Download Study Guide – Interactions of Living Things

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Study Guide – Interactions of Living Things
1. In addition to the organisms that live in a biome, what are two variables used
to characterize or define a biome? Precipitation and Temperature.
2. What does a food chain show? Energy flow between specific organisms.
(A food web shows energy flow between organisms from many different food
chains)
3. What is a heterotroph? Eats other organisms to obtain Energy.
4. How do the following heterotrophs obtain energy: carnivore, herbivore,
omnivore, insectivore, and decomposer. Carnivores eat meat, herbivores eat
plants, omnivores eat both meat and plants, insectivores eat insects, and
decomposers eat dead organic matter.
5. What is an autotroph? Uses an Energy to make its own food/sugar.
6. How is a food web different from a food chain? Food webs show many
overlapping food chains, while a food chain shows energy flow between very
specific organisms.
7. In a food web or food chain, what type of organism is always the basis
(beginning) for the food chain or web? Autotrophs.
8. What is the role of a decomposer in an ecosystem? Recycle nutrients in the
environment so other living things can use them.
9. How would you explain the term ecology? The study of the interaction of living
things with other living things, and with their environment.
10. What is an ecosystem? A habitat and the life forms found in it. There are
many ecosystems in a biome.
11. What are the two parts of the global food web? Water and Land. Organisms
that belong to food webs that overlap between the water and land are
responsible for energy flow between the two parts.
12. Identify your habitat and your niche. My habitat is a town with buildings,
roads, parks, lakes and streams, and my niche is a professional dog walker.
13. Identify a population in your community, other than humans. Coyotes
14. List two populations in your community that are not human. Hawks and
bumble bees.
15. How would you define a species? A group of organisms that look and act in
similar ways, and that can reproduce.
16. List an abiotic factor and a biotic factor in your ecosystem. Roads are not
alive, while raccoons are.
17. What is a limiting factor that may affect the growth of the human population?
Food
18. Identify a population in your ecosystem that the human population is in
competition with, and identify what is being competed for. Caterpillars compete
with humans for food.
19. Identify one way that humans cooperate to survive. Food pantries.
20. Identify a reason that a population crash could occur in a population. A result
of a natural disaster, like a forest fire or a flood. After the disaster, equilibrium
will return.
21. How would you define symbiosis? Relationship between two organisms
where at least one benefits and they are in constant contact.
22. There are three types of symbiosis. Give an example of each type of
symbiosis; be sure to identify the organisms involved and what their relationship
with each other is.
Mutualism – Both organisms benefit, and cannot survive without each other.
Lichen – algae is food, and fungus provides shelter, water, and minerals
(fertilizer).
Parasitism – One organism benefits, while the other is harmed.
Mosquito bites the human.
Commensalism – One organism benefits and the other is unaffected.
Lichen – grows on a tree, but does not affect the tree.
23. Describe a predator-prey relationship in your ecosystem. When the predator
population increases, the prey population decreases. When the prey population
decreases, the predator population decreases, and the prey population increases.
The predator population increases, and then the prey population decreases.
(SMALL POPULATION CHANGES = EQUILIBRIUM).
24. Provide a reason why a person may want to emigrate to the USA, and provide
a reason why a person may want to immigrate to the USA.
EMIGRATE (leave a place)– War, lack of food or water….
Immigrate - To find a place to live. Find a job. Food. Security.
25. How would carrying capacity in your ecosystem be influenced by a limiting
factor such as available water?
Without water, the carrying capacity will decrease, and not as many life forms will
be found in the ecosystem.
26. Draw a food chain that exists in your ecosystem. Be sure to include an
autotroph (producer), primary heterotroph (consumer), secondary heterotroph
(consumer), and tertiary heterotroph (consumer).
27. Draw a food web that exists in your ecosystem. Try to include at least three
overlapping food chains.