Visualizing Ecology

Reading Questions for Bush, Ecology of a Changing Planet

Ch 6, 8.3-8.4, 9 

Please complete the following questions for lecture on Tuesday, Jan. 30.  

Chapter 6 

Define autotroph and heterotroph.

Define endothermy and ectothermy.

Describe the range in percent of energy that can pass from one step in the food chain to the next step and how this relates to endotherms and ectotherms.

What limits the number of steps (trophic levels) in a food chain?

Chapter 8.3-8.4 

Define density-independent factors in relation to population fluctuations.

Define environmental gradients.

Define niche.

Define guild.

Chapter 9 

Define food web and describe how it is different than a food chain.

What does Bush say about the effect of losing one species on a food web? How about losing an entire trophic level in a food web?