Ecosystem

The branch of biology dealing with interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment

The simplest grouping of more than one kind of organism in the biosphere

Which of the following is NOT a basic method used by ecologists to study the living world

Which ecological inquiry method is an ecologist using when he or she enters an area periodically to count the population numbers of a certain species

A mathematical formula designed to predict population fluctuations in a community could be

Which of the following organisms does NOT require sunlight to live

In which way are plants in a sunny mountain meadow and sulfur bacteria in a deep-sea volcanic vent alike

Corn planted in a field that has been previously planted with legumes and then plowed under is likely to be

All the interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem make up a food

The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level

What is an ecological model of the relationships that form a network of complex feeding interactions among organisms in a community from producers to decomposers

What animals eat both producers and consumers

What is the term for each step in the transfer of energy and matter within a food web

A bird stalks, kills, and then eats an insect. Based on its behavior, which pair of ecological terms describes the bird

What goes in Box 5 of the food web in Figure 3-2

What are the three kinds of ecological pyramids

Only 10 percent of the energy stored in an organism can be passed on to the next trophic level. Of the remaining energy, some is used for the organism's life processes, and the rest

A word that means the same thing as consumer

Matter can recycle through the biosphere

Which part of the water cycle is a biological process

Nitrogen fixation is carried out primarily by

Organisms need nutrients in order to

The movements of energy and nutrients through living systems are different

Biogeochemical cycling ensures that

What can happen after a lake receives a large input of a limiting nutrient

Animals that get energy by eating the carcasses of other animals that have been killed by predators or have died of natural causes

Each of the following is an abiotic factor in the environment EXCEPT

Which is a biotic factor that affects the size of a population in a specific ecosystem?

Which is an example of how biotic and abiotic factors interact

Which of the following is a food chain in the food web shown in Figure 3-4

An ecologist who is studying a group of ecosystems that have similar climates and are home to similar organisms is studying a

Ecologists can make using ecological models

Clouds are formed in the sky when water

Animals that feed on plants are

The passage of energy from one organism to another according to a particular feeding sequence

In an ecological pyramid, the biomass of living things at each higher level

Only about 10 percent of the in a trophic level is available to organisms at the next trophic level

Scientists classify the nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus, and water cycles

A lake that is protected from receiving the excess runoff from a nearby farm is more likely to remain

Seawater, sand on a beach, pebbles in the sand, and broken seashells are all examples of at a seashore

Sharks are the top consumer in a food chain that begins with algae. Algae are producers that get their energy from the sun. Energy from the sun eventually is passed on to the shark through the food chain that begins with the algae.

The two producers are alike because they both produce carbohydrates and oxygen and are essential to the flow of energy through the biosphere. They are different because they get their energy from different sources.

In time, all living things die regardless of where they are in the food chain. The decomposers break down the remains of dead plants and animals, releasing substances that are reused by other organisms in the ecosystem

The eagle is a consumer at the third trophic level when it eats a rabbit and a consumer at the fourth trophic level when it eats a snake or an owl.

Sometimes consumers are much less massive than the organisms they feed upon. For example, thousands of insects may graze on a single tree. The tree has a lot of biomass, but it is only one organism. So the "base" of the pyramid will be small and the next level up will be wider.

Energy flows in one direction from the sun to producers and consumers. Matter moves in biogeochemical cycles through living systems, Earth, the atmosphere, and the oceans.

Water seeps through soil and into the groundwater. Roots of trees and plants take the water up through their roots. Plants release the water through the process of transpiration. Both seepage and transpiration are parts of the water cycle.

The cycling of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen make these materials available to living organisms in a form that cells can use.

A large input of a limiting nutrient, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, can cause the algae to grow and reproduce more quickly.

Biotic factors may include: plants the rabbit eats, predators that eat the rabbit, and animals that compete with the rabbit for food and territory. Abiotic factors may include: temperature, rainfall, and space.