Biological Organizations and Introduction to Ecology Study Guide
Directions: Answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper.
1. What are the eight characteristics of life? Give an example of each.
2. Define and provide examples of each level of organization (biosphere, biome, ecosystem, community,
population, multicellular organism, organ system, organ, tissue, cell, organelle, molecule, atom,
subatomic particle).
3. What level of organization deals with various continents?
4. What level of organization deals with ponds, streams and rivers?
5. What level of organization deals with multicellular vs. unicellular?
6. What is a biotic factor? An abiotic factor? If an individual were to keep a pet guinea pig, what type of
abiotic and biotic factors must this person consider when caring for the pet? How are these factors
different when considering a pet fish?
7. Sketch the four different types of cycles: hydrologic, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycle.
8. Describe the pathway of the hydrologic cycle and how it could have a negative impact on an
ecosystem.
9. During the carbon cycle, which processes in plants and animals facilitate the intake and outtake of
carbon dioxide and oxygen? How have humans negatively impacted ecosystems with their
contributions to excessive carbon in the atmosphere?
10. How do detritus feeders and decomposers contribute to the carbon cycle?
11. Why is nitrogen important to plants and animals?
12. Describe the following processes of the nitrogen cycle: nitrificaition, denitrification, ammonification
and nitrogen fixation.
13. How do both plants and animals obtain their nitrogen?
14. What role do bacteria play during the nitrogen cycle?
15. Once nitrates are converted from ammonium, what two pathways might occur?
16. Identify the different parts of the nitrogen cycle below.
17. Why is phosphate important to plants and animals? Give three reasons why.
18. How is phosphate able to get into the soil? Give three explanations of how phosphate gets into the
soil.
19. Why could it be detrimental if excessive phosphates enter into a body of water? Describe what
occurs during the cycle of eutrophication.
20. What role do bacteria play during the phosphorus cycle?
21. What is a succession and what might cause a primary or a secondary succession to occur?
22. What are the differences between a primary and secondary succession? Give four differences
between the two successions.
23. What is a pioneer species and why is it important during a primary succession?
24. A volcano erupts and lava flows down the side of the volcano, removing topsoil from the sides of
the volcano. Over time, trees and other plants eventually grow and a forest fire occurs. While the
forest fire causes huge losses to both plant and animal life, some species still remain. Eventually, the
community becomes relatively stable with little to no change.
Sketch the sequence of events described in the above statement, indicating climax community, pioneer
species, small shrubs and bushes, disturbances and primary and secondary succession.
25. What is an autotroph and what is a heterotroph?
26. What are the five types of consumers?
27. What are trophic levels and how is a food chain different from a food web?
28. What occurs as one moves up an energy pyramid and what limits the number of trophic levels in an
ecosystem?
29. Describe symbiosis and the four types of symbiotic relationships.
30. Give an example of each symbiotic relationship.
31. What is a limiting factor and how might sunlight be a limiting factor when looking at different areas
of Earth?
32. What is tolerance and what might the range of tolerance be for two populations of organisms that
have adapted to differing temperatures?
33. What is the optimal zone, the zone of physiological stress and the zone of intolerance?
34. How might latitude affect the type of weather a region experiences?
35. What two factors are necessary to predict the type of biome that might exist in a certain region?
36. What type of biome might I expect if the average temp. is -10oC?
37. What type of biome might I expect if the annual precipitation is 150 cm and 0oC?
38. What type of biome might I expect if the annual precipitation is 100 cm and 25oC?
39. What is the difference between weather and climate?
40. What are the three factors used to classify a biome?