Name _____________________________________________
Period ______________
Eco Writers End-of-Cycle Exam Study Guide
March 12th, 2012
1. Which law regulates air pollution? Which law regulates water pollution? Which
law protects endangered species?
Water pollution: The Clean Water Act – regulates pollution that can be
released into bodies of water, requires states to assess water quality, and
come up with management plans for polluted waters
Air pollution? The clean air act – regulates emssions
Endangered species? Protects Endangered species from hunting or habaitat
degradation.
2. Define the following terms related to species interactions.
Competition
Mutualism
Parasitism
Predation
Commensalism
-/+/+
+/+/0/+
3. Why are trees important to an ecosystem, even after they have fallen?
Provide a habitat for wildlife, and decompose, releasing nutrients into the soil.
4. How does the second law of thermodynamics relate to energy moving up trophic
levels?
The second law of thermodynamics says that potential energy decreases as
energy is transferred between systems. This means that as energy is transferred
from one organism to another (i.e. a primary producer to an herbivore),
potential energy decreases or is lost to respiration and waste.
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5. Using the food web above, what directly results from removing a primary
consumer, such as a deer or moose from the ecosystem?
The wolf population will decrease significantly or collapse.
6. Fill in the trophic levels for a temperate deciduous forest. Use the following
organisms: Spider, grasshopper, Deer, Bear, Snake, Hawk, Mouse, Tree, Flower,
Grass, Mountain Lion, small birds, coyote
Tertiary Consumers Bear, Mountain Lion, Hawk
Secondary Consumers Spider, Coyote, Snake
Primary Consumers Deer, Mouse, small birds
Primary Producers Grass, Tree, Flower
7. Which of the following biome has the highest net primary productivity?
Tropical Rainforest
8. In photosynthesis, during light reactions, what do plants take in? What do they
give off? What do organisms (or plants during dark reactions) give off?
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Plants take in _____CO2___ and give off _____O2____ during light reactions of
photosynthesis.
When organisms like humans and bacteria respirate they take in ____O2______
and give off ____CO2_____.
9. Which biome has the lowest net primary productivity, and therefore would be
most impacted by degradation of primary producers?
Tundra
10. The net annual primary productivity of a particular savanna ecosystem is found
to be 5,000 kcal/m2 per year. If respiration by the producers is 4,500 kcal/m2
per year, what is the gross annual primary productivity for this ecosystem, in
kcal/m2 per year?
Net primary productivity = gross primary productivity - respiration
5,000 kcal/m2 = x-4,500 kcal/m2
+4,5000
+4,500
x=9,500 kcal/m2
11. Tropical Rainforests tend to be the most deforested biome in the world. What
are 2 things that will happen to the soil in a rainforest if you remove all the
trees?
1) soil would be quickly depleted of nutrients
2) soil erosion
12. Traveling from the northpole to the equator, what happens to the mean
temperature? What happens to the mean precipitation? Why?
Temperature it increases
Precipitation it increases
13. Give 3 examples of abiotic components and 3 examples of biotic components
that are affected by abiotic components in an ecosystem?
Abiotic
Biotic
1) nutrients (C,N,P,S..etc)
1) Plants
2) water
2) Animals
3) soil
3) Bacteria, Fungus
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14. What is gross primary productivity (GPP)? What is net primary productivity
(NPP)? How are they related?
NPP=the total after the amount of E required for respiration is expended from the
gross primary productivity
GPP=The total biomass produced from converting light energy into chemical energy
in the form of glucose
Relation: NPP=GPP-Respiration
15. What is an Ecosystem service? Name 3 examples of ecosystem services?
An Ecosystem service something that is provided by an ecosystem to humans.
1) bats eating misquitos
2) flood control
3)oxygen provided through photosynthesis by primary producers
16. What is the primary cause of deforestation in the tropical rainforests of the
Amazon basin?
Cattle Ranching
17. How do trees control the flow of water during rainstorms?
They have roots that hold them in place and force the water to move around
them.
18. A farmer uses nitrogen fertilizer to increase crop yields. Run off from irrigating
crops brings nitrogen to streams and rivers. Eutrophication begins. What is
likely to happen next?
