Bio EOC Topics for Ecology, Evolution and Natural Selection:
Evolution
• Difference between macroevolution and microevolution
• Sexual reproduction and natural selection are mechanisms of microevolution
• How mutations are helpful
• Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
• Adaptations and examples
• Understand genetic variations, and what they have to do with natural selection.
• What it means for an organism to be “fit” in terms of natural selection
• Definition of biosphere, community, niche, abiotic, biotic, organism
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Ecology
• Humans’ impact on the environment-ozone depletion, loss of biodiversity, erosion,
climate change
• Greenhouse Effect
• Biomagnification as an example of toxic substances impacting ecosystems
• Matter cycles through the environment
• Summarize the reaction of cellular respiration. Be able to recognize the overall
chemical equation for this process..
• Summarize the reaction of photosynthesis. Be able to recognize the overall chemical
equation for this process.
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Note: These questions may or may not be the same form or content as the
questions on the EOC test. They are provided as a study guide and to help
remind you of concepts that you have learned this year.
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• Complete the passage using the word bank below.
Commensalism
community competition ecosystem
Mutualism
populations predation
All the living and nonliving things with which an organism interacts make up a(n)
______________________________. The living part of an ecosystem is a(n)
________________________. A community may contain many different
______________________________. They interact, or have relationships, with one another.
____________________ is a relationship in which one organism kills and eats another.
________________________ is a relationship in which organisms struggle with each other to
meet their needs. ______________________ is a relationship in which one organism benefits
while the other is unaffected. __________________ is a relationship which benefits both
organisms.
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Complete the passage using the word bank below.
Decomposer
Ecosystem
producer
food web
consumer
food chain
energy
energy pyramid
All organisms need _________________ to carry out life processes. Organisms that can make their
own food are _______________________. Organisms that obtain energy by eating other living things
are _____________________. __________________ feed on dead organisms. The feeding relationships
that exist in a(n)______________________ allow for the flow of energy throughout the system. A(n)
______________________ is a model that shows these feeding relationships. A(n)
_______________________ is a model that shows how food chains are connected. A(n)
______________________ is a model that shows how energy is lost in a food chain.
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Using the food chain below as an example, identify the producer and consumers.
Acorn Æ acorn worm Æ small bird Æ hawk
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Why is there more energy to support life in the beginning of a food chain than in the end of a
food chain? (explain energy pyramid)
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How do decomposers help energy flow through an ecosystem?
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What happens to the amount of available energy as it passes through the members of a food
chain/food web? Why? (interpret energy pyramid)
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What happens to the biomass with each successive trophic level?
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Use the diagram below to answer the next set of questions.
Which organism is the producer?__________
Which organisms are first consumers? ______________ Second consumers?_____________ Third
consumers?____________________
What letter represents decomposers?_________________
What letter represents a food web?___________________
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Write one food chain you could make from the above food web.
Bio EOC Questions for Ecology, Evolution and Natural Selection:
Note: These questions may or may not be the same form or content as the questions on the EOC test.
They are provided as a study guide and to help remind you of concepts that you have learned this
year.
1. Which statement about an ecosystem is correct?
a. It can exist with or without a constant source of energy input.
b. It must contain consumers but can exist without producers.
c. It involves interactions between biotic and abiotic factors.
d. It can exist on land, but it cannot exist in lakes, rivers or oceans.
2. Which component of a stable ecosystem can NOT be recycled?
a. oxygen
b. energy
c. water
d. nitrogen
3. Extinction of a species could result from:
a. evolution of a type of behavior that produces greater reproductive success.
b. synthesis of a hormone that controls cellular communication
c. limited genetic variability in the species
d. fewer unfavorable mutations in the species.
4. Many species of bacteria can be found in the human mouth. Which of these explains the
great variety of bacteria found in the mouth?
a.Large volumes of air cause bacteria to change form.
b.Salivary glands cause mutations in bacterial populations.
c.The presence of large amounts of nutrients makes the mouth a favorable habitat.
d.Calcium in the teeth provides an unsuitable pH environment.
