Key Vocab
The process by which plants make their own food.
Photosynthesis
This type of tree sheds its needles all year round, not just in autumn.
Deciduous or Coniferous?
Coniferous
These are what helps the Nutrient Cycle to restart or refresh. They break down all dead plant and animal matter and return the nutrients to the soil.
Decomposers.
How can you use a tree cookie to determine the age of a tree?
Count the number of growth rings.
What are non-living parts of an ecosystem called? Give one example.
Abiotic elements
A connection between producers and consumers through feeding relationships. Usually shown in a linear fashion (a line) and connected with arrows to show movement of nutrients
A Food Chain
This type of tree keeps its seeds in nuts or fruit, and spreads them with the help of animals.
Deciduous or Coniferous?
Deciduous
The name for animals that ONLY eat plants
Herbivores
When examining a tree cookie, you notice black scarring on one side, and abnormal growth for a few years. What happened to this tree?
Fire Damage
Level of the forest where you'd find worms and soil.
Forest Floor (or sub-floor)
Level of the forest located below the Upper Canopy, and above the Underbrush.
Understory
The Lodgepole pine is a very common tree in Alberta. It has cones that can only open in extreme heat, so it actually benefits from forest fires.
Deciduous or Coniferous? How do you know?
Coniferous - it has cones.
These organisms can eat plants only, animals only, or both animals and plants.
Consumers
When examining a tree cookie, you notice that the center, or first ring, is not in the middle, but closer to one edge of the cookie, and the rings are thinner on one side, and thicker on the other side. What happened to this tree?
Grew on a slope
Squirrels and small shrubs are __________ (biotic / abiotic) elements that would be found at the __________ level of the forest.
Biotic (living)
Underbrush
A gas that trees absorb and use during the process of photosynthesis.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
The Aspen is very common Alberta tree species. They have extremely long roots and can be connected for several kilometers. They have green leaves than turn yellow in autumn and fall off before winter.
Deciduous or Coniferous? How do you know?
Deciduous - it has leaves that shed in fall.
Which one doesn't belong?
Wild rose, prairie grass, birch tree, dragonfly
Dragonfly - it is the only consumer. The rest are producers.
When examining a tree cookie, you notice that most rings are roughly the same thickness, but then you see that one of the most recent rings is very thin by comparison to the others. What happened during that year?
Drought
What is meant by the term "Used to be biotic"? Give one example.
Something that used to be alive, but is now dead.
Example: dead animal or plant
Challenge! Not in review!
Name the six steps in the Scientific Method. 100 points for each (max 600 pts)
Question/Problem, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedure, Observations, Conclusions
This Albertan tree can be consider BOTH deciduous AND coniferous. For full points, explain WHY it is both deciduous and coniferous
Larch or Tamarack
It has needles and cones (coniferous), but loses its needles in fall (deciduous).
Which one doesn't belong?
Worm, jack rabbit, bacteria, mushroom
Jack rabbit - it is a consumer, the other three are decomposers
When examining a tree cookie, you notice that the first 6 or 7 rings are quite thin, but then they start to become thicker in the newer growth years. What happened to this tree? Explain how this works.
Competition. When the tree was young, there were other large trees nearby, or many young trees in a small space. The other trees blocked or competed for nutrients with this tree, so it wasn't able to grown much in its early years.
Sunlight and high winds are examples of ___________ (biotic / abiotic) elements that would be most commonly noticed at the ______________ level of the forest.
Abiotic
Upper Canopy