1
Ecology: Abiotic Factors
Name:
ANSWER KEY
Due:
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED TO THE NON-LIVING ENVIRONMENT
Please put red colored circles around all of the biotic components, and blue colored squares
around the abiotic components of the picture below.
Living = Red Circles : All fish, Insects, Larvae, Zooplankton,
Phytoplankton, Grasses, Weeds, and Microscopic Life.
Non-Living = Blue Squares: The Sun, the air, the water without
microbes, the soil without microbes.
2
Use the pictures below as points of focus to describe how light can affect organisms.
Intensity: How bright it is
(lumens).
How long it lasts?
Length of day, seasonal
changes.
Quality / type of light.
Examples include if the day
is sunny vs. cloudy,
summer vs. winter, and
morning and evening vs.
the middle of the day.
Phototropism – Moving
toward the light
Many insect can display
photokinesis – Moving toward
the light.
Many insects also see light in
the UV Spectrum.
Why is this turtle sitting on a log? Explain using some
terms discussed in class.
The turtle has general cold
bloodedness and must heat up before it
can become active. By sunning itself
it’s warming its core temperature. It
can also escape predators by falling off
the log into the safety of the water.
Many mammals are
crepuscular, in that they are
most active during the dawn
and dusk / low light conditions.
Animals are also effect by the
time / duration of light,
seasonal changes for feeding,
mating, migrations.
Mammals see in the visible
light spectrum
Snakes can see prey in the
Infrared Spectrum.
3
Use the picture below to describe some of the advantages and disadvantages to having warm
and cold bloodedness?
Cold-blooded Advantages
-You do not get as many infections
as warm blooded creatures.
-A single meal can go a long way
because you don’t have to
constantly stay warm.
Cold-blooded Disadvantages
-You can’t be active in the cold
weather.
-Limited environments on earth.
Warm-blooded Advantages
-Active during the winter and cold
periods.
Warm-blooded Disadvantages
- Warm-blooded bodies provide an
nice warm environment for
viruses, bacteria and parasites to
live in.
-Warm-blooded require a lot of
energy to maintain high
metabolism.
Please describe the difference between a physical and behavioral adaptation based on how you
thermo-regulate on a cold winters day.
Physiological: The functions of the body.
Physiological adaptations to temperature.
These you generally cannot control, your body does them
automatically.
Behavioral: Actions or reactions of an organism to the environment.
You can control these reactions.
4
Describe how you have a range of tolerance when it comes to temperature. Please use the
words below in your discussion of this topic.
Hypothermia
Hyperthermia
Hypothermia - A decrease in the
core body temperature to a level
at which normal muscular and brain
functions are impaired. Your body
cannot become to cold
Hyperthermia: Having a body
temperature that is to high, cause
heart failure, among other
problems and death. Your body
cannot become to warm.
Warning! Two Part Question. Please add desert plants and animals to the scene below. Provide
text to around your sketches that describe how these organisms are adapted to survive this
deserts high temperature, and low moisture.
Adaptations of plants to survive with minimal water include.
•Using stomata: Structures that can close to keep water in when
dry.
•Thick waxy cuticles to keep water in (succulents, cacti)
•Small leaves, or absence of leaves.
•Water storage tissues.
•Deep roots
How animals have adapted to low water availability?
•Body covering can limit water loss.
– Skin vs. scales, insect chitin vs. feathers.
• Body tissue that retain water.
• Some small animals can absorb water from the air in morning
(dew), then go underground.
– Rare desert frogs and some insects.
• Eat prey items that are full of water.
• Have really dry feces.
• Come out only at night. Nocturnal.
• Seek shade, and live underground.
5
Please tell me about this organisms and its relationship to the non-living environment.
This is the pillbug (Aramadillidium vulgare) It is connected to the
non-living environment because it breathes oxygen through gills. It
cannot survive in dry areas. It also does not prefer sunlight or very
warm temperatures that cause evaporation.
What are the positives and negatives of wind? Please write a short paragraph explaining your
answer.
•  Wind brings weather, especially precipitation. Water
evaporates over ocean, wind carries water over land where it falls.
•  Wind can also cause erosion of soil, and will dry out areas much
faster.
•  Eroded soil can be redistributed to an area that needs it.
•  Wind can be very damaging to plants and animal populations.
•   Wind also increases the intensity of wild fires.
•  Animals and plants use wind in many ways.
6
Please describe how plants and animals utilize wind using the pictures below.
Animals use wind…
Plants use wind
 To smell.
 To pollinate.
