Habitats and Niches

A. What is an organism’s habitat?

B. What is an organism’s niche?

1. What are some biotic factors that influence the niche?

2. What are some abiotic factors that influence the niche?

3. What happens if two species try to share the same niche in the same habitat?

C. What is competitive exclusion?

D. Explain the difference between an organism’s fundamental niche and its realized niche.

Niche Diversity

E. What is a predator?

F. What is a prey?

G. How can the predator create more niches?

H. What is a keystone predator?

Evolution and Adaptation

I. What is meant by evolution?

J. Why does evolution cause organisms to adapt to specific niches?

K. Distinguish between specialized species and generalized species.

L. Which kind (see C) has a higher survival rate when confronted with human activity? Explain

Convergent Evolution

Why would organisms with similar niches in two different ecosystems look alike?

Define convergent evolution. Give an example

Coevolution

A. Define coevolution

B. Describe the relationship between the some plants and caterpillars.

C. How do the acacia tree and the ant represent coevolution?

Populations

M. What factors affect the population of a species in a particular niche?

N. What did the economist Thomas Malthus say about the growth of human population?

O. How did Malthus’ observations influence Darwin?

P. What is meant by exponential growth?

Q. What is meant by carrying capacity? Explain the S shaped curve to represent a population that has reached its carrying capacity.

R. How do limiting factors affect a population?

1. What are density-dependent limiting factors? List them.

2. What is an independent limiting factor? Give an example.

3. Describe the growth curves produced by dependent and independent limiting factors.