Sample Assessment Items
This is not meant to be printed off and given as a test…this document is to give you ideas of how this standard might be assessed. Please use these as an example when you are developing your own formative assessments. Remember formative assessment is to be given throughout the teaching of a standard to help you guide your instruction based on students needs. A good formative assessment should have a mix of multiple choice as well as open ended.
S4L1 Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
d. Predict effects on a population if some of the plants or animals in the community are scarce or if there are too many.
Multiple Choice:
Sun leaves caterpillars mice owls
Which population would most likely DECREASE if the number of mice greatly increased?
a. caterpillars
b. Leaves
c. mice
d. owls
Answer: a
If all green plants died, would foxes survive?
a. Yes, foxes do not eat green plants.
b. Yes, foxes could still eat other animals.
c. No, they would have no more plants to eat.
d. No, the animals that foxes eat need to eat green plants.
Answer: d
A population of deer depends on a steady supply of food. What is MOST LIKELY to happen to the population if the food supply decreases?
a. Nothing will happen.
b. The deer will compete for food.
c. The deer will move to a warmer climate.
d. The deer will help each other find food.
Answer: b
The good weather in a certain ecosystem caused an unusually large amount of berries to grow this spring. A certain species of bird feeds on the berries. What might happen because of the increase in food?
a. The birds will reproduce less.
b. The birds will avoid the ecosystem.
c. The birds will look for a different source of food.
d. The birds' predators will have more birds to feed on.
Answer: d
Look at this food chain.
What would MOST LIKELY happen if the rabbit population suddenly becomes much larger?
a. The clover population would decrease and the coyote population would increase.
b. The clover population would decrease and the coyote population would decrease.
c. The clover population would increase and the coyote population would decrease.
d. The clover population would increase and the coyote population would increase.
Answer: a
A new species of beetle is introduced in an ecosystem where it has no natural predators. What is the BEST prediction a scientist can make about what might happen in the ecosystem?
a. All consumers in the ecosystem will starve.
b. The beetles may overpopulate the ecosystem.
c. The beetles will hibernate and not appear for years.
d. Birds and reptiles will disappear from the ecosystem.
Answer: b
The population of mice in a local forest ecosystem has recently died out due to disease. In the past, these mice were the main predators of the forest beetles.
What is the BEST prediction about what will happen to the beetles?
a. The drop in the mouse population will lead to a drop in the beetle population.
b. The drop in the mouse population will lead to no change in the beetle population.
c. The drop in the mouse population will lead to an increase in the beetle population.
d. The increase in the mouse population will lead to an increase in the beetle population.
Answer: c
In a certain area, mice eat grass and snakes eat mice. Which statement describes what will MOST LIKELY happen to the snakes and mice if the grass population decreases due to a lack of rain?
a. The populations of both mice and snakes will increase.
b. The populations of both mice and snakes will decrease.
c. The population of mice will decrease, and the population of snakes will increase.
d. The population of mice will increase, and the population of snakes will decrease.
Answer: b
What most likely would happen if the frog population decreased in the area?
a. The grass would grow taller.
b. The fish population would increase.
c. The heron would have more fish to eat.
d. The grasshopper population would increase.
Answer: d
Open ended:
How does the population affect the number of plants and animals in the community?
Look at the food web of a prairie ecosystem.
What could happen in the prairie ecosystem if the population of grasshoppers decreased greatly?
In the Okefenokee Swamp ecosystem, the owls eat frogs and the snakes eat frogs. What might happen if all the frogs in the Okefenokee Swamp died?
The only predator of the rabbit population in a meadow ecosystem has been removed.
• Predict what will happen to both the rabbit and the plant populations in the ecosystem in the first 6 months and after 5 years.
• Explain the reasons for your predictions.
Look at the grassland ecosystem food web below.
Describe at least two things that could happen if the population of rabbits were to increase dramatically.