Download Study Guide Environmental Science

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Study Guide Environmental Science
Environmental Science Objectives
1. Identify the biotic and abiotic factors in a habitat
2. Understand that ecosystems are composed of communities, and communities are composed of
populations.
3. Be able to graph and analyze the changes that result to one population in a community because of a
change to another population in that community.
4. Adaptations are inherited and transmitted from one generation to another in your genes. This is known
as natural selection.
5. Your niche is your role in that ecosystem
6. In a predator/prey relationship, the predator needs the prey to die in order to get food. This is in contrast
to a parasitistic relationship where the parasite needs the host to stay alive so that it can live.
7. Know the definitions of the three types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalisms and
parasitism. Know an example of each and be able to analyze which organism benefits and which loses
in each example.
8. Understand that an ecosystem contains several food chains, and that several interrelated food chains
form a food web. Students should be able to take a group of organisms and construct a food web, given
the information of what eats what.
9. Understand that, in most ecosystems, the flow of energy comes from the sun, to the producers, to
consumers (herbivores, to carnivores, to top carnivores), and back to the soil through decomposers.
10. Understand how to form an energy pyramid and that only 10% of the energy from each layer goes to the
next layer above.
Complete the following:
1. Identify all Abiotic and Biotic factors in the picture below.
Abiotic
Biotic
2. List the terms in order from smallest level to largest: Population, organism, ecosystem, community.
3. Birds with pointy beaks were better at eating earthworms out of the ground. Due to natural selection, what
eventually happened over a long period of time? Be specific and explain why.
4. Describe and give examples of the following terms.
Type of interaction Brief definition
Competition
Example in nature
Predation
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism
*Underline the terms above that are types of symbiosis.
5. Label the following, indicating organisms that benefit, are harmed, or are neither benefited nor harmed by the
various types of symbiosis.


 
_____________
_____________
_____________
6. Construct a food web below using the following information. Draw arrows to indicate the path of food
energy through the ecosystem.
Grasshopper- eats grass
Rabbit- eats grass
Ant- eat grass
Mouse- eats grass and grasshopper
Snake- eats mouse
Shrew- eats grasshopper and ants
Woodpecker- eats ants
Red fox- eats rabbit, mouse, and shrew
Color Producers green
Color 1st level consumers blue
Color 2nd level consumers yellow
Color 3rd level consumers red
7. How does a producer obtain energy?
Grass
8. Using your food web above, fill in the food pyramid below with the names of the organisms at each level.
Label each level.
9. How much energy is transferred from one level to the next higher level in a food pyramid?
10. What is the remaining energy used for?
11. Describe the difference between an herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore.
12. What is the role of a decomposer in an ecosystem?
Environmental Science
Living Things and
the Environment
Energy Flow In
Ecosystems
Habitats
Levels of
organization
Energy
Roles
Biotic Factors
Interactions of
Organisms
Showing Energy
Transfer