Chapter 1 Review Questions s5

Chapter 1 Review Questions

1. a) Give one example of a producer and one example of a consumer. b) What is the difference between them?

2. a) What is an ecosystem? b) What is the difference between an aquatic ecosystem and a terrestrial ecosystem? c) Give an example of each type of ecosystem.

3. State whether each of the following statements are true or false. a) Productivity is the energy of producers that is available to consumers. b) The total dry mass of plant or animal matter is its biomass. c) A rabbit and a cow are in different trophic levels. d) The carrying capacity is the lowest population of a species that can live in a particular environment. e) A flood that drowns most of the animals of species X in an area is an example of density- dependent population regulation.

4. a) By what means does energy move from the sun to grass? b) How does it move from grass to fox? c) What percentage is typically given off from one trophic level to the next?

5. In a study area, there are 558 of species A, and 7 of species B. a) Which species is most likely to be an herbivore, and which is most likely to be a carnivore? b) How do you know?

6. Only about 10% of the energy in the food that is eaten by a consumer is available to the next consumer in a food chain. What happens to the remaining energy in the food chain?

7. If you eat a meal with a mass of 300g, you do not increase your mass by the same amount. Explain why.

8. a) What is intraspecific competition? Give an example. b) What is interspecific competition? Give an example.

9. Suppose that there is a transfer of 10 percent of biomass at each link in the following food chain: phytoplankton --> zooplankton --> small fish --> medium fish --> tuna --> human

What biomass of the phytoplankton is required to supply a human family with 1kg of tuna for dinner? (i.e. put 1 kg for human and work backword)

10. Decide if each example is a density-dependept or density-independent factor: a) Forest Fire b) Food shortage c) Volcanic eruption d) Aggression and competition e) Disease 11. Brewer's yeast is a micro-organism that produces ethyl alcohol as a waste product of its metabolism. It is used to make beer and wine. Suppose that a wine maker adds 500 brewer's yeast cells to a vat of grape juice. Every 15 minutes, the organism doubles.

a) Create a table for 3 hours. b) How many cells are present after 3h? c) What do you think will limit the growth of this yeast population? d) Is the factor you named in your answer to part b) density dependant or density independent?

12. a) Is it a more efficient use of the sun’s energy for people to eat vegeatables, beef or salmon? b) Explain your answer and draw a food chain for each choice.

13. Describe two ways you might increase the carrying capacity of a backyard ecosystem for birds.

14. The diagram below shows a food web in the Antarctic Ocean.

a) Why might a decline in the population of baleen whales lead to an increase in the populations of seals, penguins, and krill-eating fish? b) What might happen to the other species if the populations of baleen whales increased but the population of krill stayed the same? Explain your answer. c) Draw one food chain from this food web. d) If the plankton were gone from this web, what would happen? Is this worse than the baleen whales being gone? Explain. e) If the baleen whales were gone would the biodiversity be greater or less? Why?

15. The productivity of different ecosystems varies. a) What is the best type of ecosystem for productivity? What makes it so good? b) What is the worst type?

16. Explain what is meant by biomagnification. What happens in the following food chain if DDT was eaten by the minnow?

Algae  minnow  tuna  human

17. What are the three types of ecological pyramids? What units are used in each? 18. What trophic level is at the bottom of each pyramid?

19. Circle the carrying capacity in each graph.

20. Our human population has tripled. According to what we know of other species, this means we are overpopulated. What could happen to the human race? Give specific reasons for this.

21. Why has the human population tripled?

22. Give a reason why monocultures are good. Give a reason why monocultures are not good.

23. Where does all of our energy come from?

24. Draw a food chain with 4 links. a) Label it in terms of trophic levels. b) Label it in terms of producers, primary consumers, etc. c) Label it in terms of plants, herbivores, carnivores, top carnivores. d) Why do the arrows go a certain way?

25. Determine if each factor is biotic or abiotic.

a) Food shortage f) Sunlight b) Aggression g) Wind c) Hurricane h) Increased producers d) Water i) Increased predators e) Soil j) Decrease in prey