Title: Ecology And Ecosystems — LearnCoachAssist

Q: What is a food chain?
A: A food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients and energy pass as one organism eats another, from producers to top consumers.

Q: What is a food web?
A: A food web is a complex, interconnected network of multiple food chains within an ecosystem, showing how energy flows through many pathways.

Q: What is a producer in a food chain?
A: A producer (autotroph) is an organism, such as a plant or alga, that synthesizes its own food from inorganic substances using photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

Q: What is a primary consumer?
A: A primary consumer is an herbivore that feeds directly on producers, occupying the second trophic level in a food chain.

Q: What is a secondary consumer?
A: A secondary consumer is a carnivore or omnivore that feeds on primary consumers, occupying the third trophic level.

Q: What is a tertiary consumer?
A: A tertiary consumer is a predator that feeds on secondary consumers, occupying the fourth trophic level in a food chain.

Q: What is a decomposer?
A: A decomposer is an organism, such as bacteria or fungi, that breaks down dead organic matter and recycles nutrients back into the ecosystem.

Q: What is a trophic level?
A: A trophic level is a hierarchical position in a food chain, defined by the number of energy-transfer steps from the primary producers.

Q: What is the 10% rule in ecology?The 10% rule states that approximately only 10% of the energy at one trophic level is transferred to the next level
A: the rest is lost mainly as heat.

Q: What is a trophic cascade?
A: A trophic cascade is an ecological phenomenon where changes at the top of the food chain cause reciprocal effects at lower trophic levels.

Q: What is a biome?
A: A biome is a large-scale community of organisms classified primarily by the dominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations to that particular environment.

Q: What are the main characteristics of a tropical rainforest biome?
A: Tropical rainforests have high biodiversity, warm temperatures year-round (25–30°C), heavy annual rainfall (>200 cm), and a dense canopy structure with multiple layers.

Q: What defines the tundra biome?
A: The tundra is characterized by extremely cold temperatures, a short growing season, permafrost, low precipitation, and vegetation limited to mosses, lichens, and low shrubs.

Q: What is a temperate deciduous forest?
A: A temperate deciduous forest is a biome with moderate rainfall, distinct seasons, and trees that shed their leaves in autumn, such as oaks and maples.

Q: What characterizes the taiga (boreal forest) biome?
A: The taiga features long, cold winters, short summers, coniferous trees (spruce, pine, fir), acidic soils, and relatively low biodiversity.

Q: What defines a desert biome?
A: A desert biome receives less than 25 cm of annual precipitation, experiences extreme temperature fluctuations, and supports organisms with specialized water-conservation adaptations.

Q: What is a grassland biome?
A: A grassland biome is dominated by grasses rather than trees, has moderate rainfall (25–75 cm/year), and includes temperate prairies and tropical savannas.

Q: What is a savanna?
A: A savanna is a tropical grassland biome with scattered trees, distinct wet and dry seasons, and large herbivore populations such as zebras and wildebeest.

Q: What is biodiversity?
A: Biodiversity is the variety of life at all levels of biological organization, including genetic diversity, species diversity, and ecosystem diversity.

Q: Why is biodiversity important?
A: Biodiversity provides ecosystem services such as pollination, water purification, nutrient cycling, climate regulation, and resilience against environmental disturbances.

Q: What is species richness?
A: Species richness is the total number of different species present in an ecological community, without regard to their relative abundance.

Q: What is species evenness?Species evenness describes how equally abundant each species is within a community
A: high evenness means species have similar population sizes.

Q: What is a biodiversity hotspot?
A: A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity (≥1,500 endemic plant species) that is under threat of destruction.

Q: What is an ecosystem?
A: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (biotic factors) interacting with their physical environment (abiotic factors) as a functional unit.

Q: What are abiotic factors in an ecosystem?
A: Abiotic factors are nonliving components such as temperature, sunlight, water, soil, wind, and minerals that influence living organisms in an ecosystem.

Q: What are biotic factors in an ecosystem?
A: Biotic factors are the living components of an ecosystem, including producers, consumers, decomposers, and their interactions.

Q: What are the characteristics of a marine ecosystem?
A: Marine ecosystems cover ~71% of Earth's surface, contain saltwater, support diverse life from phytoplankton to whales, and include coral reefs, open ocean, and deep-sea habitats.

Q: What is an estuary?
A: An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of water where freshwater from rivers mixes with saltwater from the ocean, creating a highly productive ecosystem.

Q: What are coral reefs and why are they important?Coral reefs are marine structures built by colonies of coral polyps
A: they support ~25% of all marine species and protect coastlines from wave erosion.

Q: What is a freshwater ecosystem?
A: A freshwater ecosystem includes bodies of water with low salt concentration (<1%), such as lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, and wetlands.

Q: What is a lentic ecosystem?
A: A lentic ecosystem consists of still or slow-moving freshwater bodies such as lakes, ponds, and wetlands.

Q: What is a lotic ecosystem?
A: A lotic ecosystem consists of fast-moving freshwater habitats such as rivers and streams, characterized by continuous water flow and high dissolved oxygen.

