Science Skills
What does the C in CER stand for?
Claim
What is a natural resource?
Is a living frog a biotic or abiotic factor?
A pelican catches and eats a fish. What relationship is this?
Predation
What do we call an organism that makes its own food, usually using sunlight?
A producer
What should a claim do?
Answer the question
Is coal renewable or nonrenewable on a human time scale?
Norenewable
Name TWO abiotic factors in a pond ecosystem.
Water, sunlight, temperature, rocks, or soil
Two plants need the same limited sunlight. What relationship is this?
Competition
In grass-->rabbit-->hawk, which organism is the primary consumer?
The rabbit. It eats the producer.
A researcher counts 20 fish in a pond. Is 20 fish evidence or reasoning?
Evidence. It is a measured observation.
Give ONE renewable resource and ONE nonrenewable resource.
Sunlight or Wind-Renewable
Coal, Oil, or natural gas- Nonrenewable
All frogs of the same species in one pond form what level of organization?
A population
An orchid grows on a tree. The orchid benefits, and the tree is unaffected. What is this relationship?
Commensalism
In grass-->mouse-->snake, what does the arrow from mouse to snake show?
Energy moves to the snake when it eats the mouse.
Which is reasoning: "The pond has 10 fewer fish or less available food may reduce fish survival?
Less available food may reduce fish survival.
A wetland helps filter water. Is this an ecosystem good or an ecosystem service?
Ecosystem service
What is the difference between a community and an ecosystem?
Community includes living populations. Ecosystem includes those organisms and the nonliving parts they interact with.
A clownfish gets protection by living among a sea anemone's tentacles. The clownfish helps protect the anemone from some predators. What relationship is this?
Mutualism; both are benefiting
What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain shows one energy pathway. A food web connects several food chains.
A survey finds fewer mice but does not count snakes. Can you say the snake population definitely decreased? Explain.
No. You can predict a possible decrease, but you need snake population data to determine whether it happened.
A town's population grows. Explain how conserving water supports sustainability.
More people can increase water demand. Conservation helps meet present needs while protecting water for future needs.
Put these in order from smallest to largest: ecosystem, organism, biosphere, population, biome, community
Organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere
A frog eats a grasshopper, and a heron eats the frog. Explain how the frog is both a predator and prey.
The frog is a predator of the grasshopper and prey for the heron.
In grass-->mouse-->snake, mice become scarce. Predict one possible effect on snakes and explain why it could happen.
Snakes may decrease or move elsewhere because fewer mice can mean less available food and energy