Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Populations
1. Define the following terms associated with population ecology; population and carrying capacity.
2. What processes contribute to changes in population size?
3. What are some factors which can increase the carrying capacity of a population? Decrease?
4. What is quadrat sampling? When would it be used?
Communities
5. Define the following terms; community, autotroph, heterotroph, producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, detritivore and
saprotroph.
6. What is the initial energy source for all communities?
7. Be able to read food webs and determine the trophic level of different species.
8. Choose 2 regions below and determine the Simpson’s Diversity Index value for these regions. Which region is more diverse?
A. An area of the Black Forest in Germany contains 134 pitch pines, 24 douglas firs, and 53 red pines.
B. A meadow contains 1532 chestnut oaks, 342 black cherry trees, 12 white ash trees, and 1022 yellow birches.
C. You school science classroom contains 12 beetles, 34 termites, 84 ants, 93 fleas, and 1 butterfly.
D. An African park contains 15 lions, 94 giraffes, 1000 wildebeests, 50 elephants, and 5 hyenas.
Choose more areas if you need more practice.
9. What is a keystone species?
10. Distinguish between primary and secondary succession.
Ecosystems
11. What is an ecosystem?
12. Explain the 10% rule of energy transfer. How is the energy lost between trophic levels?
13. Review the Carbon Cycle. What are the main sources of carbon dioxide on earth?
14. Review the Nitrogen Cycle.
15. Distinguish between Gross Primary Productivity and Net Primary Productivity.
16. What is the Greenhouse effect?
17. How have human activities influenced climate change? When did human activities begin to influence climate change? Why?
18. What are the most common greenhouse gases?
PRACTICE PROBLEMS
1.. A researcher is trying to estimate the population abundance of Lodge Pole Pine Trees in Rocky Mountain National Park. He divides the park into
quadrats and counts the number of trees in a number of randomly selected quadrats. Below is a representation of his data.
Rocky Mountain National Park
5 9 2 8 11 2
5
8 8
9
3
7 2
2 4
6 1
5 7
What is the population estimate for Lodge Pole Pines in Rocky Mountain National Park?
Average number of trees in the sampled quadrats = 5.47 number of quadrats = 180
N = 180(5.47)
N = 984.6
985 Lodge Pole Pines
What would you need to know and do to determine the density of trees in the park?
You would need to know the area of the park Density = number plants / area (be sure to include correct units)
2. Another researcher is trying to estimate the number of Fox Squirrels living in Lakewood.
She uses the mark – recapture method to estimate the population size. The following data
was collected.
Number of squirrels initially caught and released = 42
Total number of squirrels caught in second sample = 23
Number of marked squirrels in the second sample = 4
4. A mouse population lives in a semi-desert environment that has been affected by global warming. In the past twenty years, temperatures in the
area have increased by an average of three degrees Fahrenheit, and rainfall has decreased by about five inches per year. Over this time period, it is
likely that the mice in this population have
a. grown larger and produced more offspring.
b. lived longer and produced more offspring.
c. gotten smaller and produced fewer offspring.
d. had shorter life spans and produced more offspring.
e. not changed; they are well adapted to any changes in the environment.
5. Sparrows eat both insects and seeds. To which trophic level do they belong?
a. primary consumer b. secondary consumer c. tertiary consumer d. omnivore
7. Decomposers obtain energy from which trophic level or levels of a food web?
a. All levels
b. Omnivores only
c. All producers only
d. All consumers only
e. Secondary and tertiary consumers only
8. A rough measure of the flow of both energy and materials through ecosystems can be obtained by measuring
a. gross primary productivity
b. net primary productivity
c. output of biogeochemical cycles
d. geographic distributions of plants
e. flow through the hydrologic cycle
9. Complete the diagram of the nitrogen cycle by naming the organisms involved in processes A, B and C below.
d e n itrifica tio n
N 2 in atm osp h ere
D e nitrify in g
C. b ac te ria
(P seu d o m o n a s
lig h tn in g
d en itrifica ns)
P ro tein s in fe e din g P ro te in s in
p lan ts a nim als
N itra te s in so il d e c o m p o sitio n
A m m o n iu m
salts in so il
B. N itrify in g
N itrites in so il b ac te ria
(N itro so m o n a s)
(3)
A = decomposers / saprophytes
B = nitrifying bacteria
C = nitrogen fixing bacteria
10. The graph below shows the variation in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1970.
375
370
365
360
355
CO 2
350
c o n c e n tratio n
/ ppm 345
340
335
330
325
320
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
[Source: C D Keeling and T P Whorf, Atmosphere CO2 concentrations (ppm) derived from in situ air samples,
collected at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii]
The annual fluctuation is mainly the result of changes in the levels of photosynthesis associated with the seasons
in Northern Hemisphere forests.
(a) (i) Describe the overall trend shown in the graph. (1)
(ii) Suggest a cause for the overall trend throughout the period 1970–1999. (1)
(b) (i) Using a clear label, identify any one point on the graph which shows the CO2 level in mid-summer.
(ii) Explain why the concentration of CO2 varies with the seasons. (2)
Think about trees that lose their leaves
(c) Identify one gas, other than CO2 , which is contributing to the enhanced greenhouse effect. (1)
Methane , water vapor
11. Understanding the ecological mechanism that causes extinction is fundamental to conservation as not all organisms
are threatened by the same factors. A total of 1012 threatened bird species in 95 families were studied to see
how they were threatened by different factors:
habitat loss
persecution by humans and introduced predators
other factors (introduced competitors, hybridization and disease) and unknown risk factors.
Scientists investigated the relationship between body size and the risk of extinction, both due to habitat loss and to
persecution/predation. Birds were classified as small (mean body mass 1 to 1000 g) and large (mass greater than 1000
g). The results are shown in the pie chart and bar charts below.
P e rcen ta g e o f a ll 1 0 1 2 sp ecies E x tin ctio n risk fro m h a b ita t lo ss
th rea ten ed b y ea ch ty p e o f fa cto r
6
20% 5
P erc e n tag e o f 4
sp e c ie s in
3
fa m ily at risk
2
45% 1
10%
0
S m all L a rg e
B o d y siz e
(a) (i) State the percentage of species affected in some way by habitat loss. (1) 70%
(ii) Calculate the approximate number of bird species threatened by predation / persecution only. (1)
101 +/- 1
(b) State two factors that could have caused habitat loss. (2)
Fire, climate change, logging, pollution, drought
(c) Outline, using the bar charts, the effect of body size on the risk of extinction. (2)
(2)
Small = habitat loss
Large = persecution / predation
(d) Discuss the methods of conservation that would avoid the extinction of large species. (3)
In situ examples or ex situ examples (size of the animal really doesn’t matter)
5 –2 –1 2
12. The total solar energy received by a grassland is 5 × l0 kJ m y . The net production of the grassland is 5 × 10
–2 –1 2 –2 –1 –
kJ m y and its gross production is 6 × l0 kJ m y . The total energy passed on to primary consumers is 60 kJ m
2 –1
y . Only 10% of this energy is passed on to the secondary consumers.
(a) Calculate the energy lost by plant respiration. (2)
Plant respiration = gross – net
6 – 5 = 1 x 102 kJm-2 y-1
(b) Construct a pyramid of energy for this grassland. (3)
13. The energy flow diagram below for a temperate ecosystem has been divided into two parts. One part shows
–2 –1
autotrophic use of energy and the other shows the heterotrophic use of energy. All values are kJm yr .
A u totro p h s H etero tro p h s
h eat 1 4 1 4 0
h eat
23 930
au to tro p h ic h etero tro p h ic
resp iratio n resp iratio n
g ro ss
p h o to sy n th esis p ro d u ctio n n et p ro d u ctio n feed in g sto rag e
43 510 X 14 690 540
sto rag e
4 900
15.
16 The diagram below represents an energy pyramid and four trophic levels.
IV
III
II
1 0 0 0 0 0 k J m –2 y r–1 I
–2 –1
(ii) Calculate the approximate amount of energy in kilojoules transferred in m yr from trophic level
I to trophic level II. (1)
...10 000 (assuming 10%)................................................... kJ
16. The diagram below is part of a carbon cycle diagram for an ecosystem in a pond.
Secondary
consumers
(i) convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds in pond weeds and algae (1)
photosynthesis
(ii) convert organic compounds in pond weeds, algae and primary consumers into carbon dioxide. (1)
Cellular respiration
(b) (i) Draw arrows on the diagram above to show how the saprotrophs obtain carbon. (1)
There has been a significant increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere during the
last fifty years.
(d) (i) Suggest two reasons for this increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration.
1. .........burning of fossil fuels........................
..........................................................................................................................
2. ....deforestation.........................................
..........................................................................................................................
(2)
(ii) Suggest one effect of an increase in carbon dioxide concentration on organisms in a pond. Include in
your answer the reason for the effect and the type of organisms that are affected.
Carbon dioxide dissolves in water to produce carbonic acid. The pond would become more acidic
which would impact the productivity of plants in the pond (decrease growth) which would
impact the food webs within the pond.
(2)
(Total 11 marks)
17. The illustration below shows a Gersmehl diagram of the taiga biome.
B
L = litter
B = biomass
S = Soil
L
S
b. Explain how the amount of litter in a tropical rainforest would differ from the taiga’s and
how this would be represented in a Gersmehl diagram.