Download Seventh Grade Science

Ecology Unit Test
DO NOT WRITE ON TEST!!!
Take a deep breath, take your time, and make sure you understand exactly what the question is asking you. For
true/false, fill in the correct bubble (“A” for true and “B” for false). Good Luck!!!
1. All the interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem make up a food ________________.
a. Interaction
b. Chain
c. Network
d. Web
2. According to the diagram to the right,
which organisms are considered
secondary consumers?
a. It’s impossible to tell
b. Kelp Crab and Sea Urchins
c. Northern Elephant Seals
d. Sea Otters and Horn Sharks
3. What animals eat both producers and
consumers?
a. Autotrophs
b. Chemotrophs
c. Herbivores
d. Omnivores
4. The feeding levels on an energy
pyramid or food chain are called what?
a. Energy path
b. Food chain
c. Food pyramid
d. Trophic level
5. A bird stalks, kills, and then eats an insect. Based on its behavior, which pair of ecological terms
describes the bird in this interaction?
a. Autotroph, herbivore
b. Carnivore, consumer
c. Herbivore, decomposer
d. Producer, heterotroph
6. The word that means the same thing as consumer is ____________.
a. Autotroph
b. Carbohydrate
c. Heterotroph
d. Producer
7. Plants are ____________________.
a. Producers
b. Consumers
c. Herbivores
d. Omnivores
Use the diagram below to answer questions 8-9.
8. The algae at the beginning of the food chain above are _______________.
a. Decomposers
b. Heterotrophs
c. Producers
d. Primary consumers
9. Looking at the diagram above. Which organisms would be considered the tertiary (third-level)
consumers?
a. Algae
b. Shark
c. Small Fishes
d. Squid
e. Zooplankton
10. Looking at the diagram above, how much energy does the third-level (tertiary) consumer get if the
producers provide 1000 calories to the first-level (primary) consumers?
a. 1 Calorie
b. 10 Calories
c. 100 Calories
d. 1000 Calories
e. 10,000 Calories
11. Where is the most total energy available in a food web?
a. From the producers level
b. From the primary consumers level
c. From the secondary consumers level
d. From the top-level predators
12. Only a small percentage of the energy taken in by an organism can be passed on to the next trophic
level. The remaining energy is used for the organism’s life processes and is __________________.
a. Eliminated as heat
b. Stored as body tissue
c. Stored as fat
d. Used in reproduction
13. What is the best explanation for how most of the energy exits ecosystems?
a. Decomposers return most of it to the air
b. Decomposers return most of it to the ground
c. Energy doesn’t exit ecosystems, it is just recycled by plants
d. Heat energy produced by respiration is radiated back out into the air and out into space
Use the diagram to the right to answer questions 23-27.
14. The letter A represents what trophic level?
a. Decomposers
b. Primary Consumers
c. Producers
d. Secondary Consumers
15. The letter B represents what trophic level?
a. Decomposers
b. Primary Consumers
c. Producers
d. Secondary Consumers
16. The letter C represents what trophic level?
a. Decomposers
b. Primary Consumers
c. Producers
d. Secondary Consumers
17. What do the arrows represent in the
diagram?
a. Birth
b. Competition
c. Death
d. Energy
18. If the size of the arrows represented exactly
what was going on, then what would they
look like?
a. Arrow E would be the smallest.
b. Arrow E would be much larger than
arrow F.
c. Arrow F would be much larger than
arrow E.
d. Arrow G would be the biggest.
e. The arrows would look exactly like
they do in the diagram now.
19. The cyclical movement of water between earth’s surface and the atmosphere is called ________.
a. Evaporation
b. The condensation cycle
c. The water cycle
d. Precipitation
20. Which part of the water cycle is a biological (living) process?
a. Condensation
b. Precipitation
c. Transpiration
d. Runoff
21. The movements of energy and nutrients through living systems are different because _________.
a. Energy flows in one direction, and nutrients recycle
b. Energy forms chemical compounds and nutrients are lost as heat
c. Energy is limited in the biosphere, and nutrients are always available
d. Nutrients flow in one direction, and energy recycles
22. Nitrogen fixation is carried out primarily by ________________.
a. Bacteria
b. Cows
c. Humans
d. Plants
23. Water lilies do not grow in desert sand because water availability to these plants is what?
a. A limiting factor
b. The carrying capacity
c. The competition factor
d. The logistic growth curve
24. (True/False) In the carbon cycle, producers release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during the
process of photosynthesis.
25. What process must take place in order for organisms to use nitrogen?
a. Nitrogen Combustion
b. Nitrogen Fixation
c. Nitrogen Photosynthesis
d. Nitrogen Respiration
26. Which of the following processes directly involves organisms in the nitrogen cycle?
a. Decomposition
b. Denitrification
c. Nitrogen Fixation
d. All of the above
Use the diagram of the carbon cycle above to answer questions 27-29.
