NAME: __________________________________________________ PERIOD: _____
CB BIOLOGY
Ecology Packet
1. What do ecologists study? (be specific)
2. Place the terms below in order from the smallest category to the most broad.
BIOME
BIOSPHERE
COMMUNITY
ECOSYSTEM
You must know the definitions of
the terms in the left hand
column!!!
INDIVIDUAL
POPULATION
3. What does it mean when the terms above are described as nested?
4. What 2 life functions do organisms use food molecules for? What percentage of energy
consumed is used for each? Give examples of each from either the class discussion or your
life experience.
LIFE FUNCTION
%
EXAMPLES
5. Is energy recycled in living communities? Explain.
6. What is the energy source for most of earth’s ecosystems? ___________________________
7. List the 2 vocabulary terms that refer to plants’ ability to produce sugar molecules from
energy and abiotic substances.
8. How is a consumer different than a producer?
9. List and define the different types of consumers.
10. What do food chains and food webs diagram?
11. Compare and contrast food chains and food webs
Food Chain
How Similar
How Different
Food Web
12. List and define the 3 types of pyramid diagram used by ecologists.
13. In all 3 pyramids, what vocabulary term is represented by the different levels?
14. Compare and contrast the 3 types of energy pyramid.
Energy Pyramid
Biomass Pyramid
How Similar
Pyramid of Numbers
How Different
15. Each level of a pyramid is smaller that the one below it. How does this represent what is
observed in ecosystems?
16. How is question #4 related to question # 15?
17. Differentiate between abiotic and biotic.
18. What is a biogeochemical cycle?
19. Draw a diagram of the carbon cycle in the space below. Label the areas that represent
(NOTE: some items occur in more than 1 place):
Carbon leaving atmosphere
Carbon entering atmosphere
Energy source
Carbon moving through food web
Photosynthesis
20. What biological molecule needs phosphorous?_____________________________________
21. Where does the inorganic phosphorous taken up by plants come from?
22. How does phosphorous return to the soil?
23. What organisms are key to the nitrogen cycle?_____________________________________
24. What biological molecule needs nitrogen? ________________________________________
25. Where does the nitrogen that enters the nitrogen cycle come from?
26. How is nitrogen released from living organisms?
27. How does water get into and out of plants and animals?
28. Compare and contrast the 4 biogeochemical cycles.