Study Guide for Test Name Per

Ecology HONORS

Assignment List: These are all the unit assignments. Make sure you have completed each and have either discussed them in class
(whole class discussion or group discussion).
 Learn About the Biomes! And Notes on Biome Presentations
 The Fish and the Forest, diagram + Debrief Questions
 Nitrogen Passport Activity + Notes + Debrief Qs
 Estuary Ecosystem Worksheet (“Wetland Ecologists in Training” half sheet)
 Reading Guide for Essay, Endless Interactions
 Lecture Notes (Communities, Populations & Other random Ecology topics)
 Reading Guide for Essay, Interdependence Involves Limiting Factors and Carrying Capacity
 Pasture Profits
 The Wolves of Yellowstone (graph and Analysis Questions)
 The Mystery of Easter Island Worksheet (calculating population density, etc)
 Ecological Succession

Terms to know, be able to explain, and/or for which to provide examples:

Ecology Logistic Growth Prey Food Chain

Organism Exponential Growth Competition Food Web
Population Niche Symbiosis Keystone Species
Community Population Density Mutualism Nitrogen Cycle
Ecosystem Limiting Factor Commensalism Nitrogen Fixation
Biome Temperature Parasitism/Parasite Nitrogen Gas
Biosphere Climate Interdependence Ammonia/Nitrates
Biodiversity (high vs. low) Weather Hypothesis/Prediction 10% rule (energy flow)
Resource Habitat/Environment Procedure Rate of Change (graphs) –
Carrying Capacity Biotic Data what does a fast rate of
Interaction Abiotic Nutrient change look like vs. a slow
Population Growth Predator Trophic Levels one?

What you should be able to do:

- Interpret a graph using title, axis labels, and data points and be able to form a logical conclusion
- Create a graph of population growth (logistic and/or exponential) and key given a set of data
- Apply concepts and ideas above to problems related to ecology
- Compare (list similarities) and contrast (list differences) between any two concepts listed above
- Compare and contrast details from any two stories used in ecology unit (The Fish and the Forest, The Estuary Ecosystem,
The Pasture Story and Pasture Profits, The Mystery of Easter Island, Wolf Reintroduction, etc).
- Apply your understanding of various interactions between biotic and abiotic factors
- Explain the general concept of ecology and why we study it
- List abiotic and biotic factors that may limit the growth of a population
- Identify symbiotic relationships given a description of the relationship
- Calculate population density
- Be able to draw a systems diagram given information OR be able to read a systems diagram and predict consequences of
change to the system
- Be able to determine whether or not an ecosystem underwent (or is undergoing) ecological succession, and which type
“Taken” from the Ecology section of the End of Course Review Packet – why reinvent the wheel?

1. Describe the cycle of carbon through ecosystems. (Include: atmosphere, soil, CO2, Glucose,
photosynthesis, cellular respiration, decomposition, producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer,
decomposer)

2. Describe the cycle of nitrogen through ecosystems. (Include: N2, bacteria, soil, producer, consumer,
decomposer, amino acids, protein, DNA)

3. What is the difference between energy transfers and transformations? Describe energy transfers
and/or transformations in an ecosystem.

4. Describe population density and the biotic and abiotic factors that affect population density.

5. Calculate population density given an area and the number of a given organism within the area. Isle
Royale had an area of 520 km2 in size. There were 2,000 deer and 21 wolves. What was the population
density of the deer? What was the population density of the wolves?

6. Describe biotic and abiotic factors that limit growth of plant and/or animal populations in a natural
ecosystem (“limiting factors”).

7. What is carrying capacity?

8. What is the carrying capacity of the deer population on Walla

Walla Island?
Explain your answer.

8.5. Explain how biodiversity contributes to the stability of an ecosystem. Provide 2 examples examined
in class to support your answer. Draw food web or relationship web diagrams to support your answer. List
interrelationships in your food web and describe how they would decrease or increase the population of
each organism.

9. Define and describe examples of ecological succession.

10. Biomes include deserts, rainforests, polar areas, temperate forests and grasslands. Describe the
biodiversity, temperature range and typical vegetation in each biome.

11. Define and give examples of an organism’s “niche.”

Explain how two organisms can live in the same habitat
successfully.

12. Pesticides are applied to the plant in the following food

web. These pesticides are not excreted by the organisms.
Which organisms would accumulate the most pesticide in its
body? Explain your reasoning.
Populations in Ecology Name
Processing Activity and Vocabulary Review

Directions:
1. Revisit the essay in textbook, Interdependence Involves Limiting Factors & Carrying Capacity pg. 650-652 (different in other
textbook?)
2. Watch the following clip: http://video.pbs.org/video/2136072431 or this even better one: http://youtu.be/SAGEXDlUHDE

Newspaper articles worldwide report that famines continue to occur in Africa and that new animals are being added to the
endangered species list. What are the causes of these events? Are they caused by human mismanagement, or do some happen
naturally?

