STAAR Biology - 12C

An ocean food chain is shown in the diagram above.  Which organism represents the trophic level containing approximately 1% of the initial amount of solar energy acquired by the phytoplankton?

• Copepods
• Sand eels
• Herring
• Humans

Which of the following are missing from the food web shown above?

• Producers
• Decomposers
• Omnivores
• Predators

The Texas blind salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) lives in the Edwards Aquifer region around San Marcos. Along with other species the salamander lives in total darkness in the underground crevices and caves of the aquifer region. The table lists some of the organisms that live in this environment and their food sources.
In an energy pyramid for these aquifer cave dwellers, which of the following would be placed at the bottom?

•  Snails
• Blind shrimp
• Protoza
• Texas blind salamanders

A marine ecosystem is represented below.
What is lost to the environment at each of the trophic levels of this ecosystem?

• Nutrients from the soil
• Living space for the organisms
• Food sources
• Heat

A terrestrial food web is shown below.
Which of the following lists only organisms that are secondary consumers in this food web?

• Mice, rabbits, herbivorous insects, and squirrels
• Predacrous insects, toads, spiders, and foxes
• Spiders, foxes, owls, hawks, and snakes
• Insectivorous birds, seed-eating birds, owls, and hawks

The food web shows the flow of energy through a sagebrush-steppe ecosystem.
Which of these organisms are in a trophic level that receives a larger percentage of the energy captured by the producers than the percentage received at the bats’ trophic level?

• Mountain lions
• Snakes
• Hawks
• Ground squirrels

A student is asked to draw a food web in which the same organism is a primary consumer as well as a secondary consumer. How should the organism be represented in the food web?

• The organism must have an arrow pointing from it to a tertiary consumer and another arrow pointing from it to a decomposer.
• The organism must have an arrow pointing from it to a secondary consumer and another arrow pointing to it from the top predator.
• The organism must have an arrow pointing to it from a producer and another arrow pointing to it from a primary consumer.
• The organism must have an arrow pointing from it to a primary consumer and another arrow pointing away from it to a decomposer.