Biology
Chapter 1 Study Guide
Name_______________________________
Date____________________
1. What is Biology?
2. What is the purpose of following a strict scientific method?
3. Jesse wants to find out whether plants grow best when exposed to red, green, or blue sunlight. She
gathers corn, tomato, and elm plant seeds together and places them under the three lights. After 3
weeks, she observes which seed grew best and draws her conclusion.
a. What Jesse’s manipulated and responding variables?
b. Name four things that Jesse needs to do differently to make this a valid experiment.
4. Name the five characteristics of living things, and explain them using either a picture or sentence.
5. What is the difference between an adaptation and adjusting to the environment?
6. What is Ecology?
7. What is the simplest level of organization in ecology?
8. Complete each sentence or statement using the following word bank:
Abiotic Factors
Biosphere
Biotic Factors
Community
Ecology
Ecosystem
Niche
Parasitism
Population
Commensalism
Mutualism
Symbiosis
a. The _____________________________ is the portion of the earth that supports life and
extends from high in the atmosphere to the bottom of the oceans
b. The interactions among populations in a community and the community’s physical
surroundings, or abiotic factors, is known as the _____________________________ .
c. The permanent, close association between two or more organisms of different species is known
as _____________________________ .
d. All the living organisms that inhabit an environment are known as _______________________.
e. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit is known as _______________________.
f. Nonliving parts of an organism’s environment, such as air currents, temperature, moisture, light,
and soil, are _____________________________ .
g. The role or position an organism has in its environment is known as its ____________________.
It includes all biotic and abiotic interactions as an animal meets its needs for survival.
h. A symbiotic relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed
nor benefited is known as _____________________________ .
i. Group of organisms all of the same species which interbreed and live in the same place at the
same time is known as a(n) _____________________________ .
j. A group of populations interacting in a certain area at a certain time is known as a(n)
_____________________________ .
k. Scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments is known as
_____________________________ .
9. Which of the following is not a requirement for a population?
a. Same area
b. more than one species
c. Same time
d. more than one organism
10. Which of the following levels of organization are correctly ordered from simplest to most
complicated? (Note: not all levels are included)
a. ecosystem, community, population, organism
b. biosphere, population, ecosystem, community
c. organism, community, population, Biosphere
d. population, community, ecosystem, biosphere
11. What is the first level of organization where abiotic factors are also included?
a. Organism
b. Population
c. Community
d. Ecosystem
12. In Arizona, white-winged doves feed on the fruits of saguaro cacti. When the birds release the seeds
of the fruit in their waste, the seeds are surrounded by fertilizers in the waste and begin to sprout.
This type of relationship between doves and cacti can best be described as what? Why?
13. The malaria virus is unable to survive in open air, but can live in blood. When mosquitos have a
blood-meal from one organism, the virus is able to use the mosquito as a transport to another
organism. This type of relationship between mosquitos and the malaria virus can best be described
as what? Why?
14. When cattle graze in the field, they kick up insects from the grasses. As this happens, egrets, small
birds, fly around the pasture and eat the insects. This type of relationship between the cattle and
egrets can best be described as what? Why?
15. For the following items, label each with either an “H” for “Habitat” or “N” for “Niche”
a. Build a Nest
d. Grass Eater
g. Mountain Cave
b. Tree Trunk
e. Gather Nuts
h. Swimming Upstream
c. Grass Meadow
f. Columbia River
i. Bird Nest
16. Why are multiple niches in a single habitat a benefit for an ecosystem?
17. Which of the following is true?
a. Autotrophs are producers, Heterotrophs are consumers
b. Autotrophs are consumers, Heterotrophs are herbivores
c. Autotrophs are plants, Heterotrophs are animals
d. Autotrophs are bacteria, Heterotrophs are plants and animals
18. What is the main energy source for life on earth?
19. Name and define the five types of consumers.
20. What type of heterotroph consumers are humans?
21. When decomposers break down nutrients from waste products, where do the nutrients go?
22. Explain what is meant by “Energy flows in a one-way direction in the biosphere.”
23. What is another term for each step in an ecology pyramid, food web, or food chain?
a. Trophic Level
b. Organism
c. Stage of Ecology
d. Cycle
24. Why is it important that matter and nutrients be recycled in the biosphere?
25. Give two examples for how carbon is recycled in the biosphere.
26. Name two places where nitrogen can be found and/or stored in the biosphere.
27. Name two places where phosphorus can be found and/or stored in the biosphere.
28. Which of the following is NOT a true description of the water cycle?
a. Transpiration is the loss of water from living organisms
b. Precipitation is another word for water from the atmosphere falling to earth in some form.
c. Evaporation is the loss of water from oceans
d. Run-off is the flow of water from land or soil to rivers and oceans.