Biology - Ecology

• What do species compete for to survive and reproduce?

  Resources such as food, water, and space
• What is mutualism?

  When both species benefit from a relationship
• What is parasitism?

  When a parasite benefits from a host
• What resources do animals compete for?

  Food, water, space, and mates
• What resources do plants compete for?

  Light, water, space, and minerals
• Why do plants not compete for food?

  They make their own food through photosynthesis
• What is the greenhouse effect?

  Trapping of the Sun's radiation in the atmosphere

  
• What role do greenhouse gases play?

  They trap heat around the Earth
• What happens to most of the Sun's radiation?

  It is absorbed by the Earth
• What is the most concerning greenhouse gas?

  Carbon dioxide
• How do human activities contribute to global warming?

  By increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• What are some consequences of global warming?

  Melting ice caps and rising sea levels
• What human activities use land?

  Buildings, mining, agriculture, and landfill
• What is deforestation?

  Removal and destruction of trees
• What are peat bogs?

  Areas where decomposition occurs over time
• How does burning peat affect the atmosphere?

  It releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
• What do trees absorb for photosynthesis?

  Carbon dioxide
• What happens when trees are cut down?

  Less carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere
• What is convection?

  Movement of fluid due to temperature differences
• What occurs during evaporation?

  Water turns from liquid to gas
• What is condensation?

  Gas turning into liquid
• What is precipitation?

  Rain, snow, sleet, or hail falling to the ground
• What is transpiration?

  Water moving through plants and evaporating
• What is biodiversity?

  • Variety of living organisms
  • Important for stable ecosystems
  • Interdependence among organisms
• What is a community in ecology?

  Populations of different species in a habitat
• What are consumers in an ecosystem?

  Organisms that feed on other organisms
• What are decomposers?

  Organisms that feed on dead and decaying matter
• What is deforestation?

  Removal and destruction of trees
• What are abiotic factors?

  Non-living factors of an environment
• What are biotic factors?

  Living factors of an environment
• What is the source of energy in a food chain?

  The Sun's radiation
• What do arrows in a food chain indicate?

  The direction of energy flow
• How do predator and prey populations interact?

  They increase and decrease in cycles

  
• What are adaptations?

  Features that enable survival in a habitat
• What are the types of adaptations?

  • Structural adaptations: body features
  • Behavioural adaptations: actions of organisms
  • Functional adaptations: physiological processes
• What is natural variation?

  Differences within a species that aid survival
• Who described the process of 'survival of the fittest'?

  Charles Darwin
• What is the mean in ecology?

  Total number of organisms divided by quadrats
• What is the main focus of the carbon cycle?

  Transfer of carbon to and from the atmosphere
• How is carbon transferred from the atmosphere?

  When plants absorb carbon dioxide