27. In the diagram of the carbon cycle, which letter represents processes that DO NOT directly involve
living organisms?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
28. Which letter represents photosynthesis?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
29. In the cycle, there is one way that humans (and no other animal) are adding large amounts of carbon
back into the atmosphere. Which letter represents that activity?
a. A
b. B
c. C
d. D
30. In water cycle, the processes of _____________________ and _____________________ directly
involve living organisms.
a. Evaporation, condensation
b. Evaporation, precipitation
c. Runoff, seepage
d. Uptake, transpiration
31. Animals that get energy by eating the carcasses of other animals that have been killed by predators or
have died of natural causes are called __________________.
a. Scavengers
b. Omnivores
c. Heterotrophs
d. Detritivores
32. What is at the base of all ecological pyramids?
a. Consumers
b. Decomposers
c. Producers
d. Scavengers
33. A wolf pack hunts, kills, and feeds on a moose. In this interaction, the wolves are ____________.
a. Hosts
b. Mutualists
c. Prey
d. Predators
34. How is parasitism different from commensalism?
a. Both organisms benefit in parasitism and only one organism benefits in commensalism.
b. One organism benefits in parasitism and no organisms benefit in commensalism.
c. One organism is harmed in parasitism and both organisms are harmed in commensalism.
d. One organism is harmed in parasitism and no organisms are harmed in commensalism.
35. What would happen if the population of the bird species shown in the ecosystem in the picture above
were to suddenly decrease?
a. The grass and fish would compete for resources.
b. The grass population would increase.
c. The fish population would increase.
d. The fish would occupy the birds’ niche.
36. The graph above shows how population of predator and prey change over time and are dependent on
each other. Does the solid line represent the predator or the prey?
a. Actually, it represents the decomposers in the ecosystem.
b. It’s impossible to tell.
c. Predator
d. Prey
37. An interaction in which an animal feeds on plants is called __________________.
a. Carnivory
b. Herbivory
c. Predation
d. Symbiosis
38. A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit is __________________.
a. Commensalisms
b. Mutualism
c. Predation
d. Parasitism
39. Which of the following puts the following terms in order from smallest group to the largest?
a. Community, organism, population, ecosystem
b. Ecosystem, community, population, organism
c. Organism, population, community, ecosystem
d. Population, ecosystem, organism, community
40. Each of the following is an abiotic factor in the environment EXCEPT _______________.
a. Plant life
b. Rainfall
c. Soil type
d. Temperature
41. By reading the passage on the right, what is the
abiotic factor that the survivor is having a hard
time dealing with?
a. Insect biodiversity
b. Predators
c. The hot and dry climate
d. The soil
Paul was stranded in southwestern Utah. Knowing
that there are many dangers he could face,
including predators, he decides to prioritize his
survival needs. With the dry air and the wind, his
body could dry out quickly. He has recently run
out of water and thinks that perhaps he can just
wait for it to rain. Then he remembers that rain
doesn’t happen much in this environment. He sees
plenty of things to eat, including a wide variety of
insects. He searches long and hard for a clean
stream, finally finding one that he thinks can
provide him with drinkable water. He finally finds
a small enclosure that he can take shelter in during
the day to reduce the amount of water he has lost.
42. Mrs. Anderson can grow a wider variety of fruits and vegetables in her garden than her in-laws, who live
in Idaho. Which of the following is an abiotic factor that makes it more difficult to grow the same crops
in Idaho?
a. Mrs. Anderson’s parents just aren’t as good at gardening as Mrs. Anderson is.
b. There are more raccoons in Idaho and they like to eat many of the crops there.
c. There are too many invasive species in Idaho.
d. The growing season is shorter in Idaho because of a different climate.
43. Which of the following would you observe if you were trying to establish a relationship between an
abiotic and biotic factor?
a. The number of fish in a stream compared to the size that the fish grow.
b. The number of plants on the shoreline producing shade and the temperature of the water.
c. The temperature of the air and the temperature of the water.
d. The temperature of the water and the dissolved oxygen content.
44. Many people are concerned about the fact that entire honeybee colonies are disappearing. This is
dangerous because these bees are responsible for pollinating many of the plants that humans use for
food. Which of the following statements best describes this issue.
a. Honeybees are extremely important abiotic factors to the human ecosystem.
b. Honeybees are extremely important biotic factors to the human ecosystem.
c. Honeybees aren’t abiotic or biotic; they are simply factors that are in the ecosystem.
d. Scientists are overreacting because the plants that humans depend on for food don’t really need
the honeybees.
Name ____________________________________
Period __________
OPEN RESPONSE:
Underline the Observation(s).
Circle the Inference(s)
Fossil A is fondly named Tylo. Fossil B is fondly named Dolly.
Tylo had a long body and tail. It probably swam with an eel-like
movement. Thus we suppose it was a much slower swimmer than
Dolly
Because Tylo was a slower swimmer there were probably two ways it
might have caught Dolly to eat it: either Dolly was dead (and Tylo
scavenged) or Tylo made a surprise attack. We can see from Dolly
skeletons that its blind spot was immediately behind and below its
body. We can assume that could have been the direction of a surprise
attack.
6-10 sentence Essay:
What is the value of one
species in an ecosystem?
Because this is your first essay in this class, I am going to guide you
through the process. In the future, you may not receive guiding
“hints” like this. You should write in complete sentence form. Watch
your spelling and grammar. Also, if I cannot read your writing, don’t
expect points. Use appropriate VOCABULARY (You know a few
biology words now!)