Ecology+Study+Guide

__ What you need to know for the Ecology Test (Ch. 16 pg. 480-497) __


 * 1) Distinguish between the biotic and abiotic parts of the environment. Give examples of each.
 * 2) List the five levels of Environmental Organization from smallest to largest. Know the definition of each of these levels.
 * 3) Explain how populations and communities are related.
 * 4) Describe the functions of producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem.
 * 5) Describe the different types of consumers.
 * 6) Explain the difference between a food chain and a food web.
 * 7) Explain how energy flows through a food chain/web, and what happens to the energy.
 * 8) Describe how the removal of one species affects the entire food web.
 * 9) Describe what an energy pyramid tells us. Why is it shaped like it is?
 * 10) Explain why there are fewer organisms at the top of a food chain. (Why are there so few tertiary consumers?)
 * 11) Explain how the food web changed when the gray wolf disappeared from the Yellowstone National Park AND when it was brought back in.
 * 12) Explain the relationship between carrying capacity and limiting factors.
 * 13) Give some examples of limiting factors.
 * 14) Describe the two types of competition.
 * 15) Describe some adaptations that allow predators to better catch prey.
 * 16) Describe some adaptations that allow prey to escape predators.
 * 17) Compare coevolution with symbiosis.
 * 18) Distinguish between mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.
 * 19) Be able to identify primary, secondary and tertiary consumers from a food web.