1. What factors have limited the wolf’s population growth?

Limiting Factors and Carrying Capacity. Scientists agree that we can find some of the answers by studying limiting factors and
carrying capacity. A limiting factor is anything that can slow down, or limit, the growth of a population. The limiting factors in a
habitat influence the carrying capacity of that habitat. Carrying capacity is the maximum population of a species that the habitat can
support (the biggest number of organisms that can survive with the resources in the area). The carrying capacity can change as the
environmental conditions change. Limiting factors that influence the carrying capacity may be biotic (living – food supply and other
organisms) or abiotic (non-living – space, raw materials like water and light, and climate), or both.

2. What is a limiting factor?

3. What was a limiting factor in the pasture story?

4. What is carrying capacity?

5. What determines what an environment’s carrying capacity is?

6. Define biotic factors.

7. Give 3 examples of biotic factors in your environment.

8. Define abiotic factors

9. Give 3 example of abiotic factors in your environment.

Abiotic Factors. Climate, as you learned in Coordinated Science, is the average weather in an area over a long period of time. The
weather conditions are factors that include temperature, sunlight intensity, precipitation (rain/snow/fog), humidity (moisture in the
air), and wind. All these factors affect each other and affect the population size of organisms living in the area. The right weather can
make perfect conditions for plant life to grow and reproduce, which will provide abundant food for the whole food chain. However,
the other weather conditions can make conditions that limit plant growth, which will affect the entire food chain by limiting the food
supply.

10. Explain how abiotic factors affect biotic factors in an environment.

11. How can weather be a limiting factor for an animal population?

12. What is one abiotic factor that could have affected the cows in the pasture story?
Abiotic Factors - Water. Water is a requirement of all living organisms, and so it is a limiting factor that affects carrying capacity in
every ecosystem on earth. A few organisms can survive by becoming inactive when there is no water, but most organisms will die
without water. Wind and temperature can increase the rate of evaporation in an ecosystem. Even if there is high rainfall in an area,
water can be a limiting factor in an environment because of a high evaporation rate. A low rainfall and high evaporation rate make
survival even more difficult for organisms. Some organisms have a genetic advantage that helps them survive. For example, some
desert plants will have thick stems that store water and root systems that can absorb more water when it does finally rain.

13. What abiotic factor is a limiting factor in every ecosystem?

14. In the desert, there is low rain fall, and the high temperatures that cause a high rate of evaporation.
a. How could this affect the plants in the area?

b. How could it affect the animals in the area?

c. What adaptations do plants/animals have to survive here?

Abiotic Factors – Light Light is a limiting factor that directly affects plants. In the ocean, light can only reach down 180 meters.
Anything below this cannot perform photosynthesis. In a lake, lots of algae or scum on the surface can prevent plants from growing
below the surface. On land, plants on the forest floor that are surrounded by tall trees may be in the shade and have a limited light
supply. Light affects animals indirectly by limiting plant growth which is the food source for the animals.

2. A plant that is low to the ground grows in a field where it gets a lot of sunlight. If tall trees started growing in the area
around the short plants, what could happen to the plants?
a. What would be the limiting factor for these plants?

b. How would it affect the population density?

c. How would if affect the population of __________ that eat these plants?

Abiotic Factors – Space Every individual needs space, but some need more than others. The more resources an organism needs the
mores space it will need to get those resources. For example, individual corn plants grow well when they are planted close together.
However, a mountain lion usually needs many square kilometers to find enough food to sustain itself. Remember, the higher an
organism is on the energy pyramid, the more they will need from the environment. Therefore, the limiting factor for organisms that
are not producers is a biotic factor – the food supply.

3. Why does a mountain lion need more space than an organism lower on the energy pyramid?

Population Density. Population density is the number of individuals in the population in a certain area. If the population density gets
too high, there may not be enough space and resources available to the individuals. In studies done with mice, if they are given
unlimited food in a small space, they will over-reproduce until they either stop reproducing, or stop taking care of their offspring and
all the offspring die. Either way, there is not enough offspring to keep the population going and the entire population eventually die
off.

4. What is population density?

5. What could be a limiting factor for population density?

6. What affected the population density of your cows in the pasture story?

Analysis Questions
7. Describe 2 limiting factors that have inhibited the wolves’ population growth both before reintroduction to
Yellowstone and after.
8. Describe the new herding technique ranchers are using with their cows.

9. How does this method relate to the Pasture Story? Use the term carrying capacity within your response.

10. How do buffalo use this grazing technique to sustain its population?

11. How has the wolf reintroduction influenced an increase in biodiversity? Use the term population density (refer
to the elk…) in your response.