Scientific Method
This is the very first step of the scientific method, where you use your senses to notice something about the world.
What is making an observation?
This sphere includes all of the liquid water on Earth.
What is the hydrosphere?
What do we call a single living thing, such as one single frog?
What is an organism?
This type of organism makes its own food using sunlight through photosynthesis.
What is a producer (or autotroph)?
This two-word term describes the position an organism occupies in a food chain and how much energy an organism provides to the ecosystem.
What is a trophic level?
This type of data involves descriptions, colors, textures, or smells rather than numerical values.
What is qualitative data?
This sphere contains all living things, including plants, animals, and bacteria.
What is the biosphere?
A system that includes all the living and non-living things interacting in a specific area.
What is an ecosystem?
These organisms, like fungi and bacteria, break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
What are decomposers?
This percentage of energy is typically passed on from one trophic level to the next highest level.
What is 10%?
This is the specific factor that a scientist intentionally changes or manipulates during an experiment.
What is the independent variable?
These two gases make up the majority of the atmosphere.
What are nitrogen and oxygen?
True or False: Sunlight, temperature, and soil composition are examples of biotic factors.
What is False?
The arrows in a food chain or web point in the direction of this resource's flow.
What is energy?
Because energy is lost at each level, this trophic level always contains the most total biomass and energy.
What is the producer level (or first trophic level)?
This term describes a logical interpretation or conclusion based on prior knowledge and observations rather than direct sight.
What is an inference?
Lightning strikes a tree and splits it in half.
What are the atmosphere and biosphere?
The symbiotic relationship where both participating species benefit from the interaction.
What is mutualism?
This is the ultimate source of energy for nearly all food chains and food webs on Earth.
What is the Sun?
Most of the 90% of energy lost between trophic levels is released into the environment as this.
What is heat? (or what is waste?)
If your data completely refutes your original hypothesis, this is the step you must take next in the scientific cycle.
What is revising the hypothesis (or forming a new hypothesis)?
Ocean water evaporates quickly to form a powerful hurricane.
What are the hydrosphere and atmosphere?
Give an example of how an abiotic factor directly affects a biotic factor in a forest ecosystem.
What is sunlight enabling plants to perform photosynthesis (or water allowing animals to drink/survive)?
While a food chain shows only one path, a food web is considered more realistic because most animals eat a variety of these.
What are foods (or prey/organisms)?
An apex predator, like a killer whale or a lion, typically occupies this numbered trophic level or higher.
Answer: What is the 4th (or 5th) trophic level?