Download Lesson 8 Ecology Worksheet from SI

Name _________________________________________________Period ________ Date __________
Study Island
Lesson 8 –Ecology
8a Ecosystems and Biomes
1. Write the organization of the biosphere, from broadest category to most specific.
2. The biosphere is the ____________ level of ______________ study and includes ____________ between
different ecosystems that can only be studies by viewing the ___________ as one large _______________.
Biome
3. Biomes are mainly characterized by being a specific geographic region with a
____________________________________________.
4. Biomes are made up of separate (but similar) __________________, so it contains characteristic types of
_________ and animals that are ____________ to the ___________ and its _____________.
Ecosystem
5. An _______________ is made up of the ____________, or living, ______________ and its ____________, or
nonliving, environment.
6. The abiotic factors that make up an ecosystems _______________ what kinds of _________ and
____________ can live there because these factors would include the amount of water, land, and sunlight are
present.
Community
7. A ______________________ includes all of the ____________________ that live and interact in the same
area. It is made up of only the ecosystem’s ____________________, or biotic portion. Interactions between
____________________ can be observed defining how the competition and __________________________
between different species are also part of _______________ _______________.
Population
8. A ________________ is a group of individuals of the ______________________________________________
at the same time.
9. Populations can be defined at different levels of size, as small as a _____________ or as large as an island.
Changes in Ecosystems
10. What does the survival of organisms depend on? Give an example._________________________________
11. True or false. All changes to ecosystems are negative.
12. Changes in an environment have _____________ _____________. For example, if a plants in an ecosystems
were to die, the animals that feed on the plants would have______________________, so
_______________________________ _______________________.
#2 Biotic and Abiotic Factors
13. Both abiotic and biotic factors can____________________________________________________.
14. True or false. Biotic factors are living things.
15. True or false. A natural disaster is not classified as an abiotic factor.
#3 Biomes
16. The _________________ of a location determines which _________________________________.
17. Match the type of biome with its description: (Biomes may be used more than once)
______an area where fresh and salt water mix
A. Tropical Rainforest
______the largest land (continental) biome
B. Temperate Rainforest
______found near the equator
C. Desert
______has four distinct seasons
D. Temperate Grasslands
______made of mostly frozen subsoil, limiting plant life
E. Deciduous Forest
______very sparse trees, receives little rainfall
F. Taiga
______canopies consisting of broadleaf and coniferous trees
G. Tundra
______characterized by thick, mixed grasses
H. Estuary
______receives less than 25cm of rain per year
I. Savanna
______also known as prairies, steppes, or pampas
______plants and animal species are adapted to conserve water
______characterized by highest temperatures and most rainfall
______contains mostly coniferous, cone-bearing trees
______contains marsh grasses and tide resistant plants
______most often used for farmland due to rich soils
______coldest of all regions
______contains the most amount of biomass (living things)
8b Energy Flow in Ecosystems
#1 Ecosystems- Trophic Levels
18. True or false. Energy is passed from the sun then from one organism to another.
19. How does the Sun’s energy cycle through an ecosystem?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
20. A _______________ _______________ describe the feeding level of an organism.
Producers
21. _________________ are organisms that are able to __________________ food molecules from
inorganic compounds. This is completed by the process of _______________ by organisms such as
______________, _____________, some kinds of ________________, and _______________.
22. True or false. All other organisms in an ecosystem depend on producers for energy.
Consumers
23. Name the three main kinds of consumers:
____________________________________________________________________________________
24. Primary consumers eat ________________, and are also called ________________ because they
only eat __________________.
25. Secondary consumers eat ____________________________, and are either __________________
or _________________ depending on what they consume.
26. Tertiary consumers eat ____________________________, and may be either
__________________ or _______________.
Decomposers
27. Describe the role of a decomposer.
____________________________________________________________________________________
28. True or false. Only fungi are classified as decomposers.
# 2 The Flow of Energy Through an Ecosystem
29. Using the food chain example, label the role of each of the organisms:
ALGAE

