Pre-AP Unit 2 Homework
Chapter 3
1. Map out a food web putting names of organisms in the right places for this Sonoran Desert community. Arrows point to the eater. Example: Lizard àBarn Owl
o Barn owl eats gila monsters, desert iguanas, kangaroo rats, and rattlesnakes
o Free-tailed bat eats dragonflies
o Black widow spider eats dragonflies
o Bobcat eats peccary, gila monsters, desert iguanas, tortoise, and kangaroo rats
o Peccary eats grass, cactus, and yucca fruit
o Desert iguana eats dragonflies, cactus, and yucca fruit
o Tortoise eats grass cactus and yucca fruit
o Dragonfly eats grass and yucca fruit
o Gila monster eats dragonflies and desert iguanas
o Gray wolf eats rattlesnakes, yucca fruit, gila monsters, desert iguanas, peccary, tortoise
o Red-tailed hawk eats kangaroo rats, rattlesnakes, gila monsters, desert iguanas
o Rattlesnake eat kangaroo rats, gila monsters, and desert iguanas
o Kangaroo rat eats cactus, yucca fruit, and grasses
2. If producers in an energy pyramid produce 10 million Calories of energy, how many Calories would be available at the 4th trophic level?
3. How are the flow of matter (nutrients) and the flow of energy through ecosystems different?
4. Why is nitrogen fixation important?
5. Predict what would happen if nitrogen-fixing bacteria were removed from the nitrogen cycle.
6. Construct a 3-way Venn diagram showing the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles.
Chapter 4
11. Describe 2 examples each of mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.
12. Write a want ad for a parasite seeking a new host.
13. What abiotic factors characterize salt marshes?
14. Why might a wide range of species be endangered by pollution of an estuary?
15. What role does phytoplankton play in the food webs of many aquatic ecosystems?
16 Explain why photosynthesis is more likely to occur throughout the coastal ocean but only in a small part of the open ocean.
17. Describe a community of plants and animals found in Oklahoma. List 5 biotic and abiotic factors. Predict the effects of a prolonged drought.
18. Choose an animal that lives in the temperate deciduous forest. Write a paragraph that describes a typical day in its life. Include its niche – food, shelter, daily rhythms, etc.
19. Compare and contrast primary and secondary succession with a Venn diagram. Give 2 examples of when each would occur.
This diagram shows what biologists predict will happen at Yellowstone National Park in the years following the most extensive forest fire in its history. About 45% of the park burned.
20. After the fire, what resources remained in Yellowstone?
21. How are these resources different from those found in a lava flow, where no life existed before?
22. Why do grasses and wildflowers make up the first stage of secondary succession where there used to be trees?
23. Why will shrubs grow before trees?
24. Once lodgepole pines are established, the forests of Yellowstone Park will not change radically again. What is the term for the lodgepole pine community?
25. Elk, large herbivores that live in the Yellowstone area, eat mainly grasses. In winter, they eat twigs and needles from small trees and shrubs. Explain what may happen to the elk population during the first 10 years after the fire.
26. What may happen to the elk population during the following 15 years?
Chapter 5
1. Explain why predator and prey populations cycle together over time. Use an example of mice as the primary food for wolves.
2. Predict what would happen to the following populations over time:
a. bacteria growing on some food left out.
b. a few elephants released into a new national park in India.
3 Is the number of births over deaths indicating an exponential or logistic growth rate? Explain your answer.
4. According to the table, the death rate remains about the same, but the birth rate continues to decline. Explain why the population is not decreasing.
5. Characterize the following as either density-dependent or density-independent limiting factors:
Competition unusual weather
Natural disaster disease
Parasitism predation
Human activities seasonal cycles
6. What limiting factors affect human populations?
7. Describe the birth and death rates of this population.
8. Has this population undergone the demographic transition?
Chapter 6
1. Describe the steps you would take if you were put in charge of increasing biodiversity in a natural area.
The following illustrates an experiment modeling the effects of acid precipitation. Look at the diagrams and answer the questions.
Procedure:
Results:
2. Write a hypothesis for this experiment.
3. What is the independent variable?
4. What is the dependent variable?
5. What is the control?
6. What factors were kept constant?
7. Write a conclusion for this experiment.
8. What threat to biodiversity does this illustrate?
9. Answer questions #9 and 10 on page 165 of your textbook.