Q: What is a wetland?
A: A wetland is an area where land is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, supporting hydrophytic vegetation and serving as a natural water filter.

Q: What is a terrestrial ecosystem?
A: A terrestrial ecosystem is a land-based community of organisms and their environment, including forests, deserts, grasslands, and tundra.

Q: What is net primary productivity (NPP)?
A: NPP is the rate at which producers in an ecosystem store energy as biomass after accounting for their own cellular respiration: NPP = GPP − R.

Q: What is population density?
A: Population density is the number of individuals of a species per unit area or volume of their habitat.

Q: What is carrying capacity (K)?
A: Carrying capacity (K) is the maximum population size of a species that an environment can sustain indefinitely given available resources.

Q: What is exponential growth in a population?
A: Exponential growth occurs when a population increases at a constant per-capita rate, producing a J-shaped curve, typically under ideal conditions with unlimited resources.

Q: What is logistic growth?
A: Logistic growth is population growth that slows as the population approaches carrying capacity, producing an S-shaped (sigmoid) curve.

Q: What are density-dependent limiting factors?
A: Density-dependent factors are influences such as competition, predation, disease, and parasitism whose effects intensify as population density increases.

Q: What are density-independent limiting factors?
A: Density-independent factors are influences such as natural disasters, extreme weather, and pollution that affect population size regardless of density.

Q: What is an r-selected species?
A: An r-selected species is characterized by high reproductive rates, small body size, short lifespan, and little parental care, thriving in unstable environments.

Q: What is a K-selected species?
A: A K-selected species is characterized by low reproductive rates, large body size, long lifespan, and extensive parental care, thriving near carrying capacity.

Q: What is symbiosis?
A: Symbiosis is a close, long-term biological interaction between two different species living in direct contact.

Q: What is mutualism?
A: Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit, such as bees pollinating flowers while obtaining nectar.

Q: What is commensalism?
A: Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed, such as barnacles on a whale.

Q: What is parasitism?
A: Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of the host organism.

Q: What is an example of mutualism involving mycorrhizae?
A: Mycorrhizal fungi colonize plant roots, enhancing water and mineral absorption for the plant while receiving carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis.

Q: What is ecological succession?
A: Ecological succession is the gradual process by which ecosystems change and develop over time through a series of community stages.

Q: What is primary succession?
A: Primary succession occurs on newly exposed surfaces with no prior soil, such as bare rock from volcanic lava or retreating glaciers, beginning with pioneer species like lichens.

Q: What is secondary succession?
A: Secondary succession occurs in areas where a disturbance has destroyed an existing community but soil and seeds remain, allowing faster recovery than primary succession.

Q: What is a pioneer species?
A: A pioneer species is the first organism to colonize a barren environment during primary succession, such as lichens and mosses that begin soil formation.

Q: What is a climax community?
A: A climax community is a stable, mature ecological community that has reached equilibrium through the process of succession and remains relatively unchanged unless disturbed.

Q: What is conservation biology?
A: Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, habitats, and ecosystems from excessive extinction.

Q: What is an endangered species?
A: An endangered species is one that faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, as classified by organizations like the IUCN.

Q: What is the IUCN Red List?
A: The IUCN Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species, using categories from Least Concern to Extinct.

Q: What is habitat fragmentation?
A: Habitat fragmentation is the process by which large, continuous habitats are divided into smaller, isolated patches, reducing biodiversity and disrupting wildlife movement.

Q: What is an invasive species?
A: An invasive species is a non-native organism that, when introduced to a new environment, spreads rapidly and causes ecological or economic harm.

Q: What is the main cause of current biodiversity loss?
A: The main cause of current biodiversity loss is habitat destruction driven by human activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural expansion.

Q: What is deforestation?
A: Deforestation is the large-scale clearing or removal of forest, converting forested land to non-forest uses such as agriculture, logging, or urban development.

Q: What are the environmental effects of deforestation?
A: Deforestation leads to loss of biodiversity, increased carbon emissions, soil erosion, disrupted water cycles, and loss of habitat for countless species.

Q: What is the rate of global deforestation?
A: Approximately 10 million hectares of forest are lost each year, primarily in tropical regions of South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Q: How does deforestation contribute to climate change?
A: Deforestation releases stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when trees are burned or decompose, and removes carbon sinks that would otherwise absorb CO₂.

Q: What is ocean acidification?
A: Ocean acidification is the decrease in ocean pH caused by the absorption of excess atmospheric CO₂, which forms carbonic acid in seawater.

Q: How does ocean acidification affect marine organisms?
A: Ocean acidification reduces the availability of carbonate ions, making it harder for organisms like corals, mollusks, and plankton to build calcium carbonate shells and skeletons.

Q: What is the current ocean pH trend?
A: Ocean surface pH has decreased by about 0.1 units since pre-industrial times (from ~8.2 to ~8.1), representing a ~26% increase in hydrogen ion concentration.

Q: What is coral bleaching?
A: Coral bleaching occurs when stressed corals expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae algae, turning white and becoming vulnerable to disease and death.

Q: What is sustainability?
A: Sustainability is meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, balancing environmental, social, and economic factors.