5. Classification of different organisms is listed below. According to this table, which organism
is most closely related to the house cat?
a.dolphin
b.songbird
c.lynx
d.wolf
6. Male grizzly bears can maintain territorial control over many square miles. This role as top
predator in the territory is known as:
a. a habitat
b. an ecosystem
c. a biosphere
d. a niche
7. In the diagram below, which organism is classified as both a primary and secondary
consumer?
a. hawk
b. raccoon
c. snake
d. mouse
8. Why does each successive feeding level in a pyramid of energy have less biomass?
a. carnivore biomass is less than producer biomass as a result of energy being lost as it
flows from producers to carnivores
b. The primary consumer level contains more stored energy than the producer level.
c. Consumers have more biomass than autotrophs because they must absorb all of
the light energy in an ecosystem.
d. biomass differences in an ecosystem results from competition between producers.
9. What action by humans has had the most positive ecological impact on the
environment?
a. use of pesticides to regulate insect populations
b. introduction of organisms such as the Japanese beetle and the zebra mussel into
the United States.
c. over hunting of many predators to prevent death of prey animals.
d. reforestation and planting indigenous plants to prevent erosion
10. Which is a characteristic of members of the plant kingdom that distinguishes them from
members of the animal kingdom?
a.storing chemical energy
b. Exchange of H2O with the environment
c.Use of mRNA during protein production
d.converts solar energy into chemical energy
11. In a species of plant, the sudden appearance of one plant with a different leaf structure
that enables this plant to survive longer than normal, results from a mechanism of
microevolution called:
a. artificial selection
b. photosynthesis
c. mutation
d. hydrolysis
12. The guppy is a species of small freshwater fish. Scientists observed that the average size
of guppies in a pond decreased over a few years after the introduction of a species of fish
that preys on the largest guppies. Which of the following best explains the change in guppy
size?
a. dehydration
b.synthesis
c.Inbreeding
d.Natural selection
13.Which process transforms chemical energy into energy that is useable by the cells of an
organism?
a. evolution
b. cellular respiration
c. digestion
d. photosynthesis
14. Although similar in many respects, two species of organisms exhibit differences that make
each well adapted to the environment in which it lives. The process of change that may
account for these differences is:
a. digestion
b. evolution
c. cellular respiration
d. fermentation
15. Which concept is best illustrated in the flow chart below?
a. genetic engineering
b. dynamic equilibrium
c. carbon cycle
d. natural selection
16. A key concept in the modern theory of evolution explains:
a. how new organs arise whenever an organism needs it.
b. genetic variations occur within a species.
c. the continued increase in the human population.
d. the presence of asexual reproduction within a species.
17. Organisms are grouped into the 6 kingdom system of classification based on
a. phylogeny or lines of evolutionary decent
b. physical characteristics
c. similarities in the DNA sequences
d. all of the above
18. Which of the following would cause average global temperatures to increase?
a. increased use of fossil fuels
b. increase in plant populations
c. decrease in vehicle emissions
d. increase of earth’s biodiversity
19. What human activity would release the air pollutants that are responsible for the thinning
of the ozone layers?
a. cutting down forests and burning the wood
b. mixing sulfur dioxides with water vapor to form acid rain
c. using aerosol cans with chlorofluorocarbons
d. releasing NOx from burning fossil fuels
20. All of the following human activities contribute to a decrease in biodiversity except:
a. burning fossil fuels
b. deforestation
c. conservation
d. habitat destruction
21. Although most of the world's forests are shrinking, biologists are especially concerned
about tropical forest loss because:
a. they contain such high biodiversity.
b. tropical trees are the biggest trees in the world.
c. they contain irreplaceable wood resources.
d. there are fewer remaining tropical forests than any other forest type.
e. All of these are reasons that biologists are especially concerned about tropical
forest loss.
22. Deforestation can lead to several problems which includes:
a. soil erosion
b. starch digestion
c. ozone depletion
d. soil acidification
Answers:
1. c 2. b 3.c 4.c
18.a 19. c 20. c
21. e 22. a
5.c 6.d
7.b
8.a 9.d 10.d 11.c 12.d 13.b 14.b 15.d 16.b 17.d