1. Ecology Test Review ANSWER KEY
You are responsible for checking your answers and making sure they are correct
If you skipped a question or didn’t get the answer, write it down now!
Ecology Test is tomorrow, Wednesday, November 9th

2. 1.
Biome
Large region with a particular climate and particular species of plants and animals that live there
Ecosystem
All of the biotic and abiotic factors in an area
Community
All of the populations of living things in an area
Population
Organisms of the same species in an area
Organism

3. 2. Describe the climate (temperature and rainfall) of the following biomes:
a. Tundra: low precipitation and extreme cold
b. Tropical Rainforest: high precipitation and high humidity
c. Desert: low precipitation and extreme heat
d. Temperate Grassland: seasonal precipitation
3. What is ecology?
The study of living things and their environment

4. 4. What is an abiotic factor? Give 2 examples.
Nonliving part of the environment
Ex: water, sun, air, rocks, sand
5. What is a biotic factor? Give 2 examples.
Living (or previously living) part of the environment
Ex: plants and animals

5. 6. Define the following roles in an ecosystem and give an example of each:
a. producer: makes own food from energy from sun; plants
b. consumer: eats other organism; animals
c. decomposer: break down dead organisms; fungus
d. scavenger: feeds on dead organism; vulture
e. herbivore: eats only plants; grasshopper
f. carnivore: eats other animals; wolf
g. omnivore: eats both plants and animals; bear

6. 7. What is a limiting factor in ecology?
nonliving or living thing that regulates the size of a population
8. How is the biodiversity of an ecosystem related to its sustainability?
more diversity & variation leads to greater sustainability
(diversity = genetic variation, lots of producers, multiple populations, etc.)

7. 9. How do ecosystems maintain homeostasis (balance)?
Ex: When one population increases, organisms can starve due to lack of food. When that population decreases, the food supply with then increase. Then balance in the ecosystem will be reached.

8. 10. What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain show s a single pathway that energy flows and a food web is a complex diagram showing many pathways
11. Using the food web, explain what would happen if the deer population decreased significantly.
The mountain lion population would decrease

9. 12. What do the arrows represent in a food chain or food web?
The direction energy goes
Ex: grass  grasshopper
13. What happens to the amount of energy in food chain as you go up the energy pyramid?
Amount of available energy decreases

10. Water + Carbon Dioxide + Sunlight  Oxygen + Glucose
14. Describe the process of photosynthesis. Include the chemical equation.
Radiant energy from the sun is converted to chemical energy in a plant.
Water + Carbon Dioxide + Sunlight  Oxygen + Glucose
(Glucose)

11. 15. Draw a picture and explain geotropism.
Roots grow down and shoots grow up
16. Draw a picture and explain phototropism.
Plants grow toward light (sun)