Name:______________________

Ecology Exam REVIEW

1. What is the difference between autotrophs and heterotrophs?

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2. What are biotic and abiotic factors?

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3. What is the difference between a producer and a consumer?

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4. Give an example of an omnivore, herbivore, producer, carnivore, and decomposer.

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5. Explain food web and food chain. Draw an example of each one and show the flow of energy.

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6. What is biomass?

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7. What is carrying capacity?

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8. Define symbiosis.

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9. What are limiting factors? Why are they important?

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10. What is exponential population growth?

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11. What is logistical population growth?

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12. Explain: mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, and predation. Give an example of each one.

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13. What is a niche? Give an example of how it’s different from an ecosystem or biome.

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14. What is the competition exclusion principle?

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15. Explain the primary and secondary succession.

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16. What is a pioneer species?

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17. What is meant by “sustainability”?

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18. Compare and contrast renewable and non-renewable resources? Give 3 examples of each one.

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19. What is nitrogen fixation? Why is it important?

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20. Explain the energy pyramid, biomass pyramid, and the pyramid of numbers

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21. What is transpiration?

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22. How does a climate affect an ecosystem?

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23. What is the Greenhouse effect? How does it affect climate?

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24. Compare and contrast phytoplankton and zooplankton.

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25. What are photic and aphotic zones?

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26. Explain the differences and define each of the following: intertidal zone, coastal zone, open ocean, and

benthic zone.

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27. What is “uniformitarianism”?

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28. What are the differences and similarities between continental and oceanic plates?

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29. What is Continental Drift? What evidence is there to support it?

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30. What are plate tectonics? What evidence is there to support it?

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31. What is subduction?

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32. Explain sea-floor spreading.

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33. How does convection play a role in plate tectonics?

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34. What is a tsunami?

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35. What is a hurricane?

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36. How can an earthquake cause a tsunami?

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37. How can an earthquake cause an eruption from a volcano?

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38. What are seismic waves?

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39. What are three population density factors?

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40. Which population growth looks like a “J” on a graph? Which looks like an “S”?

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41. What are different types of limiting factors?

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42. How can a disease from one species wipe out an entire ecosystem? What factors would be at play?

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43. How does acid rain form?

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44. Explain erosion, desertification, and deforestation. How does each affect an ecosystem?

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45. What is biodiversity?

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46. Explain the differences between ecosystem diversity, genetic diversity, and species diversity.

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47. What are adaptations? Why are they important for an ecosystem?

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48. Compare and contrast endangered species to extinct species.

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49. What is global warming? What evidence is there to support a global warming cycle is occurring?

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50. What is the difference between habitat loss and habitat fragmentation?

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51. What is an invasive species and how can it affect an ecosystem?

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52. Population density is:

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53. Compare and contrast density-dependent and density-independent limiting factors:

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54. Emigration is different from immigration because:

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55. Biogeochemical cycle refers to:

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56. Define nitrogen fixation and explain its importance:

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57. Compare and contrast chemosynthesis and photosynthesis. Give an example of each one:

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Answer True or False for the following questions. Then explain your reasoning

58. : Autotroph and producer both produce their own food

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59. True or False: Tertiary consumer and herbivore can both refer to the same organism

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60. Classify each as biotic or abiotic factors by making it with an X:

Factor Biotic Abiotic

lack of rainfall

rivers dry up

animals do not reproduce

dry soil

the population of a species diminishes

61. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate vocabulary below not all terms will be used some may be

used more than once:

Autotroph, consumer, food chain, food web, omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, biogeochemical,

niche, nitrogen fixation, chemosynthesis, biomass, energy pyramid, decomposer, trophic level,

limiting factor.

In a ________________________, matter and energy move from autotrophs to _________________________ and finally

to _________________. A ______________________ is made of many steps; each organism in the food chain represents

a step called a ____________________________. An _______________________ is a heterotroph that eats only plants,

whereas a ________________________ preys on other _______________________. An _________________________

eats both plants and animals. Nutrients are returned to the soil, air, and water by detritivores. A model that shows all the

possible feeding relationships at each trophic level is called a _______________________. If you were a scientist and you

wanted to determine the weight of living matter at a certain trophic level, you would measure the

_________________________. A _________________________________________ is any abiotic or biotic factor that

restricts the numbers, reproduction, or distribution of organisms.

Label each of the boxes with the appropriate term. On the spaces below define each of the terms used.

(Population, ecosystem, species, individual, biosphere, biome, and community)

62. On the diagram label each level of organization and define it below

63. Explain the competition exclusion principle and draw a sketch to help you explain.

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64. State three things that an ecological pyramid shows that food webs and food chains do not show.

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65. Compare and contrast the terms weather and climate. __________________________________________________________________________________________________

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66. In the diagram below each box has a number. On the lines below explain which biome that goes with

that number. Be sure to include both the number and the correct biome name. Explain two or three of

the defining characteristics of each of the biomes you list and a location in which it can be found on

Earth. Use every term below, it’s not a typo.

Tundra, grassland, rainforest, desert, tropical seasonal forest, deciduous, boreal (coniferous) forest,

savanna, chaparral, and scrubland, desert

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11

10

8 9

5 4 3 1

6 7

2

WET DRY

67. Look at the graphs below and explain similarities and differences between them. Explain what the solid

line and the dotted line represents.

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68. Explain each of the biogeochemical cycles in detail. Draw them and be sure you understand each one.

Explain why these cycles are so important.

69. Fill in the table below with the label. Explain your reasoning below and give an example of each

one. a. Benefit, harmed, or unaffected

Symbiotic Relationship Organism #1 Organism #2

Mutualism

Commensalism

Parasitism

Predation

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70. Label the biotic and abiotic factors in the diagram below. Place an (A) for abiotic and (B) for biotic.

Explain each of the labeled parts of the diagram. Why did you label it as biotic or abiotic below?

71. How do bees, or lack thereof, affect all trophic levels of a biome?

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72. What is a sustainable ecosystem? How difficult is it to maintain a sustainable ecosystem? Why?

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73. What are some unintended consequences to introducing a species to an ecosystem?

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74. How can natural disasters affect all biomes?

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75. What are some positive and negative impact humans have on ecosystems?

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76. What are some density-dependent and density independent limiting factors?

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77. What is the difference between immigration and emigration?

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