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Ecology Book
Ecology Book
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4. The diagram below shows some C.all populations that live in the
organisms that live in one kind of same area and interact
seaside ecosystem. D.all populations that live in the
same area but do not interact
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environment. 9. The food web below shows some of
C.They eat a variety of prey, the feeding relationships among
including zebras, buffaloes, and organisms in Arctic waters.
wildebeest.
D.They live in prides of five to ten
adult females and their young,
and one or
two adult males.
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B.The birth rate is equal to the
death rate.
C.The death rate is greater than the
birth rate.
D.The birth rate has become
greater than the death rate.
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Introduction to Ecology
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Which of the following best
3. The following image shows
describes what scientists consider
organisms in a certain land biome.
when they study ecology?
A.the interactions of organisms
with their environment
B.the interactions of organisms
with weather and climate
C.the interactions of organisms to
reproduce and produce offspring
D.the interactions of organisms
with one another and the
environment
Which land biome is most likely
2. Which of the following determines shown in this image?
where a population can live?
A.desert
A.whether its needs are met by the
B.tundra
biotic factors in the habitat
C.tropical rain forest
B.whether its needs are met by the
abiotic factors in the habitat D.temperate grassland
C.whether its needs are met by the 4. Which of the following is a biotic
abiotic and biotic factors in the factor in an ecosystem?
habitat A.wind
D.whether its needs are met by the B.tree leaves
other populations of organisms in
the habitat C.small rocks
D.light from the sun
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A.A species is a group of organisms C.A species is a group of organisms
that are closely related. that live in an area and interact.
B.A species is a group of organisms D.A species is a group of organisms
that live in the same habitat. that are closely related and
produce fertile offspring.
A.
B.
C.
D.
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A.frog
B.redwood tree
C.great white shark
D.athlete’s foot fungus
4. Two types of global food webs show the feeding relationships of organisms.
What distinguishes one type of global web from the other?
5. All organisms must obtain energy from their environment. Every organism
needs this energy in order to grow and reproduce. How do producers obtain
energy?
A.They obtain energy by eating plants, bacteria, and algae.
B.They extract chemical energy from decaying organic matter.
C.They extract energy from the chemicals in soil, air, and water.
D.They capture energy from sunlight and manufacture their own food.
Population Dynamics
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Which of the following is an example of a biotic limiting factor in an
ecosystem?
A.New predators move into the ecosystem.
B.A drought occurs for several months.
C.A hurricane passes through an ecosystem.
D.Living space is lost due to human activities.
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C.New predators are added to the ecosystem.
D.A large number of squirrels die because of a forest fire.
According to the graph, during which year did the limiting factors in this
environment most affect the rabbit population?
A.Year 1
B.Year 2
C.Year 3
D.Year 4
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Interactions in Communities
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Which of these statements best explains why trees in a forest do not grow very
close to one another?
A.Their seeds blow away from them.
B.Deer eat the newly sprouted seedlings.
C.Trees are harvested by lumber companies.
D.Trees compete for resources directly
around them.
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4. The diagram below shows feeding relationships among some organisms in an
ecosystem.
Based on the information shown in the diagram, which answer best describes
the relationship between hawks and coyotes?
A.Coyotes are parasites of hawks.
B.Coyotes are predators of hawks.
C.Coyotes and hawks are both prey.
D.Coyotes and hawks compete for the
same food.
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Population Dynamics
Climb the Pyramid: Population Ups and Downs
Climb the pyramid to show how much you know about population dynamics.
1. Work on your own, with a partner, or with a small group.
2. Choose one item from each layer of the pyramid. Check your choices.
__ Changing or Stable?
Write three equations. One
should show how a population
can increase in a year (this
would have a positive number
as its answer). One should
show how a population can
decrease in a year (with a
negative number as its
answer), and one should show
a stable population (with zero
as its answer).
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biotic factors in the population. The other and biotic factors that
ecosystem. Indicate the should show cooperation you could use to reduce
limiting factor with an between individuals in a the mosquito population.
arrow and tell why it is population. Write a Which factor do you
the limiting factor. caption for each that think would work best,
tells the effect of the and why?
competition or
cooperation.
T F
4.A food chain is the feeding relationships among all of the organisms in
an ecosystem.
Analysis
1. Why is the energy of a food chain represented by a pyramid?
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2. If an herbivore stores only 10 percent of the energy it takes in, what happens to the
remaining 90 percent?
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3. What is present in the aquarium that has the function of recycling organic material,
such as waste?
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4. In an ecosystem, where is the greatest amount of energy stored?
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5. Where does the energy for this ecosystem originally come from?
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8. After a mild winter and plenty of food, a deer population grew rapidly. What
most likely happened to the wolf population in that same ecosystem?
