BIO182 Exam 5 Questions and Correct Answers, With Complete solution.193 Q&A. Updated 2024/5.
What is ecology?
Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment.
What is the relationship between ecology and evolutionary biology? Which one is long term and which is short term?
Ecology involves short term interactions , and these short term interactions may, and often do, lead to long-term effects, which is evolution.
What are the different levels of ecology?
- Organismal: individual organisms structure, physiology, and behavioral responses to the environment
- Population: focus on factors affecting the distribution and sizes of populations of species
- Community: focus on interactions between different species
- Ecosystem: how abiotic affect a community (energy flow, chemical cycling)
- Landscape: the exchange of energy, materials, organisms across ecosystems
- Global: planet wide interactions between ecosystems and landscapes
What is climate? What is the difference between climate and weather?
Climate is the long term, prevailing weather conditions in a given area, while weather is day to day.
What are microclimate and macroclimate?
Macroclimate: large scale geographic patterns
Microclimate: very fine, localized patterns
What phenomena contribute to global climate patterns?
- Latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity
- Air circulation and precipitation patterns: warm, wet air rises at equator, flows north and south and falls
as precipitation; dry air at 33 N and S; rises and precipitates again at 60 N and S
- Tilting of the Earths axis causes seasons
What phenomena contribute to regional and local climate patterns?
- Proximity to large bodies of water stabilizes and cools temperatures, higher humidity (due to high specific heat)
- Mountains increase precipitation, and dry air descends of leeward side, causing rain shadow (creates deserts)
What is a biome and what are Earths major terrestrial biomes? A biome is a major life zone characterized by vegetation type.
Earth's Biomes:
- Tropical forest: Equatorial and subequatorial, rainfall relatively constant, constant warm temperatures, competition for light
- Deserts: 30* N and S latitudes, continental interiors, hot and cold deserts, water conservation or avoidance strategies
- Savanna: Equatorial and subequatorial, moderate rainfall, warm all year, scattered trees thorny, small leaves, fire adapted, large mammals
- Chaparral: Midlatitude coastal regions, rainy and cool winters, dry and hot summers, shrubs and small trees, fire adapted
- Grassland: dry and cold winters, wet and hot summers, periodic drought, grazing mammals prevent shrubs and trees
- Northern Coniferous Forest: largest terrestrial biome, moderate rainfall, cold winters, hot summers, conifers dominate
- Temperate Broadleaf Forest: Midlatitudes, rain year round, winter temps cool, summers hot, some vertical stratification, trees drop leaves in fall
- Tundra: Covers arctic (20% of Earth's land), generally low participation, winters long and cold, mostly herbaceous plants, permafrost common
What are ecotones?
Ecotones are spatial transitions from one biome to another.
Compare and contrast marine and lake biomes.
Marine
- saltwater: 3% salinity, covers 75% of Earth, fuels precipitation, releases O2 and absorbs CO2
- intertidal, neritic, oceanic, abyssal zones
Lake
- freshwater: less than 0.1% salinity, closely linked to surrounding soils and life
- littoral and limnetic zone, seasonal turnover in temperature regions
List Earths major aquatic zones.
- Lakes: Oligotrophic vs Eutrophic, littoral and limnetic zones, photo- and zooplankton, benthic invertebrates
———— Issues: fertilizers and pollution lead to eutrophication, fish kills
- Wetlands: Periodic H2O inundation, saturated soils, highly productive, natural filers
———— Issues: 90% filled or drained
- Streams and rivers: Headwaters cold, clear, swift; rivers slow and warmer
———— Issues: pollution, damming and flood control impacts
- Estuaries: Transition between river and sea (salinity greatly varies based upon tides and river flow); extremely productive, feeding and breeding grounds
———— Issues: filling dredging, pollution
- Intertidal: Submerged and exposed 2x daily; highly stratified in short distance; algae's diverse, animals adapted for attachment - Open pelagic: Deep photic, low nutrients, covers 70% of Earth, average depth 4000 meters
———— Issues: over-fishing and waste dumping
- Coral Reefs: Only in photic zones; occurs above 20 C and below 30C; animal diversity rivals tropical rainforests
———— Issues: over-fishing and
- Marine Benthic: seafloor of neritic and pelagic; colder and higher pressures deeper; limited photosynthesis (nutrients "rain" down)
———— Issues: over fishing
What main factors determine the distribution of species?
- Dispersal limits: organisms don't have a chance to expand their behaviors (barriers such as the ocean, islands)
- Behavior limits: species able to expand, but they avoid certain habitats
- Biotic limits: other species compete, are predators, cause disease, or symbiotic species absent
- Abiotic limits: temperature, water, sunlight, rocks and soil may be inappropriate
How is modern climate change different than past climate change? How is this affecting species on Earth?
Modern climate change is much more rapid than in the past, and so species are unable to keep pace with rate of change.
Describe what the study of population ecology entails.
Population ecology studies factors that affect population density, dustribution, size, age and structure.
List abiotic and biotic factors that affect the population ecology of sea turtles.
Abiotic
- human lights can disorient hatchlings
Biotic
- nest predation varies greatly per year
- number of returning females varies greatly per year
What is population density? What influences it?
Population density is the number of organisms per unit area (land) or volume (water). It is affected by births, death, immigration, emigration.
How is population density measured?
- In rare cases, all members of a population can be directly counted
- random plots
- count sign
- Mark-recapture
What are the three measures of population dispersion and what factors cause them?
