Ecosystem Interactions (5.9A, 5.9B, 5.9C)

A student observing birds in a park recorded some ways that birds interact with the living and nonliving parts of their environment. All of the following observations are ways that a bird interacts with nonliving parts of its environment except -

• reacting to morning sunlight by singing

• drinking and taking a bath in a puddle of water

• responding to cold temperatures by fluffing its feathers

• feeding insects to its chicks

Answer explanation

Insects are living organisms.

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Some beetles break down the remains of dead animals. Some mushrooms break down the remains of dead trees. How do these actions most benefit plants?

• By returning nutrients to the soil

• By releasing oxygen into the air

• By making space for new animals

• By decreasing the population of herbivores

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Some facts about a bird called the painted redstart are listed in the box above. Which fact best describes one way this bird changes its environment to meet its needs?

• Fact 1

• Fact 2

• Fact 3

• Fact 4

Some facts about birds called Cattle Egrets are listed below. Which of these facts best describes how these birds depends on other animals to survive?

• Fact 1

• Fact 2

• Fact 3

• Fact 4

The table lists ways that four organisms obtain energy. Which organism obtains energy without depending on another organism?

• Oak tree

• Mushroom

• Cottontail Rabbit

• Mountain Lion

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A farmer is reading a nature guide to learn how to make changes to a pond so that it will attract and support wildlife. The guide gives the suggestion listed below. Which suggestions involves interactions between two groups of living organisms

• Suggestion 1

• Suggestion 2

• Suggestion 3

• Suggestion 4

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Many gardeners use red worms like the ones shown in the photograph to turn vegetable and fruit scraps into topsoil for plants. The gardeners build a worm farm in a large container lined in old newspapers and filled with moist garden soil. The worms eat about half their body weight daily in produce waste that can be used as plant fertilizer. The container for a warm farm needs to have a lid, but the lid must be left partially open because worms