Principles of Ecology

What is the purpose of decomposers in the flow of energy?

• They eat dead organisms.
• They remove nutrients from plants.
• They recycle nutrients.
• They give energy to the plants and animals.

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The term biodiversity means:

• a wide variety of plants and animals in an ecosystem
• only a few types of plants and animals in an ecosystem
• an ecosystem composed mostly of plants
• an ecosystem composed mostly of animals

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A species that maintain biodiversity by keeping prey populations controlled is called a(n)...

• Quaternary Consumers
• Top Predators
• Invasive Species
• Keystone Species

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A sea otter and a sea star are examples of...

• primary consumers
• keystone species
• native species 
• autotrophs

Which organism do the owl and the weasel compete for in the food web?

• Hawk
• Spider
• Grasshopper
• Shrew

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What might happen if you remove a primary consumer from the ecosystem?

• There would be more food for secondary consumers.
• The number of primary consumers would increase.
• The number of plants would increase.
• The number of secondary consumers would increase.

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Which of the following would be the most likely effect, if there were a sudden increase in the cricket population?

• There would be a decrease in the small bird population.
• There would be a decrease in the grass/flowers population.
• There would be a decrease in the mice population.
• There would be an increase in the grass/flowers population.

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Which of the following best describes the small bird in the food web above?

• primary and secondary consumer
• secondary and tertiary consumer
• primary consumer only
• secondary consumer only

In this energy pyramid, which organisms have the most energy available?

• Producers
• Carnivores
• Herbivores
• Top Predator

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How much of the energy in each level of a ecological pyramid gets lost as heat or used by the organism so that it cannot be passed on to the next trophic level?

• 80%
• 90%
• 10%
• 20%

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