Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Ecology
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Ecology Unit Vocab
Ecology
Biosphere
Abiotic factor
Biotic factor
Population
Biological Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Habitat
Niche
Predation
Symbiosis
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
Autotroph
Heterotroph
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Detritivore
Trophic level
Food chain
Food web
Biomass
Community
Limiting factor
Ecological succession
Primary succession
Secondary succession
Population density
Population growth rate
Carrying capacity
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Intro to Ecology Homework
Directions: While reading pp 32-40 in your textbook, answer the questions below:
1. Are there any areas on Earth that are not included in the Biosphere? Explain.
2. Compare biotic and abiotic factors.
3. Describe the levels of organization of an organism that lives in your biome. Make sure to describe its population,
biological community, and ecosystem.
4. List 2 populations that share your home.
5. Differentiate between the habitat and the niche of an organism that lives in your ecosystem.
6. Fill in the following table:
Type of symbiosis
Mutualism
Description
Example
Commensalism
Parasitism
7. Look at the graph on pp 39. Describe the differences in population growth for the two species.
8. Evaluate what could be the next step in the researcher’s investigation.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Ecology Field Journal: Examining community interactions
Abiotic and Biotic factors:
Find, describe, and draw 3 biotic and abiotic factors
Biotic factor
Description
Sketch
Abiotic factor
Description
Sketch
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Ecosystem Interactions:
Find an organism and fill in the following information about that organism:
Organism: _____________________________ Sketch it:
Describe the organism’s population: _______________________________________________
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Describe the organism’s biological community: ___________________________________
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Describe the organism’s ecosystem: __________________________________________________
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Describe the organism’s biome: ______________________________________________________
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Describe the organism’s habitat: ____________________________________________________
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Describe the organism’s niche: ______________________________________________________
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Try to find the following examples of symbiosis in your community. Fill in the
following information about each time.
Type of Symbiosis
Mutualism
Describe what is happening
Sketch it
Commensalism
Parasitism
Lastly, think of an example of predation in your community. What organisms
are involved? _________________________________________________________________________
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How is this an example of predation and not parasitism? ________________________
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Cycling of Matter Worksheet
Directions: Before doing the online activity, read pp 45-49 in your textbook and answer the questions below:
1. List four important biogeochemical process that cycle nutrients.
2. Compare and contrast two of the cycles of matter.
3. Explain the importance of nutrients to an organism of your choice.
4. Describe how phosphorous moves through the biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem.
Next: navigate to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_2011/greenworld/recyclingrev1.sh
tml and answer the questions below as you explore the site.
5. What are two ways that carbon is released into the environment?
6. What absorbs carbon dioxide? How?
7. Describe the path carbon dioxide take from when it is ingested by an animal (like a bird) to when it
eventually becomes a fossil fuel.
8. How is the carbon cycle different in a marine environment than in a land environment
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Lab: The Role of Plants in the Carbon Cycle
Procedure:
1. Fill a jar with blue BTB to the top. Pour into an Erlenmeyer flask. Do one more time, so there are two vials
worth of BTB in the flask.
X2
Blue BTB
Vial
2. Blow gently into the Erlenmeyer flask with a straw until the BTB JUST turns yellow. Do not blow for too
long!
3. Pour the yellow BTB back into the two jars.
4. Put a 2-3 inch long piece of aquatic plant in one jar. Seal both jars tightly!
5. Fill out and tape a label onto your jars.
7. Place jars under the grow lamp on the paper marked for your class. Put the label facing DOWN so it
doesn’t block the light.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Is CO2 an INPUT for photosynthesis?
Fill flask with 2 jars of
BLUE BTB
Blow gently into BTB
until it just turns
yellow. You are adding
CO2
Pour yellow BTB back
into jars
Place piece of aquatic
plant into one jar
Seal BOTH jars tightly!
Label both jars and put
under light.
BTB turns blue
CO2 has been removed
from the water.
CO2 is an INPUT for
photosynthesis.
BTB stays yellow
CO2 has NOT been
removed from the water
CO2 is NOT an INPUT
for photosynthesis.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
How Are Plants Different?
1. What types of matter and forms of energy go in and out of plant cells during photosynthesis? Complete
the diagram below.
2. If someone claimed that a plant’s mass comes mainly from CO2 in the air, explain why you agree or not
agree with that statement. __________________________________________
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3. Using what you know about photosynthesis, explain why plants are important to carbon cycling.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Homework: Ecological Succession:
Directions: While reading pp 60- 64 in your textbook, answer the questions below:
1.
Identify how temperature is a limiting factor for polar bears.
2.
Predict how unfavorable abiotic and biotic factors affect a species.
3.
Describe how ranges of tolerance affect the distribution of a species.
4.
Classify the stage of succession of a field that is becoming over-grown with shrubs after a few years of disuse.
Interpreting Graphs:
Abandoned cornfields have been the sites of investigations concerning ecological succession, the orderly progression of changes in
the plant and/or animal life of an area over time (see Figure 1).
During the early stages of succession, the principal community (living unit) that dominates is the pioneer community. Pioneer plants
are depicted in Figure 2.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
The final stage of ecological succession is characterized by the presence of the climax community, the oak-hickory forest. Figure 3
depicts the gradual change from pine to hardwoods.
Following are some act sample questions on the above passage:
1.
2.
3.
4.
