Changes Over Time
Ecosystems
Interactions Among Living Things
Cycles and Processes
Food Chains/Webs
100
What is the definition of a species?
Organisms that can mate with one another and produce fertile offspring.
100
Is a rock a biotic or abiotic factor?
abiotic
100
What are the three major types of interactions among organisms?
competition, predation, symbiosis
100
What is the process that changes water vapor back into liquid water?
condensation
100
What is the source of energy for most ecosystems?
the sun
200
What theory did Darwin come up with to explain evolution?
Natural Selection
200
Give an example in your backyard of a biotic factor.
Answers vary.
200
Why do organisms have to compete in an ecosystem?
Organisms compete in order to survive in a habitat with limited resources.
200
What is the process that plants use to release water into the atmosphere?
transpiration
200
Food chains are combined to make more complicated _______ _________.
food webs
300
Traits controlled by genes can ___________ in order to increase survival in a species.
Adapt
300
At what level(s) (organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere) are both biotic and abiotic factors included?
Ecosystem and biosphere
300
How do prey benefit from their relationship with predators?
Predators target the weak and sick, which genetically strengthens the genes and characteristics the prey species.
300
Animals breathe out ____________, which plants take in. Plants release__________, which animals breathe in.
carbon dioxide / oxygen
300
Owls eat rats, which eat crickets, which eat grass. What level consumer is the owl?
Third-level (tertiary level)
400
How can fossils help scientists make theories regarding the evolution of specific species?
Fossils are the remains of living organisms, if you find enough, they show a change over time in a species
400
What are three things all living things require from their habitat?
Adequate space, water, food, shelter, proper environment
400
Explain how the predator/prey cycle results in fluctuations of both population sizes over time. Use wolves and moose as an example, with the moose population increasing first.
Moose population increases so the wolves have plenty to eat and more of them survive and their population increases. The growing number of wolves kills more and more moose and the moose population decreases. Now the wolves don't have enough to eat and their population decreases....
400
What are the 2 main processes that drive the the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle?
photosynthesis and cellular (aerobic) respiration
400
Define the terms producer, consumer, and decomposer
Producers are green plants that make their own food. Consumers get their food by eating other organisms. Decomposers break down the remains of dead organisms.
500
South America, Africa, and Australia all have similar climates. Use continental drift to explain why marsupials such as the kangaroo are only found in Australia and not other places.
When Pangea broke up into separate continents, the marsupials on Australia were better fit for their environment so they survived (fewer dinosaurs)
500
A tree is a caterpillars habitat. Why is the tree not a good habitat for a bunny?
The tree would not provide the bunny with all that it needs to survive.
500
Identify the symbiotic relationship in these the following scenarios: 1.The remora fish feeds on the food sharks eat and the sharks are unaffected 2. The oxpecker bird feeds on ticks, which feed on hippos 3. Leeches attach to a host and feed on its blood
1. commensalism 2. mutualism 3. parasitism
500
What microorganisms are responsible for transferring nitrogen into the roots of some plants?
bacteria (nitrogen-fixing)
500
Explain how the amount of available energy changes from the bottom level of an energy pyramid to the top and why.
There is less available energy from one level to the next in an energy pyramid. This is because organisms use energy to live, grow, and reproduce. They also lose energy to the environment as heat. Because of these reasons, there is less energy available to organisms on each higher level.
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