ecology

[datdat]

first wondering how many ecology questions are usually on DAT. should i study much?

and here's some questions.

1. communities are only refers to biotic community? or it could be abiotic community? any example of abiotic communities?

2.what's the different b/w ecosystem and biosphere? i know the biosphere is bigger but don't quite understand the differences...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Kneecoal]

i had an ecology question today. the chapter in cliff's is pretty good.

 

[sugarsting]

IMO (and different ecologists have differing opinions, so a conceptual understanding is the best way to go with these questions)

1. A community is a collection of species, which is biotic. This term may include the environment the community inhabits, in which case this also includes the abiotic factors. An "abiotic community" makes no sense...what is it? A collection of rocks? No...

2. An ecosystem has characteristic biotic and abiotic factors. The biosphere is a term that includes all life forms on the planet.

 

[doctor K]

first wondering how many ecology questions are usually on DAT. should i study much?

and here's some questions.

1. communities are only refers to biotic community? or it could be abiotic community? any example of abiotic communities?

2.what's the different b/w ecosystem and biosphere? i know the biosphere is bigger but don't quite understand the differences...

1. Community only includes biotic factors or organisms, but it can be affected by abiotic factors such as temperature, water, inorganic compounds, soil environment (pH, nutrients, etc.), and other non-living/chemical factors.

2. Once you start talking about both biotic and abiotic factors, that's when the concept of ecosystem comes in, because a big idea of ecology is the flow of energy cycle (i.e. nutrient flow), whereas biotic factors focuses on different species, mimicry, plant/animal defense, etc.

So in short, community refers to the interactions amongst organisms, and ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environments.

 

[datdat]

i had an ecology question today. the chapter in cliff's is pretty good.

ecology in terms of naming biomes?

 

[ttran9229]

I had 2 eco and 2 biome conceptual questions on the dat yesterday, so it would be advantageous for you to understand these topics in some detail.