Ecology Study Guide

Name-

1. What is a niche? ____________________________________________________

2. What would the niche of a tropical tree lizard include?_______________________
3. What niche do bacteria fill? ___________________________________________________
4. Which of the following organizational levels has the most things in it?
Organism
Community
Biome
Population

Ecosystem

Biosphere

5. All of the insects, rabbits, birds, snakes, lizards, field mice, grasses and fungi living in a particular field make up
which level of biological organization? ______________________________________
6. How is an ecosystem different from a community? _____________________________________
7. Catfish can be found in Lake Lanier and in Carters Lake, even though the two lakes are not connected to one
another. Are these catfish members of the same population? Explain your answer.
________________________________________________________________________________
8. Describe the population to which you belong. _________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________
9. In this graph, what type of curve is it, and what is it showing?

________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________

10. Identify by labeling the feeding levels of the following pyramid:

11. In the above pyramid, which level has the LEAST amount of energy?
12. In the above pyramid, which level has the MOST amount of energy?
13. In the above pyramid, if there is 1,000 kilocalories available at the producer level, how many kilocalories would be
available to the secondary consumers?
14. Circle the strictly heterotrophic organisms in the list below.
Omnivores

Autotrophs

Detritivores

Carnivores

Herbivores

Decomposers

15. Do decomposers eat producers? Why or why not? _________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
16. Do decomposers eat producers? Why or why not? ____________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

Use the food web above to answer the following questions.

17. Describe the relationship between penguins and leopard seals. ______________________________________
18. On average, zooplankton obtains _________% of available energy from the phytoplankton it eats.
19. If Krill were to die off, what would happen to the fish population? ______________________________________
20. How would this in turn affect the Leopard seal population?. __________________________________________
21. List the organisms from the food web that fit into each of the following categories.
Primary Consumers

Carnivores

Tertiary Consumers

22. In this graph, what is the approximate carrying capacity

of deer on WallaWalla Island?____________________
23. What is meant by carrying capacity?_______________
____________________________________________
____________________________________________

24.Two organisms interact with one another in such a way that one benefits and the other is harmed, but neither eats
the other. What is the name for this relationship? ______________________________________________________
25. For each relationship below identify how each organism is affected, either positively, negatively, or neutrally (not
affected).
Relationship
How Organisms Are Affected
Mutualism
Competition
Parasitism
Predation
Commensalism
26. Living organisms play a role in which biogeochemical cycles? Circle all that apply.
Water

Carbon
Nitrogen

Oxygen
Phosphorous

27. How are the carbon and oxygen cycles linked? _______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
28. Name two ways water vapor enters the air. __________________________________________
29. As rocks erode, small amounts of ________________________ dissolves in the soil and water.
30. Which two factors most influence the type of biome present in an area?_________________________________
For each of the biomes, list the major factors present- biotic and abiotic factors
Biome
Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors
Desert
Grassland
Deciduous Forest
Taiga
Tundra
Tropical Rainforest
31. Which biome receives the most rainfall? _________________________________________________________
32. What is permafrost, and is which biome is it found?_________________________________________________