Review of Basic Ecology
1. What is the difference between the biotic and the abiotic components of an ecosystem?
2. Using the ocean as an example, give two biotic and two abiotic components you would
expect to find.
3. Organisms can be divided into two categories: producers and consumers. What is the
difference between them?
4. What is another term to describe a producer? A consumer?
5. What does an herbivore eat? A carnivore? An omnivore?
6. Using the forest as an example, give an example of a herbivore, a carnivore and an
omnivore you would expect to find.
7. What is the difference between a scavenger and a decomposer?
8. What is the habitat for a robin? A killer whale?
9. What might be the niche for a beaver? A bird?
10. Draw a food web of a typical forest in Southern Ontario. Identify the producers, the
herbivores, the carnivores and the omnivores.
11. Draw a food pyramid of numbers for a typical ocean ecosystem. Your pyramid should
have four trophic levels.
12. In your pyramid, explain why the top trophic level has less energy than the trophic level
below.
13. How much energy usually moves to each higher trophic level in an energy pyramid?
14. What is the purpose of a food chain or web? Which more accurately reflects what
happens in ecosystems?
15. How do pyramids give more information than a typical food chain?
Ecosystem Review
Use the following terms to complete the statements below:
Niche
Habitat
Autotroph
Decomposer
Herbivore
Omnivore
Heterotroph
Consumer
Scavenger
Carnivore
Food web
Pyramid
1. Organisms which produce their own food are _____________________
2. Grass → Deer → Wolf: The wolf is a _____________________________ in this food
chain.
3. Something that eats already dead meat is a _____________________________
4. Something which eats both plants and animals is a ______________________
5. A vegetarian would also be a ___________________________________
6. A killer whale lives off the coast of Vancouver Island. These waters are the whale’s
_________________________
7. A bee collects nectar from flowers. This is the bee’s __________________________
8. Bacteria which break down dead organisms are called ________________________
9. All food chains begin with a (n) ___________________________________
10. Something which must eat food to obtain energy is a __________________________