Chapter 3

  1. Define biotic and abiotic factors in a forest ecosystem and give two examples of each.
  2. What do Ecologists study?
  3. Define populations, communities, and ecosystems. What are the main differences?
  4. Two species of birds live in an old growth forest. One species, a woodpecker, digs for bugs in the bark of the trees. The other, a songbird, eats small insects in the air and on the ground. What are the niches of these birds and what is their habitat?
  5. Give a brief definition of mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism as well as one example of each. Do not use any examples that include humans.
  6. Draw a food chain with four trophic levels for a marine ecosystem. Label the autotroph, first-order heterotroph, second-order heterotroph, and third-order heterotroph. What happens to the available energy as the trophic levels increase?
  7. What percentage of energy is transferred at each trophic level? What percentage is lost?
  8. Look at the following terms. In which cycle would you find them and what is their role?

Photosynthesis, Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, Transpiration

Chapter 4

  1. Explain how temperature is a limiting factor for a cactus in the desert.
  2. A population of catfish survives in a pond that changes between low amounts of oxygen and high amounts of oxygen. Explain what might be happening here in terms of tolerance.
  3. What are the main differences between primary and secondary succession. Give examples of events that might start both processes as well as examples of a pioneer species for each case.
  4. Define climax community and give an example of one.
  5. Study your Biome Chart and Climatogram Lab

Chapter 5

  1. What is does a J-curve represent and give an example of what type of population and the conditions in which it might occur?
  2. What is does an S-curve represent and give an example of what type of population and the conditions in which it might occur?
  3. Define carrying capacity.
  4. Give an example of a slow growth or slow life-history organism and explain the conditions you would find in their habitat.
  5. How do organisms with a rapid life-history differ from organisms with slow life-history?
  6. Describe how density-dependent and density-independent factors regulate population growth.
  7. Complete the Human Population Growth worksheetand review it. Pay special attention to Age Structure.