Download Unit 1 Study Guide Answers - East Providence High School

Unit 1 Study Guide Answers
1.
Level of Organization
Individual species
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
biosphere
Description
A single organism
A group of organisms of the
same species
More than one population
that live together in the
same area
Different populations that
live together with their
environment (includes
biotic and abiotic factors)
A group of ecosystems that
share similar climates and
types of organisms.
The entire living planet
Example
1 zebra
Group of zebras
Lions, zebras, tigers, and
bears
Lions, zebras, tigers, and
bears, rocks, mountains,
trees
African grasslands or ocean
The earth
2. Biotic factors: living parts of the environment (humans, animals, trees, etc.)
Abiotic: non-living parts of the environment 9rocks, mountains, air, water, etc.)
3. Biotic and abiotic factors depend on one another for survival.
Example of biotic (humans) affecting abiotic (water and air): humans contribute to
water and air pollution with everyday activities.
Example of abiotic (rocks) affecting biotic (rock dwelling lizards): If all the rocks are
removed from a desert ecosystem, the population of rock dwelling lizards will
decrease causing a disruption in the ecosystem.
4. Producers (autotrophs): capture light from the sun and use it to create energy
(photosynthesis).
5.
Photosynthesis
Process of capturing energy from the sun
and converting it into chemical energy.
Chemosynthesis
Processing of capturing chemical energy
from underwater hydrothermal vents and
converting it to a usable form.
6. Consumers (heterotrophs): an organism that must get energy from digesting other
organisms.
7. A food chain shows the transfer of energy from one organism to the next.
A food web is more than one food chain in one food web.
8. When disturbances to food webs happen, their effects can be dramatic. For example,
in the food chain gizmo, if the rabbits were diseased, their population would decrease
and so would the population of the snakes and hawks because there would be a
decrease in their food supply.
9. Each step in a food chain or food web is called trophic level.
10. The sizes represent the amount of energy available at each level.
11. The fungi (mushrooms)
12. Decomposers break down dead or decaying matter and recycle energy from the top
consumer to the producer.
13. Carbon is removed by photosynthesis.
14. Burning forests, burning fossil fuels, and respiration all put carbon back into the
atmosphere.
15. Humans impact the carbon cycle in multiple ways. For example, cutting trees means
there are less trees/plants to perform photosynthesis to take carbon out of the
atmosphere. Also, burning trees and fossil fuels add carbon to the atmosphere.
16. Simply put: energy is a one-way flow and nutrients are a cycle.
Energy is essentially “lost” as it moves though organisms in an ecosystem. It is
transferred to other forms of energy (heat etc.) not usable by organisms once
converted. Therefore, it “flows” in one direction. Nutrients, however; are constantly
being changed from one form to another that are usable by organisms, so they are
cycled back and forth through living systems.