 Water, prey items,
 Pollination: The
predators, etc.
transferring of pollen
 To fly with minimal
(plants sex cells) from
effort.
one plant to another.
 To move.
 To disperse seeds.
 To dry out and also to
cool down.
Please describe the type of seed dispersal below.
Wind
Water
Animal
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Tension
Animal
Fire (Opens Cone)
Please describe Island Biogeography theory based on the map below. Please describe using text
which Island will most likely exhibit the following. 1) Most migrations and fewest extinctions. 2)
Fewest migrations and most extinctions, 3) Describing using multiple arrows were island hopping
may occur.
1) The Island right next to the mainland will have the most
migrations and fewest extinctions.
2) The farthest away and smallest island will have the most
extinctions and fewest and migrations.
3) Draw arrows from the first islands to the next island and so on
down the chain.
8
Are forest fires good? Please answer this question in the space below.
Fire: Some seeds require a fire event or very hot temperature after
they have been dispersed to germinate.
Fire ecology: A branch of ecology that focuses on the origins of
wildland fire and its relationship to the environment that surrounds it,
both living and non-living.
Fire Dependence: This concept applies to species of plants that rely on
the effects of fire to make the environment more hospitable for their
regeneration and growth.
Forest fires are a very destructive force that can destroy trees,
property, and can be deadly to animals and people. They however,
have an important role in the forest ecosystem. Forest fires can aid
in seed dispersal, renew forests, and play an important role in the
ecosystem.
In the space below, please label the hydrologic (water) cycle. A strong answer will contain most
of the word bank below.
•Condensation •Evaporation •Precipitation •Percolation •Transpiration •Sublimation •Infiltration
Storage •Ground Water Storage •Freshwater discharge •Surface run-off.
•Ocean
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Evaporation – Substance changes from a liquid state to gas state
(requires energy).
Condensation – Water vapor (gas) turns back to a liquid. (energy
required / cold) -cloud formation.
Precipitation – Water that is so heavy it falls as liquid / solid.
Sublimation – Solid state turns directly to a gas state skipping liquid
phase.
Transpiration – Water released by plants into air.
 Non-living to the living, and back again.
Surface run-off: The water flow which occurs when soil is full to
capacity and excess water travels over the land.
Percolation: The slow movement of water through the soil.
Groundwater discharge: Water that has been underground seeps back
into the oceans, or into rivers or lakes.
10
Please describe the oxygen carbon dioxide balance based on the picture below. Be very
specific, using the equations for both photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Oxygen is released from the plant during photosynthesis. The
oxygen is used by living organisms in cellular respiration. Carbon
Dioxide is released by the Pillbug in the process. This carbon
dioxide is then taken in by the plant for photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis – Plants make sugar from sunlight. Light energy is
turned into chemical energy (sugars – carbon based).
6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2
Cellular Respiration: Processes whereby certain organisms obtain energy
from organic molecules.
Cellular Respiration
 C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + released energy.
Please write out the equation for photosynthesis in the boxes below.
6CO2
+
6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 +
6H2O
Which of the following is the correct equation for photosynthesis?
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• A) 6O2 + 6H2O + light energy = C12H6O6 + 6O2
• B) 6CO2 + 6H2O + sugar = C6H12O6 + 6O2
• C) 6CO2 + 6O2 + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6H2O
• D) 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6H2O
• E) 6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2
Please write out the equation for cellular respiration in the boxes below.
C6H12O6
+
6O2 =
Released energy + 6CO2 +
6H2O.
Which of the following is the correct equation for cellular respiration?
• A)
B)
• C)
• D)
C6H12O6
C6H12O6
C6H12O6
C12H6O6
+
+
+
+
6H2O = Released energy + 6CO2 + 6H2O.
6O2 = Released energy + 6CO2 + 6H2O.
6O2 = Released energy + 6O2 + 6H2O.
6O2 = Released energy + 6CO2 + 6H2O.
• E) C6H12O6 + 6CO2 = Released energy + 6O2 + 6H2O.
Describe how humans are interfering with the natural balance of the carbon and nitrogen cycle?
When human burn fossil fuels they release carbon that has been
trapped away under the earth for hundreds of millions of years.
This new carbon increases the Earths natural greenhouse effect
and warms the planet.
Humans burn coal and gasoline which releases nitrogen into the
atmosphere and causes acid rain.
12
Describe how nitrogen is fixed and then broken down as part of the nitrogen cycle below.
Fixed
Lightning can fix nitrogen.
