Ecology Review Worksheet
• I can differentiate between biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, and illustrate how both influence the types of organisms in an ecosystem and their lifestyles.
1.
What is the difference between biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem?
2.
Why is it impossible to talk about an ecosystem separating biotic and abiotic components?
3.
List the following terms from largest to smallest: Community, Biome, Biosphere, Population, Organisms, Species, Ecosystem
4.
List three ways organisms are affected by abiotic factors.
• I can explain how energy and matter move through an ecosystem.
5.
Draw an energy pyramid and label the tropic levels.
6.
In a food web, which direction do the arrows always point? Why?
7.
The four main cycles we’ve talked about are carbon/oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and water. List two key uses for each of the elements in the cycle.
8.
What are the two main processes in the carbon/oxygen cycle?
9.
What is the role of bacteria in the nitrogen cycle?
10.
What is the approximate percent of energy that is transferred from producers to primary consumers?
11.
What is biomass, and how does it change between trophic levels?
• I can construct an accurate food web given organisms and their energy requirements (heterotroph vs. autotroph).
12.
From the food web above, list organisms that are: a.
Producers b.
Primary consumers c.
Secondary consumers d.
Tertiary consumers
13.
Where is all the energy in the food web initially from?
14.
Draw your own 5-organism food chain. e.
f.
g.
Decomposers
Heterotrophs
Autotrophs
• I can describe the role of a particular species in its ecosystem in terms of its energy requirements, predator/prey relationships, limiting factors, and community interactions.
15.
What is a keystone species?
16.
What are the two types of population growth? How does carrying capacity relate to these types?
17.
Why is resource partitioning essential in an ecosystem? Give an example of resource partitioning.
18.
What happens when two species have identical niches?
19.
What are the two types of population growth?
20.
List at least three reasons why populations do not grow forever.
21.
What is carrying capacity and how is it impacted by an ecosystem?
• I can analyze the effects of symbiotic relationships between species within an ecosystem.
22.
Define the three types of symbiosis and give two examples of each.
23.
How is parasitism different from predation?
• I can predict the impact of specific changes within an ecosystem on organisms and their habitat.
24.
What is an invasive species, and what risks do they have to an ecosystem? (You may use Cane Toads as an example.)
25.
If snakes eat mice and the snake population contracts a disease which kills half of the snakes in a given area, how would the mouse population be affected?
• I can describe how human population growth has affected ecosystems in the biosphere.
26.
In the last 150 years, how have humans impacted the carbon cycle?
27.
What type of population growth is the human population experiencing now?
28.
If hawks’ main food source are snakes, how would the hawk population be affected if humans came to the area and started using snakes for snake skin shoes?