5.10 Mid Unit Assessment: Ecology and the Enviroment

Describe a reason that ecosystem stability is important to the life forms in the ecosystem, and then describe why stability in one ecosystem is important for stability in an adjoining one

Different life forms adapt to their environment. Stable ecosystem creates a stable environment for life forms. In stable environment, life forms do not have to adapt all the time and their energy can be invested into other life processes, such as growth, reproduction, etc. Stability of ecosystem is important for adjoining ecosystems because that way boundaries and influences could be extended. Stable ecosystems are able to interact and both benefit from each other.

All penguins living together in one area are called a _________

Population

Which event would be the result if populations of producers in an ecosystem became unstable?

The energy flow into the food web would decrease or increase along with changing populations of producers.

Which of the following most accurately demonstrates the order of energy flow in an ecosystem?

sun→alga→small fish

In an ecosystem with four levels—producers, primary consumers, and two higher-level consumers—describe where the decomposers operate relative to the other trophic levels. provide at least two examples of organisms at each level.

Decomposers, as the name suggests, decompose dead plants or animals into simple compounds. They feed on dead producers from the first levels or consumers from other three levels. Breaking them down, decomposers release nutrients that producers can use. In an ecosystem with four levels, the first level are producers, such as plants and algae. On the second trophic level, there are primary consumers, herbivores that eat plants, for example, a deer, a rabbit, a grasshopper. The next trophic level belongs to secondary consumers that eat herbivores, for example, a wolf, a fox. The highest level is tertiary consumers that eat carnivores, for example, a bear, an eagle.

Ten square miles of temperate forest has a larger variety of organisms than 10 square miles of taiga. What does the temperate forest have more of?

It has more biodiversity

Which of the following consequences occurred when sea otters were overhunted along the Pacific Coast?

Many fish lost their habitats as kelp was destroyed by sea urchins.

Which statement is true about biomes?

Many types of water and land biomes exist on earth.

Several species of fish and marine life eat plankton. How is that diversity important to the ecosystem as a whole?

Plankton is an example of a building block of the food web, imagine how different the animals who eat plankton would be if the building block was removed or changed. If there weren't so many species eating the plankton, two main things could possibly happen. 1) The amount of plankton could significantly rise, to possibly dangerous levels. 2) Other species would be expected to be abundant, so that the animals can eat something else. In more simple terms, the plankton is on the bottom of the feed chain for aquatic life. In the pond, there is a plankton. Mosquito larva eat the plankton. Small fish like minnows eat the mosquito larva. Now larger fish like bass and sunfish eat those minnows. And even larger fish, pike and large bass eat those smaller fish. This shows how every part of the food web is important, even if one part of it was removed, it would cause major unbalancement which might also affect the ecosystem surrounding.

Early one spring, a group of bird-watchers counted 30 different species of birds in a tract of forest. In the early spring two years later, the bird-watchers counted 15 species in the same area. Which statement best summarizes this situation?

The forest shows a decrease in biodiversity.

Snakes eat bats. Hawks also eat bats. Bats and spiders eat moths. Moths eat nectar from plants. When completely diagramed, what does this description represent?

a food web

The following flow of energy occurs in one ecosystem: alga then insect larva then flatworm then fish. Which trophic level has the most energy to pass on to the next?

alga

Which phrase best describes a community?

all populations of organisms living in an area

Which of the following can be considered an ecosystem?

an entire desert, including abiotic and biotic factors

To identify a biome, which types of information would be most helpful?

climate and plant and animal life

During the summer in the Arctic, mosquitoes breed exponentially. When winter comes, the population decreases dramatically due to a limiting factor. What is most likely the limiting factor in this situation?

colder temperatures

Which biome covers the largest part of earth?

marine

What is an abiotic factor in a tropical rainforest?

the rain