Biotic & Abiotic Interactions
Living organisms in an ecosystem are called these factors.
What are biotic factors?
Energy in a food web begins with this type of organism.
What are producers?
A healthy ecosystem has balanced populations and enough of these resources.
What are food, water, space, and shelter?
Fossils are evidence of these.
What are past living organisms?
This behavior helps animals survive cold winters.
What is hibernation?
Name one abiotic factor that affects plant growth.
What is sunlight, water, temperature, or soil?
Why are decomposers important in a food web?
What is they recycle nutrients back into the soil?
Name one human activity that can benefit an ecosystem.
What is conservation, recycling, or planting trees?
Which fossil would most likely be found in an area that was once underwater?
What is a shell fossil?
Why do some animals migrate?
What is to find food or warmer areas?
Explain how a cactus survives in a dry ecosystem using biotic and abiotic factors.
What is it stores water (biotic trait) and relies on limited rainfall and sunlight (abiotic)?
Explain how energy moves from plants to predators in a food web.
What is energy flows from producers to consumers through feeding relationships?
Explain how pollution can harm an ecosystem.
What is it can poison organisms and disrupt food webs?
Explain how fossils help scientists understand past environments.
What is fossils show what organisms lived there and the conditions they needed?
Explain how drought affects plant dormancy.
What is plants slow growth to conserve energy and water?
Compare how plants and animals depend on abiotic factors in different ways.
What is plants need sunlight and water for photosynthesis, while animals rely on temperature and water for survival?
Predict what happens if a primary consumer population decreases.
What is secondary consumers will lose a food source and decline?
Compare the effects of deforestation and conservation on ecosystems.
What is deforestation removes habitats, while conservation protects resources and biodiversity?
A fossil of a palm tree is found in North Texas. What does this suggest about the past climate?
What is the area was once warmer and wetter?
Compare migration and hibernation as survival strategies.
What is both help animals survive seasonal changes, but migration involves movement and hibernation involves inactivity?
Predict what would happen to a grassland ecosystem if rainfall decreased for several years.
What is plant populations would decrease, affecting animals that depend on them?
A disease kills most decomposers in an ecosystem. Predict how this affects matter cycling and energy flow.
What is nutrients won’t be recycled, slowing plant growth and disrupting energy flow?
Predict how removing a top predator affects ecosystem balance.
What is prey populations increase, causing resource depletion?
Compare body fossils and trace fossils and explain what each reveals.
What is body fossils show physical remains, while trace fossils show behavior like footprints?
Predict how changes in temperature and precipitation could affect an entire food web.
What is altered plant growth changes food availability for all consumers?