What is ecology?
Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment.
What is the relationship between ecology and evolutionary biology? Which one is long term and which is short term?
Ecology involves short term interactions , and these short term interactions may, and often do, lead to long-term effects, which is evolution.
What are the different levels of ecology?
- Organismal: individual organisms structure, physiology, and behavioral responses to the environment
- Population: focus on factors affecting the distribution and sizes of populations of species
- Community: focus on interactions between different species
- Ecosystem: how abiotic affect a community (energy flow, chemical cycling)
- Landscape: the exchange of energy, materials, organisms across ecosystems
- Global: planet wide interactions between ecosystems and landscapes
What is climate? What is the difference between climate and weather?
Climate is the long term, prevailing weather conditions in a given area, while weather is day to day.
What are microclimate and macroclimate?
Macroclimate: large scale geographic patterns
Microclimate: very fine, localized patterns
What phenomena contribute to global climate patterns?
- Latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity
- Air circulation and precipitation patterns: warm, wet air rises at equator, flows north and south and falls
as precipitation; dry air at 33 N and S; rises and precipitates again at 60 N and S
- Tilting of the Earths axis causes seasons
What phenomena contribute to regional and local climate patterns?
- Proximity to large bodies of water stabilizes and cools temperatures, higher humidity (due to high specific heat)
- Mountains increase precipitation, and dry air descends of leeward side, causing rain shadow (creates deserts)
What is a biome and what are Earths major terrestrial biomes? A biome is a major life zone characterized by vegetation type.
Earth's Biomes:
- Tropical forest: Equatorial and subequatorial, rainfall relatively constant, constant warm temperatures, competition for light
- Deserts: 30* N and S latitudes, continental interiors, hot and cold deserts, water conservation or avoidance strategies
- Savanna: Equatorial and subequatorial, moderate rainfall, warm all year, scattered trees thorny, small leaves, fire adapted, large mammals
- Chaparral: Midlatitude coastal regions, rainy and cool winters, dry and hot summers, shrubs and small trees, fire adapted
- Grassland: dry and cold winters, wet and hot summers, periodic drought, grazing mammals prevent shrubs and trees
- Northern Coniferous Forest: largest terrestrial biome, moderate rainfall, cold winters, hot summers, conifers dominate
- Temperate Broadleaf Forest: Midlatitudes, rain year round, winter temps cool, summers hot, some vertical stratification, trees drop leaves in fall
- Tundra: Covers arctic (20% of Earth's land), generally low participation, winters long and cold, mostly herbaceous plants, permafrost common
What are ecotones?
Ecotones are spatial transitions from one biome to another.
Compare and contrast marine and lake biomes.
Marine
- saltwater: 3% salinity, covers 75% of Earth, fuels precipitation, releases O2 and absorbs CO2
- intertidal, neritic, oceanic, abyssal zones
Lake
- freshwater: less than 0.1% salinity, closely linked to surrounding soils and life
- littoral and limnetic zone, seasonal turnover in temperature regions
List Earths major aquatic zones.
- Lakes: Oligotrophic vs Eutrophic, littoral and limnetic zones, photo- and zooplankton, benthic invertebrates
———— Issues: fertilizers and pollution lead to eutrophication, fish kills
- Wetlands: Periodic H2O inundation, saturated soils, highly productive, natural filers
———— Issues: 90% filled or drained
- Streams and rivers: Headwaters cold, clear, swift; rivers slow and warmer
———— Issues: pollution, damming and flood control impacts
- Estuaries: Transition between river and sea (salinity greatly varies based upon tides and river flow); extremely productive, feeding and breeding grounds
———— Issues: filling dredging, pollution
- Intertidal: Submerged and exposed 2x daily; highly stratified in short distance; algae's diverse, animals adapted for attachment - Open pelagic: Deep photic, low nutrients, covers 70% of Earth, average depth 4000 meters
———— Issues: over-fishing and waste dumping
- Coral Reefs: Only in photic zones; occurs above 20 C and below 30C; animal diversity rivals tropical rainforests
———— Issues: over-fishing and
- Marine Benthic: seafloor of neritic and pelagic; colder and higher pressures deeper; limited photosynthesis (nutrients "rain" down)
———— Issues: over fishing
What main factors determine the distribution of species?
- Dispersal limits: organisms don't have a chance to expand their behaviors (barriers such as the ocean, islands)
- Behavior limits: species able to expand, but they avoid certain habitats
- Biotic limits: other species compete, are predators, cause disease, or symbiotic species absent
- Abiotic limits: temperature, water, sunlight, rocks and soil may be inappropriate
How is modern climate change different than past climate change? How is this affecting species on Earth?
Modern climate change is much more rapid than in the past, and so species are unable to keep pace with rate of change.
Describe what the study of population ecology entails.
Population ecology studies factors that affect population density, dustribution, size, age and structure.
List abiotic and biotic factors that affect the population ecology of sea turtles.
Abiotic
- human lights can disorient hatchlings
Biotic
- nest predation varies greatly per year
- number of returning females varies greatly per year
What is population density? What influences it?
Population density is the number of organisms per unit area (land) or volume (water). It is affected by births, death, immigration, emigration.
How is population density measured?
- In rare cases, all members of a population can be directly counted
- random plots
- count sign
- Mark-recapture
What are the three measures of population dispersion and what factors cause them?
