Food Chains & Matter
Ecosystems
Fossils
Biotic vs Abiotic
Environments
100
Tennessee meadow food chain diagram
sunlight → grasses → grasshoppers → shrews → owls
Which statement best describes how matter enters the living parts of this food chain?
A. Grasshoppers take in matter when they eat grasses.
B. Owls take in matter when they eat shrews.
C. Shrews take in matter from the sunlight that reaches the meadow.
D. Grasses take in matter from air, water, and soil.
D. Grasses take in matter from air, water, and soil.
100
What is an ecosystem?
An ecosystem is a community of living things interacting with their non-living physical environment in a specific area
100
A student finds a rock on a hillside in West Tennessee. The rock contains the shape of a clam shell. The material of the original shell is gone, and the shape has been filled in by hardened minerals.
Which statement best explains what the student found?
A. The actual shell of a clam, preserved without any change.
B. A rock that formed by chance in the shape of a clam shell.
C. A fossil, formed as minerals replaced the material of a clam.
D. A shell that broke apart and later hardened back into a shell.
C. A fossil, formed as minerals replaced the material of a clam.
100
Sunlight
Abiotic
100
A gardener adds ladybugs to a garden so the ladybugs will eat aphids that are damaging the plants. The ladybugs also eat the eggs of other small insects in the garden.
Which statement best describes the effect of adding the ladybugs?
M. The garden will change only in the way the gardener intended.
P. The ladybugs will have no effect because they were added on purpose.
R. The ladybugs will change more than one interaction in the garden.
S. The garden will become stronger because a new organism was added.
R. The ladybugs will change more than one interaction in the garden.
200
What is a food chain?
A food chain is a straight-line sequence of living things in an ecosystem where one organism eats another to pass along food energy and nutrients.
200
A forest ecosystem includes oak trees, deer, soil, rainwater, and mushrooms that grow on a fallen log. Which statement best explains why the mushrooms are important to the oak trees in this forest?
M. The mushrooms make food that the oak trees absorb through their leaves.
P. The mushrooms provide shelter that protects the roots of the oak trees.
R. The mushrooms break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
S. The mushrooms make the forest floor look clean by removing dead material.
R. The mushrooms break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.
200
Fossils of coral, clam shells, and sea snail shells are found together in one rock layer on a Tennessee hillside. Today the hillside is a dry field covered with grasses.
What is the best conclusion about this hillside based on the fossils?
A. The fossils were carried to the hillside by people.
B. Ocean animals once traveled across dry land to this place.
C. The hillside has always had the same environment it has today.
D. The hillside was once covered by an ocean.
D. The hillside was once covered by an ocean.
200
What is a cow?
Biotic
200
The table shows the physical characteristics of three places.
Place Physical characteristics
Shaded pond Cool water, low light, many water plants
Open field Warm air, high light, dry soil, few trees
Cave Cool air, no light, damp walls
What does the table best show?
A. All three places provide the same conditions for organisms.
B. Physical characteristics do not include the amount of light.
C. Organisms choose the place they like best.
D. Every place has its own set of physical characteristics.
D. Every place has its own set of physical characteristics.
300
Food web in a pond diagram
algae → water fleas → minnows → sunfish → herons
algae → snails → sunfish
A new fish called the round goby is added to the pond. Round gobies eat snails and water fleas. Round gobies are too large for minnows to eat, but sunfish can eat them.
Based on the food web, which three effects would the round goby most likely have on this pond?
A. The snail population would decrease.
B. The heron population would decrease.
C. The water flea population would decrease.
D. The algae population would increase.
E. The minnow population would increase.
A. The snail population would decrease.
C. The water flea population would decrease.
D. The algae population would increase.
300
What type of ecosystem is this picture?
Grassland, Forest, Desert, or Freshwater
Forest
300
A museum displays three fossils that were all found in the same rock layer: a fern leaf, a dragonfly wing, and a shell smaller than a fingernail.
What do these fossils best show about the past?
A. Only large animals leave fossils behind.
B. Plants cannot become fossils, only animals can.
C. Many different kinds of living things once lived in this place.
D. All of the living things from this place left fossils.
C. Many different kinds of living things once lived in this place.
300
A mushroom?
