About This Chapter
GRE Biology: Ecological Interactions - Chapter Summary
Interspecific competition and niche differentiation are among the topics covered in this chapter. Strengthen your comprehension of ecological interactions by studying the fun video lessons. This chapter explores the following:
- Prey defensive strategies and predator offensive strategies
- Ecological succession
- Food chains and trophic levels
- Symbiotic relationships
- Conservation biology and metapopulations
- Dispersal and colonization
- Population density
To quickly assess your understanding of ecological interactions and help you prepare for the style of questions you'll see on the exam, you can complete the lessons' practice quizzes while reviewing the material. The key terms of each lesson appear in bold in the transcripts that follow each lesson, allowing you to easily find concepts you want to study further.
GRE Biology Objectives
The GRE Biology subject test has a total of 190 multiple-choice questions. Ecological questions account for about 16% of the subject test's content. The exam is designed to showcase your knowledge of biology and can be included in your application to graduate schools.
1. Food Chains, Trophic Levels and Energy Flow in an Ecosystem
In this lesson, you'll learn about food chains, food webs, and the different roles that organisms play in an ecosystem. You'll also learn about how energy flows through an ecosystem.
2. Interspecific Competition, Competitive Exclusion & Niche Differentiation
What happens when two similar species that consume the same resources occupy the same space? Interspecific competition, that's what! Watch our video lesson to learn about the outcomes of this ecological battle.
3. Predator/Prey Interactions, Camouflage, Mimicry & Warning Coloration
You probably know that skunks can be quite stinky, bees sting and monarch butterflies are pretty, but do you know why? This lesson will introduce you to the reasons why some animals look or act the way they do and how these things relate to the predator/prey relationship.
4. Symbiotic Relationships: Mutualism, Commensalism & Parasitism
If your cat or dog has ever had fleas, you've witnessed symbiosis in action. In this lesson, learn the many types of symbiosis in biology, and how these relationships can have a positive, negative, or neutral effect on the individual species.
5. Populations: Density, Survivorship and Life Histories
Have you ever wondered how biologists determine the populations of animals in a particular geographic area? Watch this video lesson to find out, and discover how scientists look at the survivorship and life histories of many different species.
6. Carrying Capacity, Migration & Dispersion
Have you ever wondered why some types of birds fly south in the winter or why some animals form territories? Watch this video to learn about a species' maximum growth capabilities, the way its members group themselves and why they might migrate to new locations every year.
7. Dispersal, Colonization, and Island Biogeography
Have you ever gone in your backyard and discovered a wild raspberry bush that has never been there before? How did it get there? Why is there only one bush year after year? In this lesson, you'll study how plant and animal species colonize in new areas through dispersal and immigration and how some species thrive in a new area while others fail.
8. Ecological Succession: From Pioneer to Climax Communities
Just as people grow and change so, too, do ecosystems. Watch this lesson to learn about ecological succession from the beginning stages of development to a community's ultimate destination, or climax.
9. Conservation Biology, Habitat Fragmentation, and Metapopulations
It's becoming harder to conserve large, unbroken tracts of wilderness. Is there another way for conservation biologists to ensure the survival of a species? In this lesson, you'll learn about habitat fragmentation and metapopulations.
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Other chapters within the GRE Biology: Study Guide & Test Prep course
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