ECOLOGY REVIEW SHEET
Use the food web below to answer the following questions.
1. What is the producer in this food web?
2. What happens to the energy in the spider as it is passed to the mouse?
3. The grasshopper obtains its energy from the grass. What is the ultimate source of energy in this ecosystem?
4. What characteristic of life corresponds to a food web?
5. What is the top level predator in this ecosystem?
6. Why is the grass considered to be a producer?
7. What is a waste product that is produced by the toad that can be recycled and used by the grass for photosynthesis?
8. What are the herbivores in this food web?
9. What are the carnivores in this food web?
10. What does the grass use nitrogen for?
11. What does the grass use carbon for?
12. Which of the organisms in the food web above would be most directly impacted by the growth of large shade trees?
13. Are the animals listed in the food web biotic or abiotic?
14. What are two abiotic factors that the grass depends on?
15. What are two biotic factors that the hawk depends on?
16. What are the primary consumers in this food web?
17. If a drought was to kill all the grass in this ecosystem, which organisms would be the first to be affected? What would happen
to these organisms?
18. Is a drought an example of a density-dependent or density-independent limiting factor for the grass?
19. Is grass a density-dependent or density-independent limiting factor for the grasshopper?
20. Through which process in the water cycle does grass obtain the water it needs to live?
21. Through which process in the nitrogen cycle does grass obtain the nitrogen it needs to live?
22. How would the garter snake return carbon back to the soil? How would the garter snake return nitrogen back to the soil?
23. A pet owner released two snakes into this ecosystem. The snakes are more aggressive than the garter snake and they are
starting to have a population greater than that of the garter snake. What is one consequence to this new snake being introduced
into this ecosystem? What term describes this new snake?
24. This ecosystem has a moderate level of biodiversity. What is one factor that could disrupt the biodiversity in this ecosystem?
25. What is one solution to maintaining biodiversity in any ecosystem?
26. What is one similarity between the mouse and the hawk, with respect to obtaining energy? What is one difference, with
respect to obtaining energy?
DEFINE the following terms:
1. Population
2. Abiotic
3. Biotic
4. Community
5. Ecosystem
6. Ecology
7. Biome
8. Biosphere
9. Carrying Capacity
10. Limiting Factor