Abiotic
300
An island has one type of plant, one type of insect that eats the plant, and one type of bird that eats the insect. People bring goats to the island. The goats eat the plants.
Which prediction about the island is best supported by this model?
M. The bird population will increase because there will be more insects.
P. The insect population will decrease because it will have less food.
R. The plant population will increase because goats spread the seeds.
S. Nothing will change because goats eat only plants.
P. The insect population will decrease because it will have less food.
400
Study the model:
sunlight → corn → mouse → owl
Where does the owl get its matter from?
The owl gets matter from the mouse.
400
In a stream ecosystem, crayfish eat dead leaves that fall into the water. Raccoons eat crayfish. A disease removes all of the crayfish from the stream.
Based on this information, what is the most likely effect of removing the crayfish?
A. Raccoons will begin to eat dead leaves instead of crayfish.
B. Dead leaves will build up, and raccoons will lose a source of food.
C. The stream will return to balance because one species was removed.
D. Only the raccoon population will change, and nothing else will.
B. Dead leaves will build up, and raccoons will lose a source of food.
400
What can be determined about the picture of this fossil?
A. It is a large animal.
B. It is a small animal.
C. It is a dead organism compressed over time.
A. It is a large animal.
400
What is the definition of a biotic factor?
A biotic factor is any living or once-living part of an ecosystem.
400
A pond ecosystem contains algae, water plants, insects, fish, turtles, and bacteria in the mud. Over ten years, the number of each type of organism rises and falls a little but stays about the same overall.
What best explains why this pond stays stable over ten years?
A. Nothing in a stable ecosystem ever changes.
B. The organisms continuously meet their needs through their interactions.
C. The pond has only a few kinds of organisms living in it.
D. The organisms in the pond do not depend on the non-living parts.
B. The organisms continuously meet their needs through their interactions.
500
A student makes this claim: Matter that is part of a dead tree can later become part of a living bird.
Which statement best supports the student's claim?
A. Decomposers break down the tree, and plants take in the nutrients from the soil.
B. The bird collects sticks from the dead tree to build a nest for its young.
C. Wind carries small pieces of the dead tree to where the bird lives.
D. The bird rests on the dead tree while it watches for food nearby.
A. Decomposers break down the tree, and plants take in the nutrients from the soil.
500
A desert ecosystem includes cactus plants, kangaroo rats, rattlesnakes, hawks, sand, rainwater, and beetles that feed on dead plants.
Which three statements describe how organisms in this desert meet their needs?
A. Cactus plants use sunlight, air, and water to make their own food.
B. Rattlesnakes make their own food when sunlight reaches their skin.
C. Kangaroo rats get the energy they need from the plants they eat.
D. Cactus plants get their food by taking it from the kangaroo rats.
E. Beetles break down dead plants and return nutrients to the sand.
A. Cactus plants use sunlight, air, and water to make their own food.
C. Kangaroo rats get the energy they need from the plants they eat.
E. Beetles break down dead plants and return nutrients to the sand.
500
Feature Fossil A Fossil B Living Turtle
Hard Shell Yes No Yes
Wings No Yes No
Four Legs Yes Yes Yes
Which two conclusions are supported by the table?
M. Fossil B is the same kind of animal as the living turtle.
P. Fossil A shares more features with the living turtle than Fossil B does.
R. Fossils show exactly what color these animals were.
S. Some organisms that are no longer living shared features with organisms alive today.
T. The living turtle came from a place where no fossils are found.
P. Fossil A shares more features with the living turtle than Fossil B does.
S. Some organisms that are no longer living shared features with organisms alive today.
500
What is the term for all the living and non-living things interacting in a specific area?
An ecosystem
500
A type of fish needs cool water and shaded areas to survive. The table shows the conditions in two ponds.
Condition Pond A Pond B
Water temperature 12°C 26°C
Shade from trees Heavy None
Water plants Few Many
In which pond is this fish more likely to survive, and why?
M. Pond A, because its conditions match what the fish needs.
P. Pond A, because ponds with fewer water plants have more space.
R. Pond B, because warmer water helps all fish grow faster.
S. Pond B, because more water plants always mean more food.
M. Pond A, because its conditions match what the fish needs.