A.It was unaffected. C. It shrunk.
B.It grew. D It went extinct.
9. The diagram below shows an aquatic ecosystem.
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What is one abiotic factor shown in this diagram?
A.the snails C.the crab
B.the water D.the tree roots
10. Which of the following is an example of a biotic limiting factor
for a population?
A.water availability C. disease
B.climate D.natural disasters
11.Which of the following is the most likely reason that a population might
crash?
A.The competition for the same resource suddenly drops.
B.The number of prey suddenly increases.
C.The number of predators suddenly decreases.
D.The carrying capacity of the environment suddenly drops.
12.Grizzly bears are classified in the order Carnivora. Their diet consists of
roots, tubers, berries, nuts, fungus, insects, rodents, and fish. What ecological
role best describes grizzly bears?
A.carnivores C.herbivores
B.omnivores D.producers
What provides the energy for the sea grass, the manatee, and most life on
Earth? ____________________________________________________________.
What role does the sea grass play in this food chain?_____
According to this diagram, what type of consumer is the manatee?
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1. A mangrove swamp contains many organisms living among the large roots of
the mangrove trees. This food web shows some of the relationships in that
ecosystem.
2. During the 1930s, a large region of the Great Plains experienced a drought
that turned grasslands into dust. How did this change most likely affect
populations of insects living among the grasslands?
A.They adapted to eat dust instead of grass.
B.They decreased because the resources they needed were not available.
C.They increased because other populations were eliminated from the
environment.
D.They were not affected because the size of a population cannot change over
time.
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Which things from the image make up the pond community?
A.water, rocks, clouds, and air only
B.fish, ducks, turtles, frogs, crayfish, and insects only
C.grasses, cattail reeds, fish, ducks, turtles, frogs, crayfish, and insects
D.grasses, cattail reeds, water, rocks, clouds, air, fish, ducks, turtles, frogs,
crayfish, and insects
4. Some consumers, such as many flying insects, need large amounts of energy to
grow and move from one place to another. How do consumers get energy to
function?
A.Consumers obtain all of their energy by eating other organisms.
B.Consumers obtain some energy from other organisms and some from
sunlight.
C.Consumers obtain most of their energy by absorbing it from their
environments.
D.Consumers convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy stored in
food.
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6. The graph below shows the populations of two different animals over a period
of time.
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D.Both biomes and ecosystems are characterized by their climate conditions
and the communities that live in them; however, ecosystems refer to land
environments and biomes refer to aquatic environments.
8. Which of the following describes the relationship between a hermit crab and
the mollusk that previously lived in the hermit crab’s shell?
A.parasitism
B.mutualism
C.commensalism
D.predator and prey
11.The figure below shows a food chain that might exist in a field or meadow.
Which of the following best describes what the food chain represents?
A.how an organism might change over time
B.the movement of organisms throughout the ecosystem
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C.the increase in size among organisms in the ecosystem
D.the path of energy transfer from producers to consumers
12.Which of the following is a resource for which two trees growing next to each
other in a forest would most likely compete?
A.nutrients in the soil
B.carbon dioxide in the air
C.bark-eating animals that live nearby
D.timber that humans can use for fuel
Critical Thinking
Answer the following questions in the space provided.
13.What is a limiting factor? How can limiting factors limit the size of a
population?
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Extended Response
Answer the following questions in the space provided.
14.An owl, grasshopper, grass plant, and shrew are all part of the same food
chain.
Describe what a food chain represents.
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Which organism is the producer? Explain.
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15. Use the diagram to help you answer the following question.
If there is a decrease in food availability for the wading birds, how will the
different levels of organization shown in the diagram be affected?
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ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Lessons 2 and 4
Answer the following question in the space provided.
16.The diagram below shows an example of a food web.
What are common traits of the prey animals shown that help them survive?
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What important ecological group is missing from this food web?
What might happen if the rabbit population suddenly shrunk due to disease?
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UNIT 2
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Which of the following best describes what the person is doing?
A.recycling natural resources
B.depleting natural resources
C.conserving natural resources
D.identifying new natural resources
5. The following table lists the number and variety of organisms in four different
ecosystems.
Plants Animals
# of # of # of # of
Orga Spe Orga Spe
nism cies nism cies
s s
Ecosy 500 5 300 4
stem
1
Ecosy 300 10 100 7
stem
2
Ecosy 100 2 200 5
stem
3
Ecosy 50 6 30 4
stem
4
Based on the table, which ecosystem is likely the most sustainable?
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A.Ecosystem 1
B.Ecosystem 2
C.Ecosystem 3
D.Ecosystem 4
6. Coral reefs and kelp forests are both found in coastal ocean ecosystems. How
are the ecosystems in which they are found different?
A.Coral reefs are found in warm waters and kelp forests are found in cold
waters.
