Question 1

What is the greenhouse effect?

Accepted Answer

The trapping of heat in the atmosphere, due to an increased concentration of green house gases

(primarily caused by humans, but some happens naturally)

Question 2

What is ozone depletion?

Accepted Answer

The thinning of Earth's ozone layer due to human release of chemicals

(CFCs from aerosol cans cause this; ozone depletion may allow excessive UV radiation, possibly leading to more cancer)

Question 3

What is acid rain?

Accepted Answer

Rainfall that has been turned acidic by atmospheric pollution

Question 4

What are common impacts of the greenhouse effect?

Accepted Answer

Increased temperatures, which melt polar ice caps, which lead to rising sea levels

Increased temperatures can also disrupt ecosystems

Question 5

What are possible impacts of ozone depletion?

Accepted Answer

More UV radiation reaching the Earth, resulting in increased cancer rates

Question 6

What is the effect of acid rain?

Accepted Answer

Lowers the pH (makes more acidic) in aquatic ecosystems and soil, damaging plants and animals

Question 7

What is desertification?

Accepted Answer

The process of fertile land turning into deserts

Often caused by overgrazing and lack of soil management

Question 8

What is deforestation?

Accepted Answer

The clearing of forest to make room for human activity

Question 9

What are the effects of deforestation?

Accepted Answer

Habitat loss, more erosion, and more floods

Question 10

How can human activity reduce biodiverstiy?

Accepted Answer

As different habitats are destroyed, many plant and animal species have gone extinct

(those plants/animals could have provided medicines or other scientific information)

Question 11

Why must an organism's behavior occasionally change?

Accepted Answer

Environments are constantly changing, so organisms also need to adapt

(squirrel's fur can change in the winter; not to be confused with natural selection)

Question 12

What is an organism's evolutionary goal?

Accepted Answer

Gain the most energy possible while using the least, in order to reproduce as efficiently as possible

Question 13

What are endotherms?

Accepted Answer

Animals that generate body heat through their metabolism

(casually known as "warm-blooded"; nearly all mammals are endotherms)

Question 14

What are ectotherms?

Accepted Answer

Animals that can't control their own body temperature

They rely on outside sources, such as the sun

(commonly known as "cold-blooded"; most lizards are ectotherms)

Question 15

What is behavior?

Accepted Answer

How an organism acts in its environment

Question 16

What is an instinct?

Accepted Answer

A behavior an organism is born with - it doesn't have to be learned

(Different types of bees doing their work)

Question 17

What is learning?

(in the context of biology and behavior)

Accepted Answer

Changing a behavior, due to some event or experience

Question 18

What is imprinting?

Accepted Answer

The act of certain young animals coming to trust something as their parent

(newly-hatched goslings will imprint upon the first thing they see, declaring it their mother)

Question 19

What is a critical period?

(in the context of behavior)

Accepted Answer

A short period of time after some animals are born where imprinting can occur

Question 20

What is habituation?

Accepted Answer

A form of learning where an animal learns not to respond to a repeated stimulus

(if your pet notices something weird, it may freak out at first, but overtime it will get habituated)

Question 21

What are circadian rythms?

Accepted Answer

Internal clocks, that let an organism get a rough sense of the time of day

(circadian rhythms allow roosters to know when to start crowing; doesn't refer to seasonal changes)

Question 22

What are common types of signals organisms use to communicate?

Accepted Answer

Chemical, visual, electrical, and tactile

Question 23

Why do organisms use signals?

Accepted Answer

Communicate with each other, influencing social and mating behavior

(fireflies flashing their lights)

Question 24

What are pheromones?

Accepted Answer

Chemical signals between members of the same species that are used for communication

(stimulate olfactory receptors, which affect behavior)

Question 25

What is agonistic behavior?

Accepted Answer

Aggressive behavior between organisms

Occurs as a result of competition for food or other recources

Question 26

What are dominance hierarchies?

Accepted Answer

A form of animal social structure

Animals are more dominant than the ones below it and are submissive to the ones above it

(commonly known as "pecking order")

Question 27

What is territoriality?

Accepted Answer

Tendency of organisms to defend their territory when resources are in short supply

(common in birds)

Question 28

What is altruistic behavior?

Accepted Answer

Unselfish behavior where an organism puts the group's needs first

(squirrels giving warning calls about predators - puts the individual squirrel at danger, but helps the group)

Question 29

What are symbiotic relationships?

