Intro Ecology Web Quest
Part I: Ecological Organization
I-1. Populations:
1. What is population?
2. List two things that increase a population.
3. List two things that decrease a population.
I-2. Ecosystems
1. What is an ecosystem?
2. What do ecosystems include?
3. What happens if one part of an ecosystem in damaged or destroyed?
I-3. Biodiversity
1. What is biodiversity?
2. Why is it important?
3. List three interesting facts from this site.
I-4. Factors Affecting Biodiversity
1. What are abiotic factors? Give 2 examples.
2. What are biotic factors? Give 2 examples.
Part II: Ecosystems, Energy and Nutrient Cycling
II-1. Food Chains
1.
2.
3.
4.
A person is called a _____________________________________ because they eat meat & vegetables.
Food gives people and animals __________________________________.
________________________ are animals that only eat meat.
________________________ are animals that only eat plants.
Choose the Forest Food Chain.
5. What animals were in your food chain? Place them in the correct order.
6. What 5 things happen if you take the frog out of the food chain?
a. _________________________________________________
b. _________________________________________________
c. _________________________________________________
d. _________________________________________________
e. _________________________________________________
II-2. Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
1. List and describe the three groups of consumers.
2. Why are herbivores also called primary consumers?
3. Why are decomposers important to food chains and webs?
4. What types of organisms are decomposers?
5. How are food chains different from food webs?
6. Why do most food chains have no more than four or five links?
7. Click on the underlined link energy pyramid. Once the new window/simulation opens, read the
Introduction and fill in the pyramid below with the appropriate labels.
a.
b. Click on the picture of the bird. Why do the birds not receive all of the energy from the
caterpillars they eat?
c.
Click on the picture of the prairie dog. Why are carnivores, like the coyotes, important to
keeping an ecosystem balanced? What would happen if there were no carnivores?
d. Click on the picture of the diatoms. What happens when organisms at the bottom of the
pyramid decrease or disappear? Why?
II-3. Food Webs
Choose one of the three food webs. Put the food web together and draw it below. Label each organism as a
producer, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, or decomposer.
II-4. NUTRIENT CYCLING
A. Carbon Cycle
1. Click Scene 1. Name the 7 places on the earth we find carbon:
2. Read about the carbon cycle and fill in the blanks below:
a. Plants pull carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere to make food, through a
process called ____________________.
b. Through food chains animals get ____________ from the plants and other animals they eat.
c. When plants and animals die and ____________, carbon goes back into the
d. ground.
e. Some carbon is buried deep in the ground and forms ________________________.
f. When humans burn fossil fuels, ________________ is released back into the atmosphere.
g. When humans and animals exhale, they release carbon back into the air by a process called
______________________________.
B. Nitrogen Cycle
1. What are 2 ways nitrogen becomes useable to plants, humans and animals?
2. How do herbivores obtain the nitrogen they need?
3. How is nitrogen returned to the atmosphere?
4. Why are bacteria important to the nitrogen cycle?
5. What are two ways humans impact the nitrogen cycle?
Part III: Impact of Human Activity on Ecosystems
Visit the links for each topic below. Explain what the impact is/define the topic and then list two facts related to
each impact.
Description/Definition
Deforestation
Extinction of Species
Pollution
Human Soil Erosion
Fires
Greenhouse Effect
Two Facts About Human Impact
Part IV: Biomes Around the World
1. What are the 5 major types of biomes?
2. How are biomes categorized or distinguished from each other?
3.
What are the 3 Freshwater Biome Regions and the 3 Marine Biome Regions?
a.
Freshwater =
b.
Marine =
4. Click on the different types of biomes (go back to the original page) to answer the questions below.
a. How much of the earth’s surface is covered by deserts?
b. What are the three major types of forests?
c. What main feature(s) characterize grasslands?
d. List 3 characteristics of a tundra biome.
Part V: Succession
1.
Define primary succession and give an example.
2. Define secondary succession and give an example.