Name___________________________________________________Date___________

Ecology Test Study Guide

Ecology Textbook Pgs. 8-76

Chapters 1-3

What you should understand:

• Energy enters an ecosystem in the form of sunlight and flows through the system to each cell and organism
• Matter interacts, changes, and recycles through an ecosystem
• Populations of organisms survive by maintaining interdependent relationships with each other and by using available biotic and abiotic resources from the environment
• Species depend upon one another and the environment for survival
• Energy is transferred through interdependent systems to support life.
• Ecosystems change over time

I. Living Things and the Environment  

MAIN IDEAS

• An organism's habitat provides food, water, shelter, and space necessary for the organism to live, grow, and reproduce.
• An ecosystem includes Biotic and Abiotic factors.
• Abiotic factors include water, sunlight, oxygen, pH, temperature and soil
• Biotic factors include all living things in an ecosystem.
• Given adequate biotic and abiotic resources, an ecosystem will maintain equilibrium and continue indefinitely.
• A population consists of only one species
• More biodiversity means more stability for an ecosystem.
• Different populations living together make up a community

Ecosystem -All living and nonliving things interacting in an area

Habitat -The place where an organism lives and provides the things the organism needs

Biotic factor -A living part of an organism

Abiotic factor -A nonliving part of an organism

Population -All the members of one species in a particular area

Community -All the different populations together in an area

Ecology -The study of how living things interact with each other and their environments

Biodiversity- The number of different species in an ecosystem. ( bio= life; diversity =different forms of)

II. Energy Flow in Ecosystems 

MAIN IDEAS

• The energy role of an organism is that of a producer, a consumer, or a decomposer.
• Producers (Plants and plant-like organisms) are the source of all life in an ecosystem.

• The four types of CONSUMERS are:

• herbivores- eat plants only
• carnivores- eat animals only
• omnivores- eat both plants and animals
• scavengers-  eat things found already dead

• DECOMPOSERS return nutrients back into the environment, where they can be used again.
• A FOOD WEB shows the path energy and nutrients travel through an ecosystem.

Producer -An organism that can make its own food.

Consumer -An organism that obtains energy by feeding off another organism

Herbivore -an animal that only eats plants

Carnivore -An animal that only eats another animal

Omnivore -An organism that eats plants and other animals

Scavenger an animal that eats the remains of another animal

Decomposer -an organism that breaks down nutrients  and returns them to the soil and water

food chain -A series of events in which one organism eats another

food web -The pattern of overlapping food chains in an  ecosystem

III. Interactions Among Living Things

MAIN IDEAS

• Over time, species of organisms develop specialized adaptations and behaviors that help them to succeed in their environments.
• The three major types of interactions between organisms are competition, predation, and symbiosis
• Symbiosis is a close relationship between two species. The three types of symbiotic relationships are mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism

Niche An organism’s particular role in an ecosystem or how it makes a living

Competition -The struggle between organisms for the limited resources in a habitat

Predation -An interaction in which one organism hunts another animal for food.

Predator -A carnivore that hunts and kills other animals for food and has adaptations that help the animal catch the prey

Prey -An animal which a predator feeds upon

Symbiosis -A close relationship between two organisms in which al least one of the organisms benefits.

Mutualism -A type of symbiosis in which both partners benefit from living together.

Commensalism - A relationship between two species in which one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Parasitism -A relationship in which one organism lives in or on a host and harms it.

Parasite -An organism that lives in or on a host, causing harm to the host.

Host -An organism that provides a source of energy or a suitable environment for another organism to live

IV. Changes in the Environment

MAIN IDEAS

• Gradual changes in an environment after a disturbance

There are two types of ecological succession that we discussed.

• Primary succession – occurs in areas where there is no soil. Pioneer species are the first to arrive and begin to break down rock into soil.

• Examples: after a glacier melts or a volcano erupts (bare rock)

• Secondary succession – occurs in an area where there has been a disturbance or change in the ecosystem and the soil is still intact. Secondary succession is more common and leads to a stable climax community.

• Examples: forest fires, natural disasters, clearing land

Succession - Normal, gradual changes that occur in the types of species that live in an area.

Pioneer Species - Hardy organisms (lichen and moss) that begin an area’s soil building process.

Climax Community - A stable community that no longer goes through major ecological succession.