Keystone Species

Select all description/s of an ecological niche from the following options.

• A fox sleeps in a burrow

• A bear helps clear lichen off rocks with it's feet when fishing in a stream

• A monkey swings off branches to reach fruit

• Two different species of bird exist in the same air space without interacting

• Birds eat seeds, then disperse them further away

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

A species that plays a critical role in the health, maintenance, growth, or definition of an ecosystem.

• keystone

• invasive

• engineer

• predator

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS2-2

NGSS.HS-LS2-6

Two or more species that engage in mutually beneficial interactions.

• mutualists

• engineers

• invasives

• predators

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Select the best definition for the term 'ecological niche'

• The physical space where a species lives

• A summation of the relationships and interactions a species has with other biotic and abiotic factors

• A representation of what a species preys on, and what preys on it i.e. it's place in a food chain

• When a species does a job or function that no other species carries out

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.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

Where an organism lives

• habitat
• niche 
• heterotrogh
• biosphere

Removing a species from a food web typically results in...

• Increased population of their prey

• Increased population of their predators

• Plant overgrowth

• The whole system to collapse

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

In this food chain, what will happen if the frogs become extinct?

• The snakes will increase.
• The grasshoppers will decrease.
• The eagles will remain the same.
• The grasshoppers will increase.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

A habitat is the same as an ecological niche

• True

• False

A food chain shows the transfer of ___ from one organism to another. 

• matter
• consumers
• energy
• habitat

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-6

NGSS.MS-LS2-3