Ecology Benchmark Review

Which of the following is a biotic factor in the prairie ecosystem?

• water

• sunlight

• grass

• soil

What is the smallest unit of ecological organization called?

• Population

• Community

• Ecosystem

• Organism

Which of the following is an example of a population?

• the gray wolves in a forest

• the cats and dogs in your neighborhood

• the bushes and grass in a park

• the rocks in a rock collection

What is the major way in which new individuals are added to a population?

• Sampling

• The birth of offspring

• Mark and recapture

• Emigration

What is a group of antelope leaving the herd in search of better grassland is an example of?

• Immigration

• Emigration

• Increasing birth rate

• Decreasing death rate

Which term refers to an environmental factor that prevents a population from increasing?

• biotic factor

• abiotic factor

• immigration

• limiting factor

What is the largest population that an environment can support called?

• carrying capacity.

• limiting factor.

• birth rate.

• death rate.

What is an organism’s particular role, or how it makes its living?

• carrying capacity.

• ecosystem.

• competition.

• niche.

What is the struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources called?

• competition.

• predation.

• symbiosis.

• parasitism.

When a jellyfish paralyzes a tiny fish with its poisonous tentacles, the fish is what?

• predator

• prey

• host

• parasite