APES- Unit #3 Study Guide Species Interactions and Community Ecology

Name: Galilea Patricio

1: What makes the Zebra Mussel an invasive species?
The Zebra Mussel is an invasive species because it has no natural predators,
competition, or predators.
2: Define the following species interactions:
* Competition: Species struggle to acquire the same resources, both species are
harmed.
* Predation, Parasitism, and Herbivory: one species benefits benefits while the other
is harmed.
* Mutualism: both species benefit
3: What are some of the resources that species compete for in competition?
Some of the resources species compete for are food, water, shelter, space,
mates, and sunlight.
4: Define Competitive Exclusion: one species is excluded from using a resource by
another species.
5: What must happen for species to co-exist?
In order for species to co-exist they have to partially consume the same resource
they compete for.
6: What is the difference between fundamental and realized niche? Explain why a
species wouldnt fulfill its fundamental niche?
A fundamental niche refers to an individual organisms who is able to fulfill its
needs by using all available resources. A realized niche is the actual portion of the
fundamental niche that is completed. A species could not fulfill its fundamental niche
because of the competition for resources between species and individuals.
7: Give an example of resource partitioning: division of shared resources by
specializing in different ways. EX: one species is active at night, while the other is active
during the day.
8: How does character displacement help with competition?
character displacement is the evolution within a species reflected upon by the
portion of the resources they consume. This helps ease competition as two species
become much more different.
9: Explain how predator and prey populations depend on each other:
Predator and prey populations depend on one another to maintain the
abundance or density of the population, this relationship also structures food webs
10: How does Natural Selection strengthen population fitness?
Natural Selection strengthens population fitness by favoring organisms that is
able to adapt to its environment which allows it to survive and pass its genes or traits to
its offspring.
11: Define the following:
* Cryptic Coloration: technique in which the coloration conceals an organisms shape
to protect it from predators.
* Warning Coloration: used to scare off or warn other animals that they are toxic or
undesirable.
* Mimicry: external resemblance to another organism.
12: Define Parasitism: The dependence of one organism on another for nourishment
or other benefit that does not favor the host.
13: What is the idea of coevolution?
Coevolution is the escalating duel of adaptations by hosts and parasites.
14: What are some plant adaptations that help to protect plants against herbivory?
Plant adaptations against herbivory includes chemicals (toxins or distasteful),
physical features (thorns or spines), and aid of other animals.
15: Explain how pollination is a form of mutualism:
Mutualism is the beneficial interaction of interacting organisms, pollination is a
form of mutualism because a plant provides an animal nectar and the animal pollinates
the plant which allows them to reproduce.
16: Define the following:
* Allelopathy: the release of chemicals by certain plants.
* Commensalism: The interaction of organisms in which one is the benefactor while
the other is unaffected.
* Facilitation: plants that create shade and leaf litter allowing seedlings to grow.
17: What is a community of organisms?
A community of organisms is the assemblage of different species all living
together in the same place at the same time.
18: Draw a trophic level pyramid with the following terms/definitions (examples) below:
Autotrophs: organisms that absorb solar energy to use in photosynthesis to produce
sugar compounds.
Primary Consumers: organisms that consume producers/autotrophs.
Secondary Consumers: carnivores, consume primary consumers.
Tertiary Consumers: highest level predators which consume the secondary producers,
carnivores.
Omnivores: consume both meat and palnts.
Detritivores: scavenge dead material.
Decomposers: break down organic compounds.
19: How is most energy lost in an ecosystem?
Most energy within an ecosystem is lost as it passes on to higher trophic levels and
transfers from one organism to another in the form of waste heat through respiration.
20: Explain why this statement is true: A human vegetarians ecological footprint is
smaller than a meat-eaters footprint.
A human vegetarians ecological footprint is smaller than a meat-eaters footprint
because the human production of the organism is less than raising and feeding cattle.
Vegetation can be consumed by humans instead of feeding it to cattle which uses more
than it gives.
21: What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain is a linear structure depicting a singular strand of organisms of predator
and prey while a food web depicts all organisms within the ecosystem and how those
organisms interact in the predator prey relationship.
22: What is a keystone species and what happens to an ecosystem when it gets
removed?
A keystone species are organisms which hold huge impacts of the environment which is
greater than the proportion of their population. When the keystone species is removed
from an ecosystem it causes a series of chain reactions along the food chain also
known as the Trophic Cascade.
23: What is a trophic cascade? Why is it important?
A trophic cascade is the indirect affect on low level populations done by the high level
predators by maintaining the intermediate organisms populations controlled.
24: Communities of organisms respond to disturbances differently. Explain resistance
and resilience.
Resistance is the ability for a community of organisms to resist change and remain
stable during the changes. Resilience on the other hand is a community of organisms
that adapt along with the changes but return to normal or its original state.
25: What is an invasive species? How do we control a species that has become
invasive? (Name several ways)
An invasive species is an organism introduced into a different environment other than
its own, they are non-native and often spread throughout and dominate the region. The
ways to control invasive species are toxic chemicals, oxygen deprivation, stressing or
dying them out, or to remove them manually.
26: What is happening with ecological restoration in the Florida Everglades?
Ecological restoration in the Florida Everglades strives to return the environment back
to unchanged conditions. The restoration will fix depletion caused by irrigation.
27: Biomes: Name the type of SOILS in the following:
* Temperate deciduous forests: fertile soils due to leaf debris.
* Temperate rainforests: fertile soil, susceptible to erosion and landslides.
* Tropical rainforests: poor acidity soil
* Tropical dry forest: erosion - prone soil
* Desert: saline soils
* Tundra: permanently frozen soil (permafrost).
* Boreal forest (Taiga): poor acidic soil
28: How do biomes change with altitude? Explain.
Biomes differ because of Vegetation which changes with altitude.