Bacteria in the soil can fix
nitrogen.
Broken Down
Bacteria can break nitrogen
down.
Nitrogen Cycle: The circulation of nitrogen; nitrates from the soil,
absorbed by plants, eaten by animals that die and decay returning the
nitrogen back to the soil.
13
Please describe acid rain in the space below. Make reference to the pH
scale in and around the boxes.
Burning of coal and from cars
release nitrogen and sulfur
compounds into the air. The
compounds mix with air and the
clouds. Precipitation (rain, fog,
snow) that has a low pH is acid
rain.
1
2
Acidic
3
4
5
6
7
8
Neutral
9
10
11
12
13
14
Basic
Please draw arrows showing how phosphorus travels through the living and non-living world in
the phosphorus cycle.
14
Please label the following pictures as olgiotrophic, mesotrophic, eutrophic, or eutrophication
Emergent vegetation and
some free floating aquatic
plants
Green + Algae
+
Eutrophic
Crystal Clear High Mountain
Lake
Olgiotrophic
Mesotrophic
Green + Algae + Dead Organisms
Eutrophication
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Please describe Eutrophication below. Use the pictures as a resource in your response.
Eutrophication
 Aquatic plants use Phosphorus and Nitrogen and grow out of
control.
 Aquatic plants overpopulate and die.
 Bacteria break down dead plants and use oxygen in water
(respiration).
 No oxygen left for fish / other aquatic life and they die.
16
Abiotic Factors
Name:________________________
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
13
12
14
15
16
18
20
23
17
19
21
22
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
Possible Answers:
abiotic, acid, adaptation, biogeochemical, biogeography, biological, biotic, carbon, coldbloodedness,
condensation, dispersal, eutrophic, eutrophication, evaporation, evapotranspiration, hibernation, hyperthermia,
hypothermia, light, lightenergy, mesotrophic, moisture, nitrogen, oligiotrophic, percolation, phosphorus, photo,
photosynthesis, physiological, pollination, precipitation, respiration, shivering, temperature, thermoregulation,
tolerance, warmbloodedness, water
Copyright Ryan Murphy 2010
3 - This is when water that is so heavy it falls
as liquid / solid.
5 - Having a body temperature that is to high
that may cause heart failure, among other
problems and death
7 - Wind, water, animal, and tension are all
types of seed _____________
10 - Type of rain that has a lower pH from air
pollutants.
11 - Processes whereby certain organisms
obtain energy from organic molecules.
1 - Being inactive during winter, and lower
metabolism
2 - The circulation of carbon from the
atmosphere into organisms (biotic) and back
again (abiotic). (___________ cycle)
4 - A common nutrient in nutrient pollution.
6 - A process whereby an organism becomes
better suited to its habitat.
8 - This is when water is released by plants
into air
9 - Process where muscles contract and relax
17
(Cellular ______________)
15 - This is when a substance changes from a
liquid state to gas state (requires energy). P
H Y
16 - Prefix for the word light
A
O
18 - The slow movement of water through
the
D I S P
soil
A
P
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20 - Island __________________ is the Pstudy
of rates of colonization and extinction ofT O
A
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species on islands.
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26 - The transferring of pollen (plants sex
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cells) from one plant to another
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27 - Name for a lake or river with moderate
productivity
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29 - AllA organisms
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to the abiotic
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or
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31 - Warm
and
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abiotic
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32 - The
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33 - The wettest of the seven abioticR factors
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34 - This
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to the soil,
to organisms,
theO R
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air. (_________
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C O N D E N
35 - The brightest of the seven abiotic factors
36 - The ability of an organism to keep its
body temperature within certain boundaries
37 - This is when water vapor (gas) turns back
to a liquid. (energy required / cold) -cloud
formation
Name:________________________
Abiotic Factors
when it is cold, this generates heat
H
12 - Name for
a lake
or river with
high
C
P R E C I P I T A T I O N
productivityA
B
P13
E -RThe
T H __________
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17
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atE which
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19 - 6CO2 +O6H2O
+_________________ =
S
B I O G E O G R A P H Y
+O6O2 C
PC6H12O6
B
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B
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I 21 - When
I
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oxygen is removed from a water
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24 - This
is a life, Earth, change
atoms,
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A
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repeating
event (_____________________
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25 - The
A answer for this question
N I T R is
O biological
G E N
E26
G -UAL process
A T I Othat
N converts carbon dioxide
into organic compounds, especially sugars,
S A T I O N
using the energy from sunlight.
28 - Name for a lake or river with low
productivity
18