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Ecology Study Guide KEY
Define the words in questions 1-5:
1. Ecosystem: All the organisms that live in an area together with the
nonliving factors of the environment.
2. Ecology: The study of how organisms interact with each other and the
physical environment.
3. Population: The number of organisms of a species that live in the same
place at the same time.
4. Community: Multiple populations of organisms in a specific area (a
community of pine trees, deer, mice, raccoons, bacteria, mushrooms and
ferns in a forest).
5. Limiting factor: Things in the environment that limit how many organisms
can live there. For example, the amount of food, water or shelter available
to meet the needs of the organisms in the ecosystems.
6. Give two examples of a living limiting factor: Food, shelter (trees and other
plants).
7. Give two examples of a non-living limiting factor: Water, sunlight, shelter
(rocks, dirt).
8. What is the difference between niche and habitat? A habitat is an
organism’s home or living space. A niche is an organism’s role in the
ecosystem. Two organisms may share the same habitat, but no two
organisms can have the exact same niche.
9. What is the benefit of predator-prey relationships? They help control
population size, preventing any one population from getting too large and
using up all of the resources.
10. Define and give an example of the following:
a. Herbivore: A species that eats plants to get energy. Ex/A rabbit or a deer
b. Carnivore: A species that eats meat to get energy. Ex/A lion or an orca
c. Omnivore: A species that eats both plants and meat to get energy. Ex/A
bear or a human
d. Decomposer: A species that breaks down waste and dead organisms to
get energy. The decomposer recycles nutrients back into the
environment. Ex/bacteria and fungi
11. Draw a food chain showing the connection between the following:
Sun, Humans, Cows, Grass (draw in the correct order and identify the source
of energy, producer, and primary/secondary consumer)
Sun (Source of energy for all life) Grass (Producer: uses the sun’s energy
to make food for themselves) Cows (Primary Consumer) Humans
(Secondary Consumer)
12. What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain traces the path of energy as it moves from one organism to
the next in an ecosystem. A food web is a system of several food chains
that overlap. It gives a more complete picture of how organisms interact to
get food and shows how energy flows in an ecosystem.
13. The arrows in food chains/webs show the direction of ENERGY movement.
14. How is energy lost in an ecosystem? As organisms use energy to carry out
life processes, some energy is lost as heat.
15. What is an energy pyramid? An energy pyramid shows the decrease in
energy at each level of the food chain, from producer to primary consumer,
to secondary and tertiary consumers. As you go up the pyramid, there are
fewer organisms because there is less energy available for them!
16. Why do some introduced species do so well in new environments? When a
species is introduced to a new environment, there are often no natural
predators to control their population. If they are especially aggressive or
reproduce quickly, they will populate the area even more rapidly.
Lesson 72 - Miracle Fish:
 Be able to use graphs/chart to gather and analyze data
 What are the pros and cons (trade-offs) of introducing the Nile Perch into
Lake Victoria?
Pros: Introduction of the Nile Perch led to an increase in the fish
population, allowing more food for the people who live near Lake Victoria
and people from surrounding villages to which the extra fish are sold.
Cons: The introduction of Nile Perch has led to the extinction of 200 species
of cichlids, and declines in the populations of catfish and lungfish.
Lesson 77 – Ups and Downs (and What Goes Up, Must Come Down)
 Be able to create a graph (know what goes on the x-axis, y-axis, title)
 Be able to identify trends in data (increasing, decreasing, fluctuating, staying
the same)
 Be able to gather information from graphs and make predictions
 Understand relationships between different populations of species (What
Goes Up, Must Come Down)
 Understand/list factors that affect population size: Amount of food
available, amount of space available for organisms to live in, availability of
water, climate change, predators…
Lesson 79 – Eating for Energy
 Study Eating for Energy Worksheet
 What is plankton? Microscopic plants and animals that form the base of the
aquatic food chain
17. What are the two types of plankton? Zooplankton (microscopic animals)
and phytoplankton (microscopic plants).
18. Why is plankton so important to our ecosystem? Phytoplankton are
producers, so they produce food for all other living things in that aquatic
ecosystem. Plankton are the base of the food chain, they are the food
source for many fish and other aquatic organisms.
19. How do zebra mussels affect the ecosystem? They are filter feeders so they
filter the lake water to get their food (phytoplankton and zooplankton).
They have reduced the population of plankton in the water by 80%. Less
plankton in an ecosystem means that there is less food available for other
aquatic organisms in that ecosystem. Populations of other organisms may
decline or die off completely.
20. What effects can an introduced species have on an ecosystem? An
introduced species can change the populations of other species in the
ecosystem, they may reduce the amount of food available, become a
predator to a native species, they may destroy plants and property, they
may spread disease, they may cause economic issues (cost money to
control or to fix damage caused by the species).
Lesson 85 – Is There Room for One More?
 Be able to use a graph to determine carrying capacity of organisms
Define carrying capacity: Carrying capacity is the number of organisms that
an ecosystem can hold or support. The number of organisms there is
enough food, water and shelter for.
 What factors (living and non-living) can affect carrying capacity? Food
availability, space, water, pollution, climate change, introduction of a new
species, introduction of a new predator.