Name ______________________________________________
Period __________
Ecosystems Test Study Guide
This test covers a lot of material. Use the following resources to help you study as well as the videos
found on my website. All materials listed below can be found on my website if you lost them.
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Flashcards you created
Ecology Notes Part I
Biomagnification Lesson
Carrying Capacity & Predator Prey Worksheets (and Carrying Capacity Notes)
All food chain and food web worksheets
Energy Pyramid Worksheets
Niche & Habitat Notes
Ecological Levels Notes
Symbiosis Materials
Succession Materials
Part A: Vocabulary
I. Match the following definitons with the correct terms.
_____ 1. Diagram showing the flow of energy through one series
of relationships
_____ 2. Complex network showing the flow of energy through
an ecosystem
A. Producer
B. Chemosynthesis
C. Photosynthesis
D. Food web
_____ 3. Organism that creates its own food (2 terms)
E. Heterotroph
_____ 4. Organism that eats other organisms for energy (2 terms)
F. Scavenger
_____ 5. Process which uses light & CO2 to create sugar
G. Food chain
_____ 6. Organisms that breaks down dead organisms
H. Decomposer
_____ 7. Process which uses chemicals to create sugar
I. Consumer
_____ 8. Organisms that eats leftover carcasses
J. Autotroph
_____ 9. Number of different organisms
K. Trophic level
_____ 10. Term for the level an organisms occupies in a food chain
L. Biodiversity
II. Match the following definitions with the correct terms.
_____ 11. Regrowth of an ecosystem after a disaster (soil present)
A. Herbivore
_____12. New ecosystem created from bare rock
B. Biomagnification
_____ 13. Organism’s role in the environment
C. Habitat
_____ 14. Organism that eats only producers
D. Carnivore
_____ 15. Organism that eats both producers and consumers
E. Primary Succession
_____ 16. Organisms that eat only other animals
F. Adaptation
_____ 17. Organism’s location where it lives
G. Omnivore
_____ 18. Close relationship between two organisms
H. secondary succession
_____ 19. Tendency of toxins to settle in organisms at higher trophic levels
I. Niche
_____ 20. Structural or behavioral trait that allows organisms to survive
J. Symbiosis
Part B: Ecological Levels
21. In the box below, draw a diagram that show the relationship for each level of organization.
Organism  Population  Community  Ecosystem  Biosphere
Part C: Food Chains, Webs & Energy Pyramids
22. Create a food chain below using organisms from the same biome. Label their trophic levels
underneath them.
_____________  ____________  _____________  _______________
23. Put the same food chain into an energy pyramid. Assume the producers start with 50,000 kJ
of energy. Write the amount of energy available at each level.
24. What is the source of energy from which producers get their energy directly and consumers get their
energy indirectly? ____________________________
25. Which level contains the most energy? ________________________________________________
26. What happens to 90% of the energy lost during each energy transfer?
__________________________________________________________________________________
27. Which level contains the most biomass? _______________________________________________
27. List two biotic factors & two abiotic factors.
Biotic: _________________________________________ Abiotic: ____________________________
28. When looking at a food web, you will need to be able to determine which organism is a
producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer and so on.
What is a more efficient feeding relationship, when a bear eats blue berries and is a primary
consumer or when it eats a fox, making it a tertiary consumer? Explain why!
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Use the food web below to answer the following questions.
29. List all producers: _______________________________________________________________
30. List all primary consumers: ________________________________________________________
31. List all secondary consumers: ______________________________________________________
32. List all tertiary consumers: _________________________________________________________
33. Identify the organism that can be more the one trophic level. Write the trophic levels below and
explain for each under the levels.
Organism:
Trophic Level 1:
Trophic Level 2:
Part D: Biomagnification / Niche & Habitat
34. Explain how a niche is different from a habitat.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
35. Can organisms survive without their habitat? _____________________________________________
36. Do habitats consist of biotic factors, abiotic factors or both? ______________________________
36. Using the chart below, label each section as organism, niche or habitat. Then, fill out the table
below.