Accepted Answer

Close relationships between two species, where at least one species benefits

(remoras attaching themselves to sharks)

Question 30

What is mutualism?

Accepted Answer

A symbiotic relationship where both organisms benefit

Question 31

What is commensalism?

Accepted Answer

A symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits, but the other is not harmed

Question 32

What is parasitism?

Accepted Answer

A symbiotic relationship where one organism benefits at the expense of the other

Question 33

What is photoperiodism?

Accepted Answer

The flowering of plants depending on how much daylight and darkness they recieve

(plants are actually controlled by the amount of uninterrupted darkness, not sunlight)

Question 34

What is tropism?

Accepted Answer

An organism (often a plant) turning itself in response to a stimulus

Question 35

What is phototropism?

Accepted Answer

Plants turning towards sunlight

Question 36

What is gravitropism?

Accepted Answer

Plants orienting themselves with gravity

Stems grow away from gravity; roots grow towards gravity

Question 37

What is thigmotropism?

Accepted Answer

The way plants turn in response to physical touch

(ivy wraps itself around posts)

Question 38

What are auxins?

Accepted Answer

A class of plant hormones that promote growth

(auxins help a plant turn towards sunlight)

Question 39

What are gibberellins?

Accepted Answer

A type of plant hormone that promotes stem elongation

Question 40

What are cytokinins?

Accepted Answer

A type of plant hormone that promotes cell division and differention

Question 41

What is ethylene?

Accepted Answer

A type of plant hormone that makes plants ripen and spread seeds

(if mutations occur in ethylene receptors that cause the receptors to lose function, ripening will not occur)

Question 42

What is abscisic acid?

Accepted Answer

Plant hormone that controls leaf abscission and promotes bud/seed dormancy

(controls when the plant buds and releases seeds)

Question 43

What is leaf abscission?

Accepted Answer

The process where leaves turn dry and fall off

Question 44

What is ecology?

Accepted Answer

The study of interactions between living things and their environments

Question 45

What is a species?

Accepted Answer

A group of similar individuals that are able to reproduce together

Question 46

What is a population?

Accepted Answer

A group of organisms belonging to the same species that interact with each other

Question 47

What is a community?

Accepted Answer

A group of populations, from different species, interacting in the same area

(biotic factors only)

Question 48

What is an ecosystem?

Accepted Answer

All populations interacting with abiotic factors

(consists of biotic and abiotic factors)

Question 49

What is a biome?

Accepted Answer

A massive area with similar climate and plant life

Question 50

What is a biosphere?

Accepted Answer

The entire part of the earth where living things exist

Question 51

What are biotic factors?

Accepted Answer

Living organisms and factors in an ecosystem

(other individuals, diseases, etc.)

Question 52

What are abiotic factors?

Accepted Answer

Nonliving factors

(water, humidity, temperature, etc.)

Question 53

What is the carbon cycle?

Accepted Answer

The process of how carbon is recycled throughout an ecosystem

Question 54

What is a niche?

Accepted Answer

A position or function in a community

(example: animals that hunt for prey on plants; when two organisms occupy the same niche, they will compete for recources)

Question 55

What is a food chain?

Accepted Answer

A series of organisms that are dependant on the next for food

Question 56

What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?

Accepted Answer

A food chain follows a specific path of energy

A food web shows the interaction of multiple food chains

Question 57

What are producers/autotrophs?

Accepted Answer

An organism that can synthesize its own food

(doesn't rely on eating other organisms; most plants are autotrophs)

Question 58

What is primary productivity?

Accepted Answer

The rate at which autotrophs convert light energy into chemical energy

Question 59

What are chemosynthetic autotrophs?

Accepted Answer

Autotrophs that get energy from chemical reactions, rather than the sun

(these autotrophs are very rate)

Question 60

What is biomass?

Accepted Answer

The total weight of organisms in an area

Question 61

What are consumers/heterotrophs?

Accepted Answer

Organisms that consume other organisms for energy

(scientifically, they digest the carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids of their prey into their own body, which they use to make organic substances)

Question 62

What are primary consumers?

Accepted Answer

Organisms that feed directly on producers

(cows)

Question 63

What are secondary consumers?

Accepted Answer

Organisms that consume primary consumers

Question 64

What are tertiary consumers?

Accepted Answer

Organisms at the top of the food web that consume secondary consumers

Unit 8: Ecology, AP Biology Flashcards