Ecology and Characteristics of Life Study Guide
Name ___________________________
Predator-Prey Relationship Cottontale vs. Red Fox
1600
1. According to the predator-prey graph to the left, which
line represents the predator? Which line represents the
prey? How do you know?
1400
1200
Population
1000
Series1
800
Series2
2. According to the graph, the prey population
decreases when the predator population does what?
600
400
200
0
5/7/1990
9/19/1991
1/31/1993
6/15/1994
10/28/1995
3/11/1997
7/24/1998
Dates
12/6/1999
3. What is the difference between a habitat and a niche?
4. Based on your knowledge of the carbon and oxygen cycle, what gases are being released and consumed due
to the processes of photosynthesis and respiration? (Fill in the following graphic organizer)
Photo____________
Name the gas
Cellular ________________
Name the gas
5. According to the carbon and oxygen cycles, list three ways carbon dioxide (CO2) can be added to the
atmosphere?
6. According to the community image on the left,
identify at least three biotic factors and three abiotic
factors.
7. Using the same image, write out a food chain with
4 links, starting with a producer. Below each link,
label each organism as producer, primary consumer,
secondary consumer, etc.
Seaweed
________________
 _________________  ____________________  __________________
Producer
8. Using your food chain, label the following energy pyramid to your
left.
9. According to your energy pyramid, which level would the greatest
amount of energy be found? Which level would the least amount of
energy be found?
10. What is the main source of energy in an ecosystem? (Hint: what
energy source do producers use to make food for themselves?)
11. Another name for producer is __________________. Another name for consumer is __________________.
Another name for decomposer is ___________________.
12. Fill in the following table about symbiotic relationships:
Symbiotic Relationship
Definition
A relationship where one organism
benefits, while the other organism
is harmed.
Example
Parasitism
Lichen
13. In the diagram of the water cycle below, label precipitation, evaporation, condensation, and transpiration.
14. What is transpiration?
15. What is precipitation?
16. What is condensation?
17. Put the following levels of organization in order from smallest to biggest: ecosystem, biome, cell, atom,
tissue, molecule, organ system, community, population, biosphere, organism
18. What is a biome?
19. What causes excess warming of the earth’s atmosphere? What is this effect called?
20. According to the nitrogen cycle, what is nitrogen fixation and what single organism is responsible for this
process?
21. Why is nitrogen necessary for living organisms?
22. Label the climax stage in the diagram to the left.
23. Give an example of a pioneer species for primary
succession.
24. How do these pioneer species contribute to the
formation of a climax community?
25. Fill in the following Venn Diagram to Compare and
Contrast primary from secondary succession.
26. In the following blank squares, draw what a clumped, uniform, random dispersion pattern looks like.
Clumped
Random
Dispersion
27. What determines dispersion patterns?
28. In the blank graphs below, sketch what an exponential growth model and a logistical growth model look
like. For the logistical growth model, label carrying capacity (k). To the right of the graphs in the box, jot down
some notes or information about the characteristics of each of the growth models.
Exponential Growth Model
Logistical Growth Model
29. Define carrying capacity.
30. Name the six characteristics of life.
31. Define homeostasis and give an example of homeostasis.