Packet 9 Exam
Vocab to know:
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Ecology
Biosphere
Species
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Autotroph
Heterotroph
Consumer
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Decomposer
Food chain
Food web
Trophic level
Ecological pyramid
Biomass
Evaporation
Transpiration
Limiting nutrient
Weather
Climate
Greenhouse effect
Polar zone
Review Sheet
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Temperate zone
Tropical zone
Biotic factor
Abiotic factor
Habitat
Niche
Resource
Predation
Symbiosis
Mutualism
Commensalisms
Parasitism
Ecological succession
Pioneer species
Biome
Plankton
Zooplankton
Photic zone
Aphotic zone
Biodiversity
Competition
Predator
Prey
Scavenger
Concepts you need to understand:
1. Understand how organisms interact with their environment. (food chains, food webs,
biotic and abiotic factors.)
2. Energy is needed to keep an ecosystem going. The initial energy comes from the sun
and is made available to organisms through producers. (plants, autotrophs, algae)
3. Energy is passed on to other organisms in the form of food. Since all organisms must
use energy for their own needs, most energy is lost before it can be passed to the
next step in the food chain. As a result, organisms high on the food chain have less
energy available to them and must have smaller populations (less energy—less
biomass; ecological pyramids)
4. Environmental factors (air, water, light, temperature, pH, food, predators, etc)
determine which organisms can live in an ecosystem and how large the populations
can get.
5. Materials must be recycled in ecosystems. Dead organisms and wastes must be
recycled in ecosystems so that their raw materials can be made available for re-use
by producer organisms. The gas exchange of photosynthesis and respiration, along
with the action of decomposers are crucial to the recycling process.
6. There are many roles in an ecosystem (niche), but competition between species
usually results in only one species occupying a niche at any one time. Only one
species at a time can occupy a niche. Often,organisms with similar needs will
divide resources to reduce competition. (for example some birds eat insects during
the day so the bats can eat them at night)
7. Biodiversity refers to the variety of life on Earth. The greater the biodiversity, the
more stable the ecosystem. (refer to page 99 in your Prentice Hall Review Book)
8. Know the basic processes of ecological succession. Succession, a series of
environmental changes, occurs in all ecosystems. The stages that any ecosystem
passes through are predictable.