__________
MINNOW

____________
SALMON
____________

BEAR
___________
 BACTERIA
_______________
30. What do the arrows in a food chain represent?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
31. In which direction does energy flow? _________________________________________________________
Food Webs
32. A ____________________ is a group of interconnected food ______________, where organisms can belong
to ______________________________________, or feeding level.
33. From the diagram, which organisms are
a. receiving energy from carnivorous zoo plankton:__________________________________________________
b. consuming fish:____________________________________________________________________________
c. the energy source for krill:____________________________________________________________________
Energy Pyramid
34. What does an energy pyramid
show?______________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
35. How is the energy stored in an ecosystem?_____________________________________________________
36. Describe the flow of energy as it travels from level to level of an energy pyramid?
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
37. How do the actual number of organisms change as you move towards the top of the
pyramids?_________________
8c Organism Interactions and Population Dynamics
38. How do organisms affect one another within an ecosystem?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Energy Relationships
39. _______________ and _______________ describe the _______________ relationships between species and
represent the flow of energy through an ecosystem.
Symbiosis
40. Symbiosis is an interaction between ______________ of different _______________ _______________,
where _______________________ of the organisms receives a ____________, while the other organism can
either receive a ________________, _____________________, or not be affected in any way.
41. TRUE or FALSE. A symbiotic interaction involves a distant relationship.
42. Match the type of symbiosis with the relationships below: (the relationship may be used more than once)
______ one organism benefits the other is harmed
A. commensalism
______fleas feed on the blood of my dog
B. mutualism
______ bees pollinate flowers and collect nectar
C. parasitism
______both species benefit
______one species benefits the other is unaffected
Predation
43. Predation is when a _____________ hunts, kills, and eats its prey.
44. True or false. Predation and Parasitism are similar because both relationships involve killing the affected
organism.
Competition
45. What causes competition between
species?__________________________________________________________________________________
46. Name a few examples of resources that organisms compete
for:_____________________________________________________________________________________
Cooperation
47. Cooperation is a relationship in which ________________________________________. Animals who
exhibit cooperative behavior often______________________________________________________________.
48. What is the main benefit of cooperative behavior in animals?______________________________________
49. What is a hierarchy of leadership?____________________________________________________________
#2 Carrying Capacity
50. An ecosystem can _____________________________________________, this number is called its
_____________ ___________________ and depends on the physical conditions and _____________ available,
including temperature, amount of ____________, ___________, air, ___________ and amount of food or
sunlight.
51. True or false. The carrying capacity is the actual number of organisms that an ecosystem can support based
on its available resources.
52. True or false. Populations will generally increase rapidly at first, then stop growing as they reach carrying
capacity.
#3 Population Growth Factors
53. Population size is
______________________________________________________________________________
54. _________________ _____________ is the number of ______________ in the population divided by a
regular unit of area or volume.
55. True or false. A J-Shaped population growth curve shows an exponential growth of the numbers of the
organisms as long as resources are provided.
56. When population growth is _________________ at first and then levels off at the ecosystem’s _________
____________, the graph is represented by an ___________________________________________________.
Population Growth Factors
57. Match the following terms with their definitions:
______movement of individuals into a population
A. birth rate
______ any of an event such as tornadoes, hurricanes or disease
B. death rate
______the ratio of births to the number of organisms in a time period
C. immigration
______ any physical, biological, or chemical factors in the shortest supply
D. emigration
______movement of individuals out of a population
E. natural causes
______the ratios of deaths to the number of organisms in a time period
F. limiting factor
8e Earths Cycles
Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
58. ____________________________________ are predictable pathways followed by chemical elements or
molecules as the elements or molecules travel through the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
Photosynthesis & Respiration in the Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
59. There are two primary natural processes that drive the carbon-oxygen cycle and they are
___________________________and _______________________ _________________________________.
60. Write the equation for photosynthesis:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
61. Write the equation for cellular respiration:
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The Nitrogen Cycle
62. The _____________________ ____________________ is the cycle of consumption and regeneration of
nitrogen within our environment.
Overview
63. Nitrogen is an essential component of ____________________________ & ____________________.
64. Name the two nucleic acids_____________________________& ______________________________.
65. What is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere?___________________________________
66. How can nitrogen can be converted to usable forms? ________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Water Cycle
67. Another name for the water cycle is the ____________________________________.
68. The water cycle includes many processes. Define the following:
PROCESS
Condensation
Precipitation
Infiltration
Surface Runoff
Evaporation
Transpiration
Sublimation
Deposition
8e- Environmental Change Natural Environmental Impact
69. True or False. All environmental impact from volcanic eruption are negative to the environment.
70. Name the four benefits of fire on an ecosystem:
a.__________________________________________________
b.__________________________________________________
c.__________________________________________________
d.__________________________________________________
#2 Human Environmental Impact
The Carbon Cycle and Climate Change
71. How does burning fossil fuels affect the carbon cycle? Be Specific!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Earth’s Atmosphere
72. What is particulate matter?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
73. What effects may it cause to humans?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
74. What is ozone?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
The Nitrogen Cycle
75. How do human-made fertilizers affect the nitrogen cycle?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
76. Humans affect the water cycle by covering the ground with building and _____________, which increase the
amount of ____________ ____________ that is produced which collects _____________________ that end up
in the water and changes the ___________balance of bodies of _____________.
77. ________________, humankind’s most common way of disposing _________ __________, impacts the
water cycle by contaminating _________________ and __________________. Water that is ________________
from the various ___________ and inorganic substances with which it comes into _____________ as it
______________ through the waste is known as __________________.
Human Activity and Earth’s Ecosystems
78. What is the current human population?___________________
79. Give an example of how humans have been able to live longer._________________________________
80. Name three factors that have affected animal habitats:_______________________________________
__________________________ ________________________________
81. What rapidly increases the naturally occurring process of
erosion?________________________________________________________________________________
82. What is the main way that humans generate acid
rain?__________________________________________________________________________________
Human Activity and Conservation
83. Match the term with its definition:
______giving something a different purpose
A. Conservation
______making new products from ones that have been used before
B. Reducing
______the act of careful use and planning to minimize negative use
C. Reusing
______the act of consuming fewer natural resources and decreasing waste
D. Recycling
#3 Invasive Species
84. What is an invasive species?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
85. How might new species be brought into foreign areas?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
86. In many cases, non-native organisms ___________________________________, however, there are certain
cases where the ___________ ______________ ________ is able to _________________ and
_________________ in the new habitat, sometimes even doing well enough to __________________
______________ ________________ for food and other resources.