Algal blooms will form on the surface, preventing sunlight from reaching
bottom plants, and causing them to decompose. The decomposition will
increase the Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) needed by decomposers and
plant respiration and deplete the water of oxygen.
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The following questions refer to qualities of water samples. Write the letter for the
correct answer in the blanks for numbers 19 through 23. An answer may be used
once, more than once, or not at all.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Acidity
Turbidity
Hardness
Dissolved oxygen
Salinity
19. Measured on the pH scale ____A____
20. Caused by suspended particulates ___B___
21. Measured by the amount of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ____C____
22. What are 2 characteristics of a population that would accelerate its extinction?
Limited distribution area and being the top specialist at the top of a long food
chain.
23. Logging occurs, polluting the local stream. What is the most likely result of an
increase in pollution (increase in decomposition) in the stream?
Increased water temperature
24. Which of the above park layouts has the least forest fragmentation? How will
this affect the biotic organisms that live in the forest?
B has the least habitat fragmentation and this will increase edge effects and
disturbances like predation and disease.
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25. Rank the following forestry practices in order from most sustainable to least
sustainable: Selective cutting, clear cutting, strip cutting.
Selective Cutting
Most sustainable =1
Clear Cutting
Strip Cutting
2
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26. Match the following terms with their definitions.
i. National parks
ii. National wildlife refuges
iii. National forests
iv. National wilderness preservation areas
v. National resource lands
A. Wilderness, scenic view and unusual landforms that have distinct boundaries,
and are preserved for the enjoyment of the US public __i__
B. Areas that are set aside for the primary purpose of protecting wildlife, such as the
endangered Marbled Murrelet. ___ii__
C. Publically owned lands usually formed within national forests or rangelands,
which limit human use to preserve the ecosystem, by prohibiting logging, mining
or construction of roads. __iv__
D. Along with National Rangelands (for grazing) these areas are managed by the
National Forest Service, these are section of land dominated by woody plants
within Publically owned lands. __iii____
E. These areas of land are managed by the bureau of land, which are set aside
for resources accessed by the public. Publically owned oil rigs are an example
of this type of land. _v__
27. What are 3 major goal of the program begun in 1995 to reintroduce the gray
wolf into Yellowstone National Park? (related to the endangered species list, the
bison population and ecosystem balance/predator prey relationships)
1) To remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list
2) to manage the bison population
3) To balance the ecosystem, and the food chain by reintroducing an important
predator
28. List 4 ADVANTAGES of maintaining the biodiversity of an ecosystem:
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1) It maintains unique ecosystems for recreational or aesthetic purposes
2) It ensures access to potential new medications in healthy ecosystems
3) It ensures food security by maintaining a diversity of plant species
4) It promotes healthy wildlife populations by maintaining genetic diversity
29. What is an example of wetland mitigation? Why is wetland mitigation
complicated?
An example of wetland mitigation is building an apartment complex on top of
a wetland and then building a wetland along a highway on unused land. The
disadvantage to this is that building where there is supposed to be a wetland,
can lead to pest problems and land saturation problems. The problem with
building a wetland where there was never a wetland is that trying to create
an ecosystem where one does not exist originally involves a lot of
components that have to be synthetically implemented, and can be easily
miscalculated.
30. What is reclamation? What is an example of reclamation of a heavily mined area?
Reclamation is extreme restoration or at least partial restoration efforts by
chemically and/or physically manipulating the land after a site is badly damaged
from mining or hazardous waste.
31. Explain how Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrate, phosphate could be used to identify whether
a water system is contaminated.
If dissolved oxygen levels are low, that may indicate that BOD is high due to
increased decomposition of sewage or agricultural runoff, or runoff from cattle farms.
If nitrate levels and phosphate levels are high that might also indicate the present of
agricultural or sewage run off.
32. Fill in the chart for what types of water tests, and what they tell you about the water
quality/why is it important?
Test
What it tells your about the water
quality
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Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is necessary for fish
or other organisms that respire a live.
High levels of dissolved oxygen is
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
Fecal Coliform bacteria
Nitrate (NO3)
Phosphate (PO4)
Temperature
pH
Turbidity
Water Hardness
33. Explain how water quality changes at different parts of a stream? Why?
Upstream
Midstream
Downstream
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