Exam 3: Ecosystems - What Are They and How Do They Work

Which of the following best represents the process of photosynthesis?​

Water evaporates from the surfaces of plants through a process called ____.​

Liquid water changes temperature quickly because only a small amount of heat is required to produce a large change in temperature.​

Gravity is one of the three factors that sustain life on the earth.

The air we breathe resides in the lowermost layer of the atmosphere called the ____.​

About how much energy is lost with each transfer from one trophic level to the next?​

If the biomass of flowers that support the butterflies was known to contain 100,000 units of energy,and certain bird species were eating the butterflies that foraged on the flowers,what amount of energy,on average,could be expected to be transferred to the birds?​

Since the late 1960s,ecologists have developed mathematical ____________________ that simulate ecosystems.

Clearly explain the distinction between Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)and Net Primary Productivity (NPP).

In the Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States, scientists observed that population clusters of a small cactus were pronounced around nests of desert woodrats. Given this spatial relationship, they began to think the woodrat was related to the seeding of these cactus plants. After years of counting and observing woodrat nests and nearby cactus plants, scientists collected woodrat droppings for laboratory analysis to determine whether they contained cactus seeds. They also collected the droppings and transported them to other areas to see if this would bring about new population clusters of the cactus. Scientists then programmed the data they had collected into a computer. A computer program enabled them to predict that increases in the woodrat population would result in corresponding increases in the cactus population, and likewise, a decrease in the number of woodrats would signal an impending decrease in cactus. -The transport of woodrat dropping to other areas could be described as ____.​

Ecologists study interactions from the level of ____ to the level of ____.​

Water contracts when it freezes,making ice more dense than water.​

In the Sonoran desert of the southwestern United States, scientists observed that population clusters of a small cactus were pronounced around nests of desert woodrats. Given this spatial relationship, they began to think the woodrat was related to the seeding of these cactus plants. After years of counting and observing woodrat nests and nearby cactus plants, scientists collected woodrat droppings for laboratory analysis to determine whether they contained cactus seeds. They also collected the droppings and transported them to other areas to see if this would bring about new population clusters of the cactus. Scientists then programmed the data they had collected into a computer. A computer program enabled them to predict that increases in the woodrat population would result in corresponding increases in the cactus population, and likewise, a decrease in the number of woodrats would signal an impending decrease in cactus. -Which phase of the study could be described as modeling?​

Figure 3.10 -What trophic level does the blue whale occupy in this food web?

Which of the following best represents the process of aerobic respiration?​

​____ can be classified as primary consumers.

Complex networks of interconnected food chains in ecosystems are best described as ____.​

Bacteria are more important in the ____________________ than in the carbon or phosphorous cycles.

Despite the open ocean's low net primary productivity (NPP),it produces more of the earth's biomass per year than any other ecosystem or life zone.

Nitrogen fixation is accomplished by ____.​