Download Ecology Study Guide with answers

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Ecology Unit Study Guide
1. What is a food web? Draw an example.
Shows all of the feeding relationships in an ecosystem
(see diagram at bottom of page)
2. What do the arrows in a food web and a food chain represent?
The flow of energy
3. Define the following AND give 3 examples of each:
Producer- makes its own food (plants)
Consumer- has to eat (cannot make its own food)
Herbivore- eats only plants
Carnivore- eats only animals
Omnivore- eats plants and animals
4. Why is sunlight important in ecosystems?
It is the source of energy
5. What would use a dead tree limb as a food source?
Decomposers / detritivores
6. Define habitat.
Where an organisms lives, it’s ‘address’
7. What is the source of all energy?
The sun/sunlight
8. Define and give an example of a competitive relationship.
A competitive relationship involves two organisms that want/need the same food, water, shelter, space, or any other limiting factor
Use this diagram to answer the next set of questions.
Use the diagram above to answer this set of questions:
9. List 2 competitive relationships from the diagram.
The deer and rabbit both eat plants; the fox and the hawk both eat the mouse
10. What would happen to the grass if the number of grasshoppers decreased?
The amount of grass would increase since the grasshoppers eat the grass
11. What would happen to the mice if the number of foxes increased?
There would be less mice since the foxes eat the mice
12. If a disease killed the grass, what would happen first?
The herbivores would die or migrate due to lack of food
13. List a predator/prey relationship from the diagram.
Hawk/mouse
14. Label the diagram using the terms: omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, producer.
Omni= none shown in diagram
Carn=fox, hawk, owl
Herb= deer, rabbit, grasshopper, chipmunk
Prod= trees, grass
15. Make an energy pyramid using the organisms in the diagram. Label the 4 trophic levels.
Hawk….Owl… Fox = tertiary consumers
Mouse…Bird… = secondary consumers
Rabbit…Deer…Grasshopper = primary consumers
Grass…. Trees….. = producers
16. What are limiting factors?
Factors that limit the amount of organisms that can live in a habitat (food, water, shelter, space)
17. What are pioneer species? Provide 2 examples.
Species that appear first in a disturbed area (grasses, insects)
18. What are major characteristics of secondary succession communities?
They are disturbed areas that have existing soil, secondary succession is faster.
19. Which level of the food web contains the greatest amount of available energy?
producers
20. If a disease were to kill most of the rabbits in an area, predict how the snakes, deer, and mountain lions would be
affected.
The snakes would have less food
The deer would have more food
The mountain lions would have less food
21. A food chain consists of biotic factors. As energy moves through the chain, the amount available to each member of
the chain decreases. Provide an example of a complete food chain.
22. Polar bears are very well adapted to life around the Arctic Ocean. Their white fur camouflages them in the snow. They
can withstand freezing temperatures for a long time. They can swim and hunt in very cold
water. Is the distribution of polar bears limited by physical barriers, competition, or climate? Explain your answer.
Climate- they are adapted to cold weather and snow due to their coloration and warm fur.
Use the above picture to answer questions 23 & 24
23. What would happen if another mouse-eating predator were introduced into this ecosystem?
It would be in competition with the Kestrel for food, there would be less mice and more grass
24. Which organism could be at this beginning of a food chain?
The grass
25. Define symbiosis (symbiotic relationships).
A relationship between two organisms of different species.
Define and provide an example of each:
26. Mutualism: both organisms benefit
Ex. Bacteria in intestines/ humans
27. Parasitism: one organisms benefits, the other is harmed
Ex. Tick / deer
28. Commensalism: one organism benefits, the other is not benefited or harmed
Ex. Epiphytes (air plants)
29. Adaptation: characteristic of an organism that helps it survive
Ex. Fur on polar bear
Ex. Echolocation for bats
30. Provide 2 examples of conditions that could cause a decrease in the number of prairie dogs in a population?
Less food available, more predators
Use the above picture to answer questions 31 & 32.
31. Which concept is best illustrated by this diagram?
Carbon cycle
32. How does predation help prey populations?
Keeps numbers of prey down which in turn ensures there are enough resources available for the prey species