Q: What is sustainable development?
A: Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations, integrating economic growth with environmental protection.

Q: What is the ecological footprint?
A: An ecological footprint measures the amount of biologically productive land and water area required to produce the resources a population consumes and absorb its waste.

Q: What is a keystone species?
A: A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its ecosystem relative to its abundance, such as sea otters controlling sea urchin populations.

Q: What is an apex predator?
A: An apex predator is a predator at the top of a food chain with no natural predators of its own, playing a critical role in regulating prey populations.

Q: What is bioaccumulation?
A: Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or heavy metals, in an organism's tissues over its lifetime.

Q: What is biomagnification?
A: Biomagnification is the increasing concentration of a toxin in organisms at successively higher trophic levels of a food chain.

Q: What is eutrophication?
A: Eutrophication is the excessive enrichment of a water body with nutrients (especially nitrogen and phosphorus), leading to algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and aquatic dead zones.

Q: What is the nitrogen cycle?
A: The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms as it circulates through the atmosphere, soil, and organisms.

Q: What is the carbon cycle?
A: The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and geosphere through processes like photosynthesis, respiration, and combustion.

Q: What is the water cycle?
A: The water cycle (hydrological cycle) is the continuous movement of water through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, and infiltration between Earth's surface and atmosphere.

Q: What is an ecological niche?
A: An ecological niche is the role and position a species occupies in its environment, including its habitat, diet, activity patterns, and interactions with other species.

Q: What is competitive exclusion principle?The competitive exclusion principle (Gause's law) states that two species competing for the exact same resources cannot coexist indefinitely
A: one will outcompete the other.

Q: What is resource partitioning?
A: Resource partitioning is the division of limited resources by species to reduce interspecific competition, allowing similar species to coexist in the same habitat.

Q: What is an indicator species?
A: An indicator species is an organism whose presence, absence, or abundance reflects the health or specific environmental conditions of an ecosystem, such as lichens indicating air quality.

Q: What is edge effect in ecology?
A: The edge effect refers to changes in population or community structures that occur at the boundary of two or more habitats, often increasing species diversity at the interface.

Q: What is island biogeography theory?
A: The theory of island biogeography states that species richness on an island is determined by a balance between immigration and extinction rates, influenced by island size and distance from the mainland.

Q: What is ecological resilience?
A: Ecological resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and reorganize while maintaining essentially the same function, structure, and feedbacks.

Q: What is a biosphere reserve?
A: A biosphere reserve is an internationally recognized area designated under UNESCO's MAB Programme to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.

Q: What is ex-situ conservation?
A: Ex-situ conservation is the preservation of species outside their natural habitats, such as in zoos, botanical gardens, seed banks, or captive breeding programs.

Q: What is in-situ conservation?
A: In-situ conservation is the protection of species within their natural habitats through methods like national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and marine protected areas.

Q: What is the greenhouse effect?
A: The greenhouse effect is the process by which greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) in the atmosphere trap heat radiated from Earth's surface, warming the planet.

Q: What is an endemic species?
A: An endemic species is one that is found naturally only in a specific geographic area and nowhere else, making it particularly vulnerable to habitat loss.

Q: What is the difference between weather and climate?
A: Weather describes short-term atmospheric conditions (hours to days), while climate is the long-term average of weather patterns in a region over 30+ years.

Q: What is an ecological footprint overshoot?
A: Ecological overshoot occurs when humanity's demand on nature exceeds the biosphere's regenerative capacity, meaning we consume resources faster than they can be renewed.

Q: What is the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration?
A: Photosynthesis converts CO₂ and H₂O into glucose and O₂ using light energy, while cellular respiration breaks down glucose with O₂ to release energy, CO₂, and H₂O.

Q: What is biological oxygen demand (BOD)?BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic microorganisms to decompose organic matter in water
A: high BOD indicates high organic pollution and low water quality.

Q: What is a dead zone in marine ecology?
A: A dead zone is a hypoxic area in a body of water where dissolved oxygen is too low to support most marine life, often caused by nutrient runoff and eutrophication.

Q: What is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)?
A: The CBD is an international treaty adopted in 1992 aimed at conserving biological diversity, promoting sustainable use of its components, and ensuring fair sharing of genetic resource benefits.

Q: What is rewilding?
A: Rewilding is a conservation approach that aims to restore ecosystems by reintroducing native species, removing invasive species, and allowing natural processes to resume.

Q: What is the difference between a threatened and endangered species?
A: A threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, while an endangered species already faces imminent risk of extinction.

Q: What is an umbrella species?
A: An umbrella species is a species whose conservation indirectly protects many other species that share its habitat, such as the giant panda in bamboo forests.

Q: What is agroforestry?
A: Agroforestry is a sustainable land-use system that integrates trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock to enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and increase carbon sequestration.

Q: What is the precautionary principle in environmental science?
A: The precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or environment, protective measures should be taken even without full scientific certainty.

Q: What is carbon sequestration?
A: Carbon sequestration is the long-term capture and storage of atmospheric CO₂ in plants, soils, geologic formations, or the ocean to mitigate climate change.