Environmental Science Final Exam Study Guide

Master ecology! Study symbiotic relationships, food webs, and energy flow for your environmental science final.

Symbiotic Relationships SymbiosisWhen two organisms of different species interact in a way that affects one or both organisms, they form a symbiotic relationship. The word symbiosis comes from a Greek word that means "living together". Scientists define types of symbiotic relationships based on how each organism is affected.This table lists three common types of symbiotic relationships. It shows how each organism is affected in each type of symbiotic relationship. Hookworms enter the human body by burrowing into the skin of the feet. Once in the skin they enter the bloodstream and travel to the small intestine where they attach to the walls and begin to drink the person's blood and weaken the victim.This is an example of what type of relationship? Commensalism Mutualism Parasitism Which of the following are parasitic relationships? Select all that apply. An organism of one species benefits and an organism of another species also benefits. An organism of one species benefits and an organism of another species is harmed. An organism of one species benefits and an organism of another species is not significantly affected. Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of yellow warblers or other songbirds. When a cowbird egg hatches, the warbler parents feed and raise the cowbird chick as their own. This way, the cowbird parents don't spend their own energy raising their offspring. The warbler parents spend so much time and energy raising the cowbird chick that they are not able to raise as many of their own offspring.This is an example of what type of relationship? Commensalism Mutualism Parasitism Tropical pitcher plants live in soil that is poor in nutrients. To get the nutrients it needs to survive, the plant uses a pitcher-shaped leaf as a trap to catch and digest small organisms. But the plant can also get nutrients from other sources, including from the feces of woolly bats.A woolly bat can roost, or settle to sleep, in the upper part of the plant's trap. In the trap, the bat is protected from predators and bad weather. When the bat roosts, it can drop waste, including feces, into the bottom of the trap. The bottom of the trap holds a liquid that helps the plant digest the feces. The plant then absorbs nutrients from the digested feces.When a woolly bat roosts in a tropical pitcher plant's trap, this is an example of what type of relationship? Commensalism Mutualism Parasitism Which of the following is a term that describes any interaction between organisms of different species where at least one organism is affected? Select all that apply. Commensalistic Relationships Mutualistic Relationships Parasitic Relationships Symbiotic Relationships Food Chains Food Webs Afood chainis amodel. Amodelcan be used to represent events in nature and make these events easier to understand. A food chain is a model that shows where organisms in an ecosystem get their food.A food chain has arrows that point from one organism to another. Each arrow shows the direction that matter moves when one organism eats another organism.Matter enters a food chain when aproducermakes its own food. This is how all of the matter eaten by organisms enters the food chain. Many producers make their own food using carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight. Producers do not eat other organisms, so there is no arrow pointing from another organism to the producer in a food chain.Matter first moves up a food chain when the producer is eaten by aconsumer. This is shown by an arrow pointing from the producer to a consumer.A consumer that hunts and eats another consumer is a predator. The consumer eaten by a predator is its prey. Matter moves up a food chain when a predator hunts and eats its prey. A food chain is a model that shows how the matter eaten by organisms moves through an ecosystem. Below is a food chain from a grassland ecosystem in Wyoming.Use the information in the food chain to fill in the blank below. Matter first enters this food chain when the slender wheatgrass makes its own food using photosynthesis. A producer is the organism at the base, or beginning, of a food chain. Many producers use photosynthesis to make their own food. This food becomes the matter that moves up the food chain.Use the information in the food chain to fill in the blanks below. Matter begins to move through this food chain when the slender wheatgrass, a producer, is eaten by the pocket gopher, a primary consumer. Below is a food web from an ocean ecosystem in Monterey Bay, off the coast of California.Afood web models how the matter eaten by organisms moves through an ecosystem. The arrows in a food web represent how matter moves between organisms in anecosystem.Which two of the following organisms are producers in this food web? phytoplankton sea otter kelp sea urchin zooplankton Below is a food web from an ocean ecosystem in Monteray Bay, off the coast of California.Which two of the following organisms are tertiary consumers in this food web? phytoplankton kelp kelp bass black rockfish orca Below is a food web from Joshua Tree National Park, a desert ecosystem in Southern California.Which organisms are primary consumers in this food web? red-tailed hawk creosote bush grasshopper mouse beavertail cactus raven Below is a food web from Joshua Tree National Park, a desert ecosystem in Southern California.Which organisms are omnivores in this food web? Select all that apply. raven grasshopper kit fox creosote bush beavertail cactus Below is a food web from Joshua Tree National Park, a desert ecosystem in Southern California.Use the foodweb to identify each of the organisms as producer, herbivore, omnivore, or carnivore. Producers creosote bush beavertail cactus Herbivores grasshopper desert woodrat Decomposers Mushroom Microfungus Carnivores rattlesnake red-tailed hawk Energy Pyramids An energy pyramid is a model that shows the flow of energy from one trophic, or feeding, level to the next in an ecosystem. The model is a diagram that compares the energy used by organisms at each trophic level.Only 10% of the energy of each trophic level actually makes it to the next level. The other 90% is lost as heat to the environment. Thus, the higher the trophic level on the pyramid, the lower the amount of available energy. How much energy gets moved to the next trophic level? 100% 90% 10% 1% In the following food chain, how much energy would the snake get if the grass's trophic level started with 50,000 kcal? 5,000 kcal 500 kcal 50 kcal 5 kcal An energy pyramid represents what? How much sunlight is available for the ecosystem to use. How much energy a particular organism needs How much energy is needed to build a pyramid. The amount of energy available to the next 'feeder' in a food web. A food pyramid represent the relative amount of energy in trophic levels. Which of the following correctly shows a food pyramid? A B C D The owl receives energy from which organisms? grasshopper and mouse mouse and rabbit rabbit and butterfly butterfly and frog If there is 1000 Kcal available in the producers in trophic level 1, how much energy is available in the herbivores in trophic level 2? 10 kcal 100 kcal 1000 kcal 1 kcal If these organisms were arranged in a food pyramid, which organism would have the least amount of total energy available? coyote lizard insect shrub The largest group of organisms found in a food web would be: Primary consumers Decomposers Producers Tertiary Consumers The diagram represents a pyramid of energy in an ecosystem. Which level would most likely contain members of the plant kingdom? A B C D