Ecology Basics
Question: What is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment?
Answer: Ecology
Question: What type of organism makes its own food?
Answer: Producer
Question: Who is known as the father of genetics?
Answer: Gregor Mendel
Question: What is the study of plants called?
Answer: Botany
Question: What is the daily condition of the atmosphere called?
Answer: Weather
Question: Is sunlight biotic or abiotic?
Answer: Abiotic
Question: What type of organism eats other organisms for energy?
Answer: Consumer
Question: What is a section of a chromosome that contains information for one trait called?
Answer: Gene
Question: What plant part absorbs water and nutrients from the soil?
Answer: Roots
Question: What is the average weather pattern over a long period of time called?
Answer: Climate
Question: What is one living thing called?
Answer: Organism
Question: What type of organism breaks down dead organisms?
Answer: Decomposer
Question: What are different forms of the same gene called?
Answer: Alleles
Question: What are the two main types of roots we studied?
Answer: Taproot and fibrous roots
Question: Which state of matter has a definite shape and definite volume?
Answer: Solid
Question: What is the specific place where an organism lives called?
Answer: Habitat
Question: In a food chain, which way do arrows point?
Answer: Arrows point in the direction energy moves, or from what is eaten to what eats it.
Question: What is the physical trait that can be seen called?
Answer: Phenotype
Question: Which type of root has one large main root?
Answer: Taproot
Question: Which state of matter has no definite shape and no definite volume?
Answer: Gas
Question: What is an organism’s job or role in its environment called?
Answer: Niche
Question: What percent of energy is usually lost or passed on to each level of an energy pyramid?
Answer: Lost 90% or pass on 10% of Energy
Question: What is the allele combination that is carried on the DNA of an organism called?
Answer: Genotype
Question: What is a plant’s growth response toward or away from a stimulus called?
Answer: Tropism
Question: What process changes liquid water into water vapor?
Answer: Evaporation
Question: Put these in order from smallest to largest: ecosystem, organism, population, community.
Answer: Organism → Population → Community → Ecosystem
Question: If grass has 1,000 units of energy, about how much energy is passed to the grasshopper?
Answer: About 100 units
Question: If T is dominant for tall and t is recessive for short, what is the phenotype of Tt?
Answer: Tall
Question: What type of tropism is a plant growing toward light?
Answer: Phototropism
Question: What process forms clouds?
Answer: Condensation
Question: What is the difference between a population and a community?
Answer: A population is one species in an area. A community is all populations in an ecosystem.
Question: What is a limiting factor?
Answer: Something that limits the size or growth of a population.
Question: What does heterozygous genotype mean?
Answer: Having two different alleles, such as Bb.
Question: Are roots usually positive or negative gravitropism? Explain why.
Answer: Positive gravitropism because roots grow toward gravity.
Question: Give two examples of precipitation.
Answer: Rain, snow, sleet, or hail
Question: Give one example of a biotic factor and one example of an abiotic factor.
Answer: Answers vary. Example: biotic = tree, animal, or bacteria. Abiotic = sunlight, water, rock, or air.
Question: Explain what happens to a deer population if food, water, and space become limited.
Answer: The population may stop growing, decrease, or some deer may die or move away.
Question: Cross Bb x bb. What are the possible offspring genotypes?
Answer: Bb and bb
Question: What does photoperiodism help a plant respond to?
Answer: Seasonal changes in the length of day and night.
Question: What happens to warm air?
Answer: Warm air rises and expands.
Question: Why is the biosphere larger than a biome?
Answer: The biosphere includes all parts of Earth where life exists. A biome is certain regions with similar ecosystems.
Question: Why are there usually fewer top predators than producers in an ecosystem?
Answer: Less energy is available at higher levels of the energy pyramid, so fewer organisms can be supported.
Question: In a pedigree, what do shaded shapes usually mean?
Answer: Individuals who show or have the trait.
Question: Explain the difference between vascular and nonvascular plants.
Answer: Vascular plants have tissues that transport materials. Nonvascular plants do not have those transport tissues.
Question: What happens to cold air?
Answer: Cold air sinks and condenses.
Question: A pond has fish, algae, frogs, insects, sunlight, water, and rocks. What would this be classified as?
Answer: It is an ecosystem because it includes living things and nonliving things interacting in one area.
Question: In a food web, what could happen if a main producer suddenly disappeared? Explain your answer.
Answer: Consumers that eat the producer may lose food, their populations may decrease, and the whole food web could be affected.
Question: In pea plants, green pods are dominant over yellow pods. Cross two heterozygous plants. What percent of offspring would show the recessive trait?
Answer: 25%
Question: A vine wraps around a fence as it grows. What type of tropism is this, and what is the stimulus?
Answer: Thigmotropism; the stimulus is touch.
Question: Explain the difference between weather and climate using an example of each.
Answer: Weather is daily conditions, such as “today is rainy.” Climate is the long-term average, such as “Kansas has hot summers and cold winters.”