On the basis of the data presented in Figure 1, approximately 80 years after the abandonment of cropland, the land
would contain:
A. pine seedlings only.
B. oak-hickory hardwood forests only.
C. early invading species like horseweed, aster, and broomsedge.
D. large pine trees with an understory of hardwood trees.
According to the information in Figure 3, a 150-year-old climax community would contain oak and hickory trees with a
density of approximately:
A. 3,000 trees per unit area.
B. 5,000 trees per unit area.
C. 15,000 trees per unit area.
D. 20,000 trees per unit area.
On the basis of the data depicting the gradual change from pine forest to an oak-hickory forest, after 100 years, as the
density of the pine trees:
A. increases, the density of the oak-hickory trees increases.
B. increases, the density of the oak-hickory trees decreases.
C. decreases, the density of the oak-hickory trees increases.
D. decreases, the density of the oak-hickory trees decreases.
Given the information in Figure 1, which of the following conclusions concerning ecological succession in an abandoned
cornfield is most correct?
A. Succession in an abandoned cornfield begins on bare rock.
B. Succession is characterized by the replacement of one plant community by another until a climax community has
been achieved.
C. The height of the plants in the communities decreases as succession progresses to the climax stage.
D. The plant species change continuously during succession, but the change is more rapid in the later stages than in
the earlier stages.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
5.
Name: ________________________________
According to Figure 2, pioneer plant(s) showing a progressive increase in summed diameter of stems per unit area over
the course of several years of succession is(are):
A. horseweed only.
B. broomsedge only.
C. aster and broomsedge only.
D. horseweed, aster, and broomsedge.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Ecological Succession
Succession, a series of environmental changes, occurs in all ecosystems. The stages that any ecosystem passes
through are predictable. In this activity, you will place the stages of succession of two ecosystems into
sequence. You will also describe changes in an ecosystem and make predictions about changes that will take
place from one stage of succession to another.
The evolution of a body of water from a lake to a marsh can last for thousands of years. The process
cannot be observed directly. Instead, a method can be used to find the links of stages and then to put them
together to develop a complete story.
The water level of Lake Michigan was once 18 meters higher than it is today. As the water level fell,
land was exposed. Many small lakes or ponds were left behind where there were depressions in the land.
Below are illustrations and descriptions of four ponds as they exist today. Use the illustrations and
descriptions to answer the questions about the ponds.
Pond A:
Cattails, bulrushes, and water lilies grow in the pond. These plants have their roots in the bottom of the pond,
but they can reach above the surface of the water. This pond is an ideal habitat for the animals that must
climb to the surface for oxygen. Aquatic insect larvae are abundant. They serve as food for larger insects,
which in turn are food for crayfish, frogs, salamanders, and turtles .
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Pond B:
Plankton growth is rich enough to support animals that entered when the pond was connected to the lake.
Fish make nests on the sandy bottom. Mussels crawl over the bottom.
Pond C:
Decayed bodies of plants and animals form a layer of humus over the bottom of the pond. Chara, branching
green algae, covers the humus. Fish that build nests on the bare bottom have been replaced by those that lay
their eggs on the Chara.
Pond D:
The pond is so filled with vegetation that there are no longer any large areas of open water. Instead, the pond
is filled with grasses. The water dries up during the summer months.
Questions:
1. Write the letters of the ponds in order from the youngest, to the oldest.
2. Black bass and bluegill make their nests on sandy bottoms. In which pond would you find them?
3. What will happen to the black bass and blue gill as the floor of the ponds fills with organic debris?
4. Golden shiner and mud minnows lay their eggs on Chara (green algae). In which pond would you find
them?
5. Some amphibians and crayfish can withstand periods of dryness by burying themselves in mud. In which
pond(s) would they survive?
6. Dragonfly nymphs spend their early stages clinging to submerged plants. Then, they climb to the surface,
shed their skins, and fly away as dragonflies. Which pond is best suited for dragonflies?
7. In which pond will gill breathing snails be replaced by lung breathing snails that climb to the surface to
breathe?
8. Some mussels require a sandy bottom in order to maintain an upright position. In which pond will they die
out?
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
The climax community in the area of Arkansas is an oak-hickory forest. After the ponds are filled in, the
area will undergo another series of stages of succession. This is illustrated below. Briefly explain what is
happening in the diagram.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Biome
Tundra
Precipitation Temperature
Name: ________________________________
Plants
Animals
Geographic location
Boreal Forest
Temperate
forest
Temperate
woodland
and
shrubland
Temperate
grassland
Desert
Tropical
Savanna
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Tropical
Seasonal
forest
Tropical Rain
forest
Mountains
Polar regions
Marine
Environments
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Population Ecology Homework
Directions: Answer the questions below as you read pp 92-99.
1. Compare and contrast spatial distribution, population density, and population growth rate.
2. Summarize the concepts of carry capacity and limiting factors.
3. Sketch diagrams showing all 3 population dispersion patterns.
4. Analyze the impact a nonnative species might have on a native species in terms of population
dynamics.
5. Describe an experiment you could do to see if a population of fruit flies grows according to the
exponential growth model or the logistic growth model.
6. Look at the ‘Data analysis lab’ graph on pp 98. Compare the data from the three years.
7. Why might the house finch abundance stabilized in 1995 and 1996?
8. Is the parasite, Mycoplasma gallispthicum, effective in limiting the size of house finch populations?
Explain.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
Human Population Homework
Directions: Answer the questions below as you read pp 100-105 in your textbook
1. Describe the change in human population growth overtime.
2. Describe the difference between the age structure graphs of non-growing, slowly growing, and rapidly
growing countries.
3. Assess the consequences of exponential population growth of any population.
4. Summarize why human population began to grow exponentially in the modern age.
5. Look at the graph that goes along with the mini lab on pp 101. The graph shows one factor affecting
human population growth. Use the data to predict how this factor will affect the population in each
country between now and the year 2050.
6. Brainstorm a list of factors, events, or conditions that affect the growth of human populations in these
countries. Predict the effect of each factor on the population growth rate.
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Biology- Ecology Unit (Chapters 2-4)
Name: ________________________________
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