Review for Quiz on 9-25 or 27 8th Grade

1. When a person studies Ecology, what is being studied?

1. Ecology is the study of the environment.

2. If an ecosystem where put into an energy pyramid, explain or draw what the energy flow would look like that includes, cows, grass, the sun, and a person.

- Consumer Person -------- Consumer Cows -------------------- Producer Grass The sun is outside the pyramid as it supplies the energy.

3. Explain the difference between a controlled, independent and dependent variable.

3. The independent variable is the one that you are changing or testing. The dependent variable is one that you are looking for as the result. All other things must remain constant and not be changed in an experiment. These last are called controlled variable.

4. Draw a picture of a food web that has several organisms in it.

4. No answer here for that, click on the website above to see one. http://www.thinkscience.org/pdfs/7thGrade/FoodWebDiagram.pdf 4. No answer here for that, click on the website above to see one.

8. Draw an energy pyramid showing two levels of consumers, producers, and the sun.

Second consumer- eats the primary consumer The sun is the ultimate source for energy but is not usually drawn in the pyramid. Go to the link below to see An example. Hit here to see an energy pyramid Second consumer- eats the primary consumer Primary consumer- eats the producer Producer, a plant

5. Why is the sun considered the ultimate source of power for an energy pyramid?

5. The sun is considered the source of energy for all things because if you go back a food pyramid far enough, the sun provides the energy for a plant to grow.

6. Name three parts of the arctic ecosystem that are non-living or abiotic.

6. Non living or abiotic components of the arctic ecosystem include water, air, rocks, dirt, some man made materials like the pipeline.

7. Describe what a decomposer is.

7. A decomposer gets its energy from other things like fungus, mushrooms or some bacteria. They break down dead organisms.

8. Define conservation.

8. Conservation is to use up and replace or carefully use our natural resources. This way they will last for many years. Water, air and tree conservation are examples.

8. Define preservation.

8. Preservation means to not use and to have as little impact on resources as possible. The idea is to not touch or change a resource such as wilderness land.

9. This week in class was a caribou antler 9. This week in class was a caribou antler. How is the rate of moss growth related to the survival of caribou in an arctic ecosystem?

10. If caribou stay in one place they will eat all the available food, lichen or moss. Instead they migrate to allow time for the plants to grow since the rate of plant growth is so low. Otherwise the caribou would starve if they stayed in one place.

12. What is Bio mass?

12. Biomass is the weight of all living organisms in a certain area.

13. What is the role of a decomposer in the environment?

13. A decomposer like bacteria or fungus breaks down organisms that died so the nutrients can be used again in the environment. They are part of a cycle returning things like carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen to make them available for other livings things.

14. You will be given a population and asked to explain what might limit the population. For example, if you are given an animal what might limit the population? If it is a plant what might be the limiting factor.

14. Animals are limited by the food available, amount of predators, space, mates, habitat or disease. Plants are limited by sun, water, soil, space, nutrients or something eating them.

15. You will be given a passage to read about global warming and asked to explain what causes it. You will need to name the key gas and the effect that gas causes.

15. The key gas is carbon dioxide and it blocks heat from escaping the earth creating the Green house effect. This will cause the Earth’s temperatures to rise and then ice melts, flooding, agriculture changes, and other climatic changes.

15. Wikipedia explains global warming by clicking below.

Also study your vocabulary lists as there is matching but the rest of the quiz is not multiple choice.

You will be asked to think of a question that pertains to Ecology, so start wondering. There will be a reading passage with questions that follow it.