7th graders - Final Exam on June 14, 2012 - next week we'll complete our lessons in our Food Safety Unit and Review for the Final. Your homework is to answer the questions on the Study Guide for the Final. Be sure to bring in your study guide on the day of the test. I'll continue to grab and grade Science Notebooks; if I don't grade yours, have it ready for me on the day of the Final.
6th Graders - SOOOOO SORRY!!!!! Major computer problems here. Check back at 6 pm! Unit Assessment on Ecology tomorrow. Study Guides to be provided for Final, and that will be our homework until the Final Exam on June 13,
Ecology Study Guide (note : to follow in a few minutes - check back!!!!)
Ecology Study Guide
1. What is an introduced species? Define and give an example:
A: Species now found outside of their normal range. Ex: zebra mussel
2. James, a boy from Kenya, spoke about the Nile Perch & results/ consequences (both intended & unintended) of introducing the species. Describe:
a. Three advantages of introducing Nile Perch into Lake Victoria:
A: More jobs, more money, more fish
b. Three disadvantages of introducing Nile Perch into Lake Victoria:
A: Loss of independent small businesses, smaller fish species (Cichlids), more competition, fewer kinds of fish.
c. Knowing what we know now, if you had had the choice, would you have introduced the Nile Perch into Lake Victoria? Write about a trade-off (compare at least one advantage and at least one disadvantage to make that choice):
A: Make a choice, use the word trade-off, give adv and disadv.
3. What is Ecology?
A: Study of relationships between living organisms & the physical environment.
4. What is classification?
A: A process of grouping organisms into taxonomic levels based on shared characteristics and genetic relationships.
5. Classification Levels:
A:
A. ex: domains contain 5 Kingdoms;
B. Kingdoms contain 35 phyla
C. Phyla contain many classes
D. classes contain many Genuses
E. Genuses contain many species
6. What is a species? Define & give an example:
Species - level of biological classification just below genus or subgenus, made up of organisms or populations capable of interbreeding. Ex: homo sapiens; brown snake.
7. What should you do if you no longer want your pet lizard or iguana: should you just release it into the park? Explain why or why not?
A: Don’t release it into the park; it could displace and kill native animals or plants; it could spread disease; it could die a slow painful death. You could give back or give away the iguana. Ex: pythons in Florida kill native animals.
8. What is a population? Define & give an example of why population fluctuates:
A: Population is a group of the same species of organisms living in a specific location or habitat. Fluctuation is a change over time in size, numbers, or other characteristics, & could result from a change in conditions: climate turns drier or warmer; new disease or predator is introduced to habitat.
9. (Circle one): True or False. A prokaryote cell has no nucleus and no membrane-covered organelles.
10. Examine these graphs of Zebra Mussel Population in three lakes. Describe how the population of mussels changed over time in each of the lakes:
Ans: a. stayed level; b. decrease, increase, decrease c. dropped & stayed low.
11. A) Where does energy for all living things come from? Ans: The Sun
B) How is that energy passed from one organism to another? Ans: Producers capture and use the Sun’s energy to make food; consumers eat producers or other consumers to get energy; and decomposers eat dead producers and consumers, and their waste to get energy. They return nutrients for use by organisms.
C) How is the movement of energy shown on a food web?
Ans: With an arrow pointing to the organism receiving the energy (CONSUMER OR PREDATOR).
Ans: With an arrow pointing to the organism receiving the energy (CONSUMER OR PREDATOR).
12. What is a food web? Describe a food web. Then draw a food web, using plants, grasshopper, frog, mouse, and hawk.
Answer: a food web is a diagram to model the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.
Plants ---> grasshoppers ---> mice or frog --> hawk
13. In the food web above, if lots of rain falls in the spring, what happens to the:
a. Plants? ANS: PLANTS WOULD GROW AND REPRODUCE
b. Grasshoppers that eat plants? ANS: GRASSHOPPERS HAVE PLENTY OF PLANTS TO EAT, SO tHEIR POPULATION WOULD INCREASE.
c. Frogs and mice that eat grasshoppers? ANS: THEY HAVE PLENTY OF GRASSHOPPERS TO EAT, SO THEIR POPULATION WOULD INCREASE.
d. Hawks? ANS: HAWKS HAVE PLENTY OF PLANTS TO EAT, SO THEIR POPULATION WOULD INCREASE.
14. In the food web above, what if the hawks hatch several chicks and next year, when the hawk population has doubled, there is very little rain?
ANS: LOW RAINFALL, PLANTS DON’T PROVIDE ENOUGH FOOD, ALL ORGANISMS THAT DEPEND ON THEM HIGHER IN THE FOOD WEB WILL SUFFER DECREASED POPULATION.
15. In the food web above, what if the mice are wiped out by disease? What happens to the population of:
a) hawks? Ans: HAWKS HAVE LESS FOOD, HAWK POPULATION DECREASES
B) Frogs? Ans: HAWKS HAVE LESS FOOD, EAT MORE FROGS, FROG POPULATION DECREASES
c) Grasshoppers? ANS: FEWER FROGS, GRASSHOPPER POPULATION INCREASES
16. Compare, then contrast, decomposers (such as bacteria or fungi) with consumers.
ANS: BOTH DECOMPOSERS AND CONSUMERS EAT OTHER ORGANISMS TO GET ENERGY.
CONTRASTS: DECOMPOSERS EAT DEAD ORGANISMS AND WASTE, BUT CONSUMERS EAT LIVE ORGANISMS.
MOST DECOMPOSERS ARE FUNGI AND BACTERIA, WHILE CONSUMERS ARE MOSTLY ANIMALS.
17. Name three differences between plant cells and animal cells.
ANS: PLANT CELLS HAVE CHLOROPLASTS, CELL WALLS AND VACUOLES; ANIMAL CELLS DON’T.
18. What are biotic factors? Explain and give an example.
ANS: LIVING THINGS, SUCH AS PREDATORS OR COMPETITORS. EX:HAWKS, OWLS, WOLVES, COYOTES.
19. Which of the following is not an abiotic factor that could affect shellfish in Long Island Sound? (circle only one)
a. A large increase in sea gulls. ANS: not an abiotic factor
b. Pesticide chemicals in the water ;
c. How much sunlight hits the water of the sound;
d. Composition of the floor of the Sound. Is it rocks, sand or mud?
20. What is a habitat?
ANS: Habitat - The specific environment where an organism lives based on what the organism requires to survive.
21. What is an ecosystem? Explain and give an example.
ANS: INTERACTION BETWEEN COMMUNITIES OF LIVING THINGS AND THE NONLIVING ENVIRONMENT.
22. What is a biome? Explain and give an example.
Ans: Biomes - A large region classified by the interaction of the living organisms, climate, and geographical features.
23. What is the “carrying capacity” of an environment (such as a lake)?
• ANS: Carrying capacity is how many organisms of a species can an ecosystem support? It depends on the resources available and abiotic factors, and may change over time.
