned to the environment?

Back 24

Through cell respiration

Front 25

What is an organism capable of making its own food?

Back 25

Producer

Front 26

What is an organism that eats another organism called?

Back 26

consumer

Front 27

What is a consumer that eats mostly plant material?

Back 27

herbivore

Front 28

What is a consumer that consumes primarily animal material?

Back 28

carnivore

Front 29

What is a consumer that eats both plant and animal material?

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omnivore

Front 30

What is a carnivore that kills its food?

Back 30

Predator

Front 31

What is a carnivore that feeds on already dead organisms?

Back 31

Scavenger

Front 32

What is a symbiotic relationship?

Back 32

Close living association

Front 33

What type of symbiosis benefits the parasite at the expense of the host?

Back 33

parasitism

Front 34

What type of symbiosis benefits both organism?

Back 34

mutualism

Front 35

What type of symbiosis benefits one organism and leaves the other unharmed?

Back 35

commensalism

Front 36

What increases the stability of an ecosystem and the chances for greater survival in the face of large changes in the environment?

Back 36

Biodiversity

Front 37

What are the first organism to reoccupy an area that has been disturbed by a disruption?

Back 37

Pioneer organisms

Front 38

What is a final stable plant community called?

Back 38

climax community

Front 39

What is the change of species over time?

Back 39

Evolution

Front 40

What is natural selection?

Back 40

The survival of offspring with certain traits who then reproduce

Front 41

What is the change of DNA of an offspring to cause different characteristics than its parents?

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Mutation

Front 42

What is variation?

Back 42

Differences between groups of organisms of one species

Front 43

Explain overproduction

Back 43

More offspring are born than can survive

Front 44

What is competition in the context of natural selection

Back 44

Struggle for survival; number of ind. in a population tends to be stable due to limited resources

Front 45

Explain survival of the fittest

Back 45

Individuals who survive are the ones who are best suited to the environment due to variations

Front 46

How does reproduction relate to natural seclection?

Back 46

Variations assist or hinder individuals in survival to reproduction age; pass on genes

Front 47

What is speciation?

Back 47

Over time, variations may survive, new species may evolve from common ancestor

Front 48

When does extinction occur?

Back 48

When environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are not sufficient to allow survival

Front 49

Give two sources of variation

Back 49

1. Recombining of DNA during mitosis and fertilization
2. Mutation

Front 50

What is gradualism?

Back 50

Theory that evolution is slow and continuous

Front 51

What is punctuated equilibrium?

Back 51

species remain stable for long periods of time and then, due to a large environmental change, change rapidly in response

Front 52

In what era did unicellular organisms orginate?

Back 52

Precambrian

Front 53

In what era did multicellular naimals and fern-like plants originate?

Back 53

Paleozoic

Front 54

In what era did birds, mammals, reptiles, and flowering plants originate?

Back 54

Mesozoic

Front 55

In what era did radiation of birds, mammals, reptiles, and flowering plants occur?

Back 55

Cenozoic