Ch 4 The Organization of Life

Ch 4 The Organization of Life

Multiple Select

Select the example(s) of an ecosystem.

• oak forest

• coral reef

• a vacant lot

• beneath a rotting log

• a city

Ecosystem

All of the organisms living together with their physical environment.

​Ecosystems are connected

• ​Ecosystems don't generally have clear boundaries.

• ​Living and non-living things move from one ecosystem to another.

Open Ended

Why is it important that materials are move across ecosystem boundaries? 

Open Ended

What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors?

Components of an ecosystem are considered biotic or abiotic. What's the difference?

How do the abiotic and biotic factors differ in this ecosystem compared to the previous one?

Open Ended

How do the biotic and abiotic factors in this ecosystem compare to the previous one? What difference might that make to the diversity of life there?

What constitutes a species?

​A group of organisms that can mate to produce fertile offspring.

Multiple Choice

What is the ecological definition of a population?

• A group of plants and animals that live in a specific area.

• A group of animals that interact closely with one another.

• A group of the same species that live in the same place.

• A group of similar organisms that are closely related, and live in the same place (e.g. coyotes and wolves in Florence County)

Multiple Choice

What is the most accurate ecological definition of a community?

• a group of the same species living in the same place

• a group of 2 or more different animals living in the same place

• a group of various species that live in the same place and interact with each other

• all of the plants and animals, as well as their physical environment, in a certain place

Habitat

• The place an organism lives within an ecosystem.

• Specific abiotic and biotic factors that the organism needs to survive.

• Organisms tend to be very well suited to their habitat, but not necessarily their ecosystem...

Open Ended

How might you describe the difference between an ECOSYSTEM and a HABITAT?

Natural Selection

• the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment, because of certain traits, are more likely to survive and reproduce than other individuals.

​Charles Darwin proposed...

​Evolution

• ​A change in the genetic characteristics of a population from one generation to the next.

​How does evolution happen?

• ​

​Adaptation

• ​ An inherited trait that increases an organism's chances of survival AND reproduction in a certain environment.

Multiple Choice

What is the difference between natural selection and evolution?

• natural selection is more important that evolution

• natural selection is what comes from years of evolution

• natural selection is the process that leads to evolution

• evolution is a theory and natural selection is a scientific law

​Artificial Selection

• ​Selective breeding of organisms by humans for specific characteristics.

​Coevolution

• ​The process of two species evolving in response to long-term interactions with each other.

Open Ended

Why is artificial selection important to humans?

Open Ended

Why is evolution by natural selection important to humans?

​3 Domains of the "Tree of Life"

Multiple Select

Which are the THREE DOMAINS of life?

• Animals

• Plants

• Archaea

• Bacteria

• Eukarya

Multiple Select

What are the FOUR KINGDOMS of organisms?

• Fungi

• Plants

• Protists

• Animals

• Bacteria

Multiple Choice

Within the kingdom plantae ("plants") there are two main divisions; angiosperms and gymnosperms. What's the difference?

• Angiosperms produce flowers and gymnosperms produce cones.

• Angiosperms produce cones and gymnosperms produce flowers.

Multiple Choice

Within the kingdom animalia there are two main divisions; invertebrates and vertebrates. What's the difference?

• Invertebrates have a backbone while vertebrates lack a backbone.

• Invertebrates lack a backbone while vertebrates have a backbone.

Multiple Select

Which are characteristics of most invertebrates (there are exceptions)?

• warm-blooded

• small in size

• large in size

• cold-blooded

• have co-evolved with other organisms

Multiple Choice

Which do you think is the first vertebrates to complete their entire life cycle on land?

• fish

• amphibians

• reptiles

• mammals

Multiple Choice

The term evolution describes

• the changes that take place in an individual organism over time.

• environmental and organismal changes over time.

• the process by which acquired traits are passed onto offspring.

• the changes that take place in a population of organisms over time.

Multiple Choice

According to Charles Darwin, which traits always become more common because they are selected through the process of natural selection?

• traits for strength and stealth

• traits for large size

• traits that increase the potential for survival and reproduction

• traits for the brightest and showiest fur or plumage

Multiple Choice

How does natural selection lead to the outcome of evolution?

• In nature, only the biggest and strongest individuals survive. Over time, the individuals in a population evolve into forms that are bigger and stronger.

• Individuals with adaptive traits for their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than those without such traits. Over time, the favorable traits become more common in the population.

• Natural selection causes the sick and weak individuals in a population to die, leaving only the strong individuals.

• Natural selection allows organisms to fully develop the traits they desire. In this way, the population gradually changes.

Multiple Choice

Which scenario is an example of evolution by natural selection?

• All of the finches on an island are similar to the nearby mainland finches, but not identical.

• All of the different species of finches have the same type of beak.

• Finches on an island begin nesting on the ground whereas mainland finches nest in trees.

• All of the finches on the island are the same, but are very different from the nearby mainland finches.

Multiple Choice

The bright color of the poison dart frog is an adaptation that probably

• helps the frog

• warns predators that the frog is poisonous.

• allows the frog to be active at night.

• helps the frog hide from predators.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT an example of coevolution?

• the nectar of some flowers and the tongue and beak of some hummingbirds

• the protective behavior of ants and the honeydew released by the aphids the ants protect

• the production of secondary compounds in mustard plants and the ability of cabbage butterfly larvae to digest the chemicals in the plants

• the hard shells of acorns and the strong front teeth of squirrels

Multiple Choice

In selective breeding

• changes take place slowly and naturally in a wild population.

• farmers select which types of crops or animals to raise.

• farmers select plants or animals with desirable traits for breeding.

• farmers allow nature to select which plants and animals will breed.

Multiple Choice

How does natural selection lead to bug sprays that no longer kill bugs?

• Individual insects mutate and evolve in response to the bug spray.

• Survivors are resistant to the bug spray and pass this trait on to their offspring.

• Bug sprays become weaker over time because of chemical degeneration.

• Insects know they will die if they do not develop resistance to the bug spray, so they develop resistance.

Open Ended

Why have humans been so capable of adapting to our environment?