Download Ch. 4 Study Guide Answers

Adams
Environmental Science Ch. 4 Study Guide
Main Ideas
Ecosystems are composed of many interconnected parts that often interact in complex ways.
An ecosystem is the community of all the different organisms living in an area and their
physical environment
 An ecosystem contains biotic and abiotic factors
 The naturalist Charles Darwin used the term natural selection to describe unequal survival
and reproduction that results from certain traits.
 By selecting which domesticated animals and plants breed by humans cause evolution by
artificial selection.
 We have unintentionally selected for pest that resist pesticides and bacteria that resist
antibiotics.
 Organisms can be divided into 6 kingdoms distinguished by cell type and how they obtain
energy.
 Bacteria and fungi break down dead organisms and recycle their nutrients.
 Gymnosperms are evergreen plants that usually bear cones, and angiosperms produce
flowers and bear seeds in fruit.
 Insects are invertebrates and the most successful on Earth.
Vocabulary
Term
Define
Evolution
Change in a population over time


Natural
The unequal survival and reproduction that results from the presence or
Selection
absence of a trait.
Plants
Multicellular organism that have a cell wall and make their own food
Invertebrates
Animals that lack a back bone
Vertebrates
Animals that have a backbone
Eubacteria
The most common bacteria on Earth, usually causes diseases
Habitat
The place an organism lives
Gymnosperm
Plants that are woody, and cone bearing and seeds not enclosed by fruit
Resistance
When an organism has developed immunity to a certain chemical.
Adaptation
A trait that helps an individual better survive in their environment
Abiotic
The nonliving factors in an environment
Biotic
The living and once living factors in an environment
Fungi
The kingdom that has a cell wall but no chlorophyll. Includes mushrooms and
yeast.
Adams
1.
Environmental Science Ch. 4 Study Guide
What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors? Give an example of each. Biotic are
living factors like bacteria, plants and animals. Abiotic are nonliving factors like rocks, soil,
air.
2.
How are habitats important to organisms? They provide the organisms with shelter, food
and everything else it needs to survive.
3.
List the 5 components that make up an ecosystem. Energy, mineral nutrients, water, oxygen
and living organisms
4.
What is coevolution? When organisms evolve because of other living things. For example, the
Hawaiian honeycreeper’s beak evolved with the lobelia flower.
5.
How do insects become resistant to pesticides? They must have the gene that enables them
to resist the chemical. Over time, the insect populations will all have the gene and the
pesticide will not be useful.
6.
What are the 6 kingdoms of organisms? Eubacteria, Archaebacteria, Fungi, Protist, Plants,
Animals
7.
Why are bacteria and fungi important in an ecosystem? They break down the remains of
organisms and return the nutrients into the environment.
8.
How do angiosperms and animals depend on each other? Many animals use angiosperms for
food and angiosperm use animals to spread their seeds.
9.
Why are insects so successful? They move quickly, reproduce rapidly and have a waterproof
exoskeleton shell.
10. Your essay, which needs to be 3-5 sentences, will be the following question: Explain why a
scientist may say an animal is becoming rare because of habitat destruction.