Organization
Energy, Producers, and Consumers
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
Cycles of Matter
Niches and Community Interactions
100

The combined portions of our planet in which all life exists.

Biosphere

100

Where does the energy for most of life's processes come from?

The Sun

100

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating or by being eaten.

Many of these make up a ____ ____.

50 points each

Food Chain

Food Web

100

All of the chemical substances an organism needs to sustain life and carry out life functions.

Nutrients

100

When two organisms attempt to occupy the same niches in the same place, _________ occurs - usually in the form of fighting or fending for resources.

Competition

200

A group of individuals that belong to the same species in the same area.

Population

200

An animal that eats only plants is an ________.

An animal that eats only meat is an ________.

Worth 50 each

Herbivore

Carnivore

200

Each step in a food chain or food web.

Trophic Level

200

Processes during which nutrients are recycled through the biosphere.

Biogeochemical Cycles

200

_____ refers to an organism's role in its environment.


_____ refers to where an organism physically lives.

Worth 100 each.

Niche

Habitat

300

Different populations living together in a defined area.

Community

300

_______ are organisms that obtain their energy from the sun.  In food webs, we call them ________.

Worth 100 each.

Autotrophs

Producers

300

The total amount of living tissues within a specific trophic level.

Biomass

300

Water enters the atmosphere through evaporation or the process of __________, where water exits plants and enters the atmosphere.

Transpiration

300

_______ is when an animal eats another animal to survive.


_______ is when an animal eats a plant to survive.

Worth 150 points each

Predation

Herbivory

400

What is a biotic factor?  Define and name two examples (200 for definition, 100 per example).

Any living part of an ecosystem with which an organism might interact.

-Plants

-Animals

400

The process of using chemicals to obtain energy.

Chemosynthesis
400

Blue whales eat small marine animals called krill as the primary staple of their diet.  Which species likely has the greatest overall biomass?

Krill

400

________ removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

________ returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Name the two biological processes.  200 points for each.

Photosynthesis

Respiration

400

This states that no two organisms can occupy the same niche at the same time.

The Competitive Exclusion Principle
500

What is an abiotic factor?  Also, give three examples. (200 for definition, 100 for each example).

Any nonliving part of an ecosystem which may affect an organism or with which it may interact.

-climate

-soil

-wind

-water

-rocks/geology

500

_______ refers to an organism that eats dead animals and vegetation.

_______ refers to organisms that aid in the decomposition process of other organisms.

250 each.

Detritivores

Decomposers

500

A diagram that shows the relative amounts of energy contained within each trophic level in a food chain or food web.

There are three kinds: name them.  200 for definition and 100 for naming each type.

Ecological Pyramid


-Numbers

-Biomass

-Energy

500

During this cycle, bacteria works in four ways to convert nutrients to a more usable form.  What cycle is this, and what are the four ways bacteria works?

100 points for each answer

Nitrogen Cycle

1. Denitrification

2. Nitrogen fixation

3. Converts ammonia to nitrates/nitrites

4. Uses nitrogen directly

500

______ refers to any two animals who live and coexist closely together.

___________ refers to a situation where one organism is helped and the other is harmed.

___________ refers to when both organisms benefit from the relationship.

___________ refers to when one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Which of these three best describes a barnacle living on a whale's back?

Symbiosis

Parasitism

Mutualism

Commensalism

Commensalism best describes this scenario.