Ecology Test Review ANSWER KEY
• You are responsible for checking your answers and
making sure they are correct
• If you skipped a question or didn’t get the answer,
write it down now!
• Ecology Test is tomorrow, Wednesday, November 9th
1.
Biome
Large region with a particular climate and particular
species of plants and animals that live there
Ecosystem
All of the biotic and abiotic factors in an area
Community
All of the populations of living
things in an area
Population
Organisms of the
same species in an
area
Organism
2. Describe the climate (temperature and rainfall) of the
following biomes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Tundra: low precipitation and extreme cold
Tropical Rainforest: high precipitation and high humidity
Desert: low precipitation and extreme heat
Temperate Grassland: seasonal precipitation
3. What is ecology?
The study of living things and their environment
4. What is an abiotic factor? Give 2 examples.
Nonliving part of the environment
Ex: water, sun, air, rocks, sand
5. What is a biotic factor? Give 2 examples.
Living (or previously living) part of the environment
Ex: plants and animals
6. Define the following roles in an ecosystem and give an
example of each:
a. producer: makes own food from energy from sun; plants
b. consumer: eats other organism; animals
c. decomposer: break down dead organisms; fungus
d. scavenger: feeds on dead organism; vulture
e. herbivore: eats only plants; grasshopper
f. carnivore: eats other animals; wolf
g. omnivore: eats both plants and animals; bear
7. What is a limiting factor in ecology?
nonliving or living thing that regulates the size of a
population
8. How is the biodiversity of an ecosystem related to its
sustainability?
more diversity & variation leads to greater sustainability
(diversity = genetic variation, lots of producers, multiple
populations, etc.)
9. How do ecosystems maintain homeostasis (balance)?
Ex: When one population increases, organisms can starve
due to lack of food. When that population decreases, the
food supply with then increase. Then balance in the
ecosystem will be reached.
10. What is the difference between a food
chain and a food web?
A food chain show s a single pathway that
energy flows and a food web is a complex
diagram showing many pathways
11. Using the food web, explain what
would happen if the deer population
decreased significantly.
The mountain lion population would
decrease
12. What do the arrows represent in a food chain or food
web?
The direction energy goes
Ex: grass  grasshopper
13. What happens to the amount of energy in food chain
as you go up the energy pyramid?
Amount of available energy decreases
14. Describe the process of photosynthesis. Include the
chemical equation.
Radiant energy from the sun is converted to chemical
energy in a plant.
Water + Carbon Dioxide + Sunlight  Oxygen + Glucose
(Glucose)
15. Draw a picture and explain
geotropism.
Roots grow down and shoots grow up
16. Draw a picture and explain
phototropism.
Plants grow toward light (sun)