Ecosystems and Food Chains
This normally represents the first trophic level in a food chain.
What are producers?
These are one of the four factors that change population size.
What are Natality (births), mortality (deaths), immigration, or emigration.
This is the greenhouse effect?
What is a natural process in which greenhouse gases trap some heat in Earth's atmosphere, keeping the planet warm enough for life.
This is one major difference between the short and long water cycles?
What is the short cycle does not involve the same extended movement through land/ice or long-term storage; the long cycle includes longer pathways such as through land, groundwater, or ice.
Give one thing a student might learn about sustainability from The Lorax, The Truax, or The Story of Stuff.
What are protecting forests, responsible resource use, reducing waste/consumption, or respecting connections with nature.
In the food chain grass → grasshopper → spider → bird → cat, the grasshopper would be on this trophic level.
What is the second trophic level?
This is a difference between an open population and a closed population?
What is an open population can have individuals enter or leave; a closed population has no immigration or emigration.
Name one human activity that increases greenhouse gases.
What are Burning fossil fuels, deforestation, or some industrial/mining activities.
Where are nitrogen-fixing bacteria found in bean plants, and what do they provide?
What is in roots; they conver nitrogen into forms the plant can use.
Name one biotic factor and one abiotic factor you might observe at a pond.
What are biotic: fish, plants, algae, insects. Abiotic: sunlight, water temperature, rocks, dissolved oxygen.
This is the main difference between a biotic factor and an abiotic factor?
What is living or once living. ) abiotic factors are non-living parts of the environment.)
A rabbit population has 35 births, 15 deaths, 14 immigrations, and 4 emigrations. The net population growth is?
What is 30?
Name one way humans can negatively affect the carbon cycle.
What is burning fossil fuels or removing forests/vegetation.
How can fertilizer runoff cause an algal bloom?
What is extra nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, enter the water and allow algae to grow rapidly.
Arrows in a food chain or food web show this.
What is the direction of energy transfer, from the organism being eaten to the organism that eats it.
In the chain grass → grasshopper → spider → bird → cat, identify the tertiary (3rd consumer.)
What is the bird?
DAILY DOUBLE
If rabbits live on an island and cannot enter or leave, which population factors are not relevant to its size?
What are immigration and emigration?
These are results of removing forests on the carbon cycle?
What is fewer plants are available to absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, and stored carbon may be released when vegetation is burned or decomposes.
DAILY DOUBLE!!
Describe two ways algal blooms can harm freshwater organisms.
What are when algae die, decomposers use dissolved oxygen, which can suffocate aquatic organisms. Some blooms can also produce toxins or harmful compounds.
Why can excess fertilizer in a pond or lake reduce biodiversity?
It can cause algal blooms and oxygen depletion, harming or killing aquatic organisms.
Explain why there is less energy available at higher trophic levels?
What is.... organisms use energy for life processes, and energy is lost as heat and in waste or uneaten material; not all energy transfers to the next level.
This is carrying capacity, and this may happen if a population exceeds it?
What is carrying capacity is the maximum population an environment can sustainably support. If exceeded, resources may be depleted and the population may decline.
Explain how the natural greenhouse effect differs from the enhanced greenhouse effect.
What is the natural effect keeps Earth warm; extra greenhouse gases from human activities trap additional heat and contribute to global warming.
How do farming practices remove nitrogen and phosphorus from soil, and name one way to replace them.
What is harvesting crops removes nutrients. Farmers can add manure or fertilizer, rotate crops with legumes, or use other soil-building practices.
Explain why a food web is more informative than one food chain?
What is it shows multiple feeding relationships and pathways of energy transfer, rather than just one pathway.