African savannah
Lives in the
moist soil
(microscopic)
Small hole in
ground
Hive
Snake
Nest
Eats gazelles &
zebra
Black Bear
Eats berries &
fish (omnivore)
Honeybee
Cave Ceiling
Bird
Keeps rodent
population
down
Lion
Decomposes
organisms to
return nutrients to
soil
Eats bugs &
seeds; eaten by
foxes
Pollinator for
many flowers
Fruit Bat
Eats fruit &
insects
Bacteria
Den
Organism
Habitat
Niche
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
37. Why do toxins tend to accumulate in organisms at higher trophic levels?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Part E: Adaptations
38. What are the two types of adaptation? Give an example for each.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
39. Can animals willingly adapt to their environment? Explain.
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
40. Where do adaptations originate (where in the body)? ____________________________________
41. How do adaptations relate to an organism’s reproductive success?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Part F: Predator/Prey & Carrying Capacity
42. Why is the moose population so high in generation 1? __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
43. Why did the wolf population increase after generation 1? __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
44. Why did the moose population crash between each generation? ______________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
45. Why are predators important to ecosystems? ____________________________________________
46. In a predator prey relationship, is either organism benefitting? Explain. ______________________
____________________________________________________________________________
47. Define carrying capacity: ___________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
48. What determines carrying capacity? Give examples.
____________________________________________________________________________
49. Remember that carrying capacity
has been reach when the population
curve levels off.
What is the approximate carrying
capacity of the sheep in this
environment? _________________
50. Can a population exceed its
carrying capacity? ____________
If so, for how long? ___________
Part G: Symbiosis
51. What makes a predator different from a parasite?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
52. List the 3 types of symbiosis: __________________________________________________
53. What type of organism can live in or on a host? ____________________
54. Determine if each relationship below is parasitism, mutualism or commensalism.
Organisms:
Symbiotic Relationship
[parasitic, commensalistic,
or mutualistic]
Barnacle/Whale
Cuckoo/Warbler
Ostrich/Gazelle
Mistletoe/Spruce
Mouse/Flea
Honey Guide
Bird/Badger
Wrasse
Fish/Black Sea
Bass
Brief Overview of Relationship:
Barnacles create home sites by attaching
themselves to whales. As the barnacle is a
filter feeder, it also gets access to more
water (and more food) due to the
relationship. Whale is unaffected.
A cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of the
warbler. The cuckoo’s eggs hatch first
and the young kick the warbler eggs out
of the nest. The warbler raises the cuckoo
babies and the warbler babies aren’t
hatched.
Ostriches and gazelles feed next to each
other. They both watch for predators.
Because the visual abilities of the two
species are different, they can each
identify threats that the other animal may
not see as readily. Both species benefit.
Mistletoe extracts water and nutrients
from the spruce tree to the detriment (ill
effect) to the spruce.
A flea feeds on a mouse’s blood to the
mouse’s disadvantage.
Honey guide birds alert and direct
badgers to bee hives. The badgers then
expose the hives and feed on the honey
first. Next the honey guide birds eat. Both
benefit
Wrasse fish feed on the parasites found on
the black sea bass’s body (usually in the
mouth). Dental floss for fish—both
species benefit
Part H: Primary & Secondary Succession
55. Define ecological succession. _________________________________________________________
56. What are the two types of succession? __________________________________________
57a. Which type of succession is faster? Why? _______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
58. Define pioneer species. Give examples. __________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
59. Define climax community. _____________________________________________________
60. Determine if the following disasters would result in primary or secondary succession:
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Glacial retreat
Abandoned farmland
Forest Fire
Volcanic eruption
Hurricane
Tornado
Clear cutting of forest
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61. Which type of succession contains pioneer species? ________________________________
62. Number the organisms in the order that they appear during ecological succession:
Lichens/mosses
Trees
Shrubs/ferns
Grasses
63. Complete a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts Primary Succession to Secondary Succession
using the following bulleted phrases.
• No previously existing life.
• Plants and Animals adapt.
• Comes after a natural disaster.
• Climax Community.
• Starts as a result of a forest fire or flood.
• Starts as the result of a volcano or receding
glacier.
• Previously existing life.
PRIMARY SUCCESSION
• Pioneer Species.
• Starts with previously existing soil.
• Starts on bare rock.
• Lichens break down rock.
• Happens relatively slow.
• Happens relatively fast.
• Gradual growth.
SECONDARY SUCCESSION