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Science 10 Modified
Final Assessment: Ecosystems and Weather Review
Match the correct word from the word bank to the definition below. Words can only be used once, and not all
words will be used.
Abiotic factors
Biomes
Carrying capacity
Convection
Density dependent factors
Equinox
Heat sink
Interspecific competition
Omnivores
Photosynthesis
Radiation
Sun
Weather
Anemometer
Biotic factors
Climate
Conduction
Density independent factors
Ecological footprint
Hygrometer
Invasive species
Paradigm shift
Precipitation
Solstice
Transpiration
Wind vane
Aneroid barometer
Biological magnification
Condensation
Carnivores
Evaporation
Herbivores
Intraspecific competition
Meteorology
Pioneer organisms
Producers
Sustainable development
Upwind
Carrying capacity
The maximum population an area can hold
Biotic factors
In a natural community, all the living things that affect the environment
Abiotic factors
In a natural community, all the non living things that affect the environment are
Carnivores
Animals that only consume other animals for their food and energy are
Producers
Organisms that use energy from the sun to make their own food are
Omnivores
Animals that eat both plants and animals are called
Intraspecific competition
Competition for limited resources among members of the same species is
Interspecific competition
Competition for limited resources between members of different species is
Sustainable development
Using resources responsible so they are available for future generations
Sun
What is the original source of energy used by living organisms?
Pioneer organisms
Plants that grow on bare rocks and begin the process of primary succession, are
Ecological footprint
The measure of a person’s impact on the environment
Radiation
Heat transfer by electromagnetic waves (such as those from the sun)
Convection
Air and water and warmed by these types of currents
Transpiration
The process in which water is released back into the atmosphere from plants
Evaporation
When liquid water changes to a gas
Condensation
When water vapor condenses to form clouds
Precipitation
When water falls as rain or snow
Anemometer
An instrument that measures wind speed is called a
Wind vane
An instrument that measures wind direction is called a
Heat sink
Any substance that can absorb and keep energy, without changing state
Meteorology
The study of the earth’s atmosphere and weather systems
Weather
Day to day changes in the atmosphere at a specific location on earth
Hygrometer
A weather instrument that measures relative humidity
Solstice
The shortest and longest days of the year
Equinox
Days in which there are 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness
Paradigm shift
A change in thinking from one way to another; a metamorphosis
Biological magnification
When a poison, such as DDT, increases with each step in a food chain
Density dependent factors
Factors that increase as a population gets bigger and restrict population size
Density independent factors Factors that limit a population regardless of initial population size
Biomes
Large places on earth with specific climates and creatures
Invasive species
A new, non-native species introduced to an ecosystem
1. What units are used for a:
a) pyramid of biomass Kg
b) pyramid of numbers “numbers”
c) pyramid of energy
KJ
2. What happens to the amount energy as it flows through a food chain?
Energy decreases at each trophic level; only 10% of the energy gets passed on.
3. List three familiar cloud shapes:
Cumulus, Stratus, Nimbostratus, Stratocumulus, Cirrus.
4. Why does water require more energy than land or air to raise its temperature?
Water has a higher specific heat capacity than either land or water, so it requires more energy to raise its
temperature, taking longer to heat up.
5. Explain an environmentally related paradigm shift that has taken place.
Example (you may use your own): We used to believe there was an endless supply of cod fish in our Atlantic
waters, and we fished as much as we wanted. However, we learned that our fisheries need to be managed,
after we overfished the stocks, and we now realize the importance of proper management and setting quotas.
6. Explain how DDT gets into a water environment, the types of organisms it affects most, and the negative
effects it has on organisms.
DDT is a pesticide that is sprayed on crops to kill insects that eat these crops. However, DDT runs off the
plants, leaks into the ground, and enters our waterways. There it travels up the food chain and becomes more
concentrated at the top, due to biological magnification. It most affects sea birds, whose egg shells become
soft/brittle as a result, causing a reduction in their population numbers.
7. Choose two different biomes and compare their: (A) climate, (B) landscape, and (C) native species.
Example (you may use your own):
Biome
Climate
Landscape
Native Species
Desert
Very hot, warm, and dry
during the day
Sand, little/low vegetation,
little/low elevation
Prickly pear
Temperate Deciduous
Forest
Hot in the summer, cold
in the winter
Covered in deciduous trees that
lose their leaves in the fall
Maple tree
8. Explain how an ecological footprint is calculated. How did your ecological footprint compare to the average
footprint? How could you reduce your ecological footprint?
An ecological footprint is the amount of the earth's surface that is needed to produce all the energy and
resources that each of us use to live our particular lifestyles and to absorb all the wastes we produce, directly
or indirectly. So our ecological footprint is a measure of our resource use and waste production. Your footprint
may have been higher or lower than the Canadian average of 6.0 to 7.7 hectares. You can reduce your
footprint by taking public transit instead of driving, by recycling and composting, and by eating less meat
products.
9. Describe a practice or behaviour that promotes sustainable development AND a practice or behaviour that
does NOT promote sustainable development.
Example (you may use your own): Our current use of cell phones does not produce sustainable development
because we tend to keep a cell phone for only one year, and do not always dispose of the cell phone
responsibly, so that chemicals leak into the earth. However, a practice that does promote sustainable
development, because it attempts to ensure there are adequate resources for future generations, is deciding to
recycle, reduce, and reuse materials.
10. Explain how an invasive species can have a negative effect on the native species in its new habitat. Use
specific examples in your explanation.
An invasive species is a non-native species that when introduced to a new environment often doesn’t have any
natural predators. Therefore, its population increases very quickly and it tends to outcompete other native
species for resources. For example, if a new type of carnivore was introduced to Nova Scotia that fed on small
rodents, our local species of owls may suffer from starvation.
11. Explain why we have seasons on earth, and how the earth appears relative to the sun at different times of
the year.
We have seasons on earth because the earth is titled. The earth travels around the sun, which takes one full
year, and during the winter, the earth is titled away from the sun, and during the summer, the earth is tilted
toward the sun.
12. Write down a popular weather predicting folklore or “saying” and explain the scientific basis for this
forecasting.
Example (you may use your own): “The higher the clouds, the better the weather”. High clouds indicate dry air
and high atmospheric pressure. These conditions indicate fair/good weather.
13. Explain how a land or sea breeze is created, and draw a diagram including the direction of the breeze, and
whether it is day or night.
For a sea breeze, the land warms up faster than the water during the day, so the warms air rises, and cool air
over the water rushes in to replace it. This creates a breeze that blows from the sea to the land.
For a land breeze, the land cools down faster than water at night, so the cool air above land sinks down. This
creates a breeze that blows from the land to the sea.