Chapter 5 Study Guide
Know the following terms:
Ecosystem - All living and nonliving things in an area
Population - A group of organism of one species that live in one area
Community - A group of organisms of all populations in an area
Niche - The role an organism has in an ecosystem
Habitat - a place in which an organism lives
Biome - Large ecosystems with the same climate and organisms
Biosphere - All biomes together
Energy pyramid - a diagram that shows the amount of energy that flows at each level of the food chain
Food Chain - The transfer of energy through a series of organisms that use one another for food
Food Web – All food chains in a particular place
Cycle - a repeating process or a repeating flow of material through a system.
Environment – Everything that surrounds and influences an organism
Organism – Any living thing including plants and animals
Terrarium – a mini garden in an enclosed container
Know the following concepts:
What would happen if an ecosystem becomes unbalanced? (text p. 129)
*All relationships among organisms keep the ecosystem balanced. Populations may increase or decrease
How an energy pyramid shows the flow of energy in a food chain or food web
- Base is the widest, shows energy in producers, has the greatest amount of energy
- Pyramid becomes narrower at the upper levels so less energy flows upward from the lower levels to the
higher ones because energy is being used to do activities, only a small amount of energy is stored, and
only stored energy can pass along the food chain.
What role each of the following play in ecosystems: producers, consumers, and decomposers
Producers – make their own food
Consumers – eat other organisms to get energy to live and grow
Decomposers - break down waste and dead matter
How each of the following gets their energy: producers, herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores
Producers – from sunlight; herbivores – from plants; omnivores – from plants and animals; carnivores –
from animals
The difference between biotic and abiotic factors. Be able to identify examples of each.
Abiotic factors are living things in an ecosystem; Biotic factors are nonliving things
Ex – plants, animals, fungi etc.
Ex. Air, soil, water, temperature, etc.
What all organisms need to live, grow, and reproduce
- energy
Where organisms can live
– only where their needs can be met
Know what a water biome is and be able to describe the four examples of water biomes.
Like a biome (Large ecosystems with the same climate and organisms) it is an oceanic area that has similar
climate conditions and organisms. Fun Fact: aquatic biomes occupy the largest part of the biosphere
Rivers – different depending on speed of water and salinity (salt)
Wetlands – partly covered w/ water or flooded part of the year; have plants that can exist in water or
on land; types include swamps and marshes
Coral Reefs – relatively shallow water w/ few nutrients or high levels of oxygen; coral and algae
Deep Sea – cold, dark, and very high water pressure; no sunlight so no plants; some organisms have
adapted to the pressure
Describe why organisms compete and what the results of competition might be.
Organisms compete for resources such as space, water, light, food, and mates. Possible results: they
survive, move away, or die
You will be given a food web similar to the one below. You should be able to identify two different food
chains, label each organism (in your food chains) as a producer or consumer, label each consumer as an
herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore, and then describe similarities between each of the food chains you
identified.
Ex – grass (P) – caterpillar (C, H) – thrush (C, C) – hawk (C, C)
shrubs (P) – rabbit (C, H) – hawk (C, C)
shrubs (P) – rabbit (C, H) – fox (C, C)
Shrubs (P) – squirrel (C, H) – fox (C, C)
Shrubs (P) – mouse (C, H) – weasel (C, C) – fox (C, C)
grass (P) – rabbit (C, H) – hawk (C, C)
Grass (P)– rabbit (C, H) – fox (C, C)
shrubs (P)– squirrel (C, H) - hawk (C, C)
shrubs (P) - mouse (C, H) - hawk (C, C)
shrubs (P)– mouse(C, H) – fox (C, C)