Ecosystems Study
Guide
Test Date: ________________________________________
1. A community is all the populations that live in an ecosystem.
2. A habitat provides a population with all its needs and includes living
and nonliving things.
3. A population is a group of the same kind of living thing that live in
the same place at the same time.
4. Ecosystem the living and non-living things that share a common
environment.
You need to know the following habitats (types of animals, plants,
climate, where in the world, etc. all will be general information)
Desert- be able to tell me that this includes hot, like the Sahara
Desert, and cold, like the Antarctic Desert, and climates
Grassland- know that there is not enough rain for trees to grow but
too much rain to form a desert
Rain Forest- know that there are three parts, canopy, understory,
forest floor
Forest- know deciduous and coniferous
Freshwater- includes ponds, marshes, swamps, streams, rivers
Marsh- an area of soft, wet, low-lying land
Swamp- flood lands during rainy season with woody plants like
trees
Saltwater- includes oceans and seas
Be able to look at a picture and identify the habitat
Know that oceans make up the earth’s largest ecosystem, and that 75%
of the earth is covered in water.
Know that living and nonliving things interact to help a living thing
survive, be able to give examples of how living things use these
resources to survive.
You should know that environments change over time for a variety of
reasons. Earthquakes, pollution, flooding, fires, deforestation, can all
cause an environment to change. Not all of this is bad change. For
example, sometimes a forest fire can kill small brush and weeds that
are keeping the trees from growing. Seeds left buried underground
will grow stronger after the fire has cleared away the extra brush.
Know living things compete within an environment for resources; this is
because all resources are limited. Be able to give an example.