B.Coral reefs are found in salt water and kelp forests are found in fresh
water.
C.Coral reefs are found above the tide line and kelp forests are found below
the tide line.
D.Coral reefs are found in water exposed to sunlight and kelp forests get their
energy from chemicals along the ocean floor.
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7. Which term best describes a body of water that forms where a river flows into
an ocean?
A.bog
B.estuary
C.swamp
D.wetland
8. What is one way that a temperate rain forest is different from a temperate
deciduous forest?
A.A temperate rain forest has large populations of grasses rather than tall
trees.
B.A temperate rain forest is made up of palm trees rather than coniferous
trees.
C.A temperate rain forest has a long rainy season rather than moderate, year-
round rainfall.
D.A temperate rain forest has trees that lose their leaves in winter rather than
keeping them year-round.
Land Biomes
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. In which biome would you expect to find many coniferous trees?
A.taiga
B.tundra
C.savanna
D.tropical rain forest
3. How are tropical plants such as bromeliads adapted to the biome in which
they live?
A.They grow from tree branches rather than the forest floor, which helps
them to absorb more sunlight.
B.They have long, thick roots, which helps them to gather the nutrients that
are found deep within the soil.
C.They have hollow leaves and stems for storing water, which helps them to
survive long periods with little rainfall.
D.They lose their leaves during the winter, which helps them to save energy
when the temperature falls and prevents the buildup
of snow.
Unit 2 Lesson 2
Aquatic Ecosystems
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Which statement about the deep ocean zone is true?
A.Plankton dominate this zone of the ocean.
B.Coral reefs are commonly found in this zone.
C.Organisms in this zone must be able to survive major changes in salinity.
D.Some organisms in this zone use chemicals for energy rather than sunlight.
What is one way the otter is adapted to living in the moving water of a river?
A.It has sharp claws.
Unit 2 Lesson 2
Changes in Ecosystems
Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. How is secondary succession B.They constantly change in
different from primary succession? different ways over time.
A.Secondary succession occurs C.Ecosystems always revert back to
after a disturbance in an area their original state.
that was previously uninhabited. D.Each ecosystem can exist for only
B.Secondary succession occurs a specific length of time.
after a disturbance in an area in
which the soil has remained
intact.
C.Secondary succession occurs over
a longer period of time than
primary succession.
D.Secondary succession occurs
when animals are introduced to
an area that had only plants.
Analysis
2. Does the community shown in the illustrations represent an example of
primary or secondary succession? Explain.
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3. Will this community continue to undergo change beyond the last stage shown
in your group of illustrations? Explain.
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4. A student says that it would take about ten years for the community to go
from the first stage to the last stage shown in the illustrations. Do you agree?
Explain.
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5. How would the last three illustrations be different if a fire had destroyed the
community half-way through the stages shown?
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6. Describe one plant that is present at one stage but is absent or present in very
low abundance at another stage. Explain why its presence in the community
changes.
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Unit 2 Lesson 2
Key Concepts
Read each question below, and circle the best answer.
6. Where do producers that use chloroplasts get the energy they need to survive?
A.from the sun C.from the organisms they eat
B.from the air D.from the remains of organisms
7. What are the ocean zones of a marine ecosystem, from most shallow to
deepest?
A.intertidal, neritic, bathyal, abyssal
B.abyssal, neritic, intertidal, bathyal
C.neritic, intertidal, bathyal, abyssal
D.bathyal, abyssal, intertidal, neritic
Which number corresponds to combustion and the release of CO2, water, and
the loss of energy as heat into the environment?
A.1 C.3
B.2 D.4
12.What is an adaptation that allows some animals to survive in the tundra?
A.living underground C. being active at night only
B.having thick layers of fur D. living within the upper branches of trees
13.Some grass species need fire in order for their seeds to germinate. Why might
this adaptation be useful for grasses?
A.Fire allows trees to grow and provide shade for the grasses.
B.The hot temperature of the fire helps the grasses grow faster.
C.Seeds can germinate in an area that has been cleared by a fire.
D.Fire discourages grazing by large animals so grass can grow higher.
7. Which of the following human activities is most likely to affect water quantity
in an area?
A.boating on a lake
B.constructing a dam
C.dumping chemicals down a drain
D.piloting oil tankers across the ocean
8. Which ecosystem most likely has the greatest biological diversity?
A.a tank that includes several goldfish
B.a tundra region that has many penguins
C.a pine tree in which three groups of birds live
D.a rain forest that has many different types of plants and animals
12.Which adaptation would best help a lily pad survive in the moving water of a
stream?
A.long roots
B.large leaves
C.sweet scent
D.white flowers
Critical Thinking
Answer the following questions in the space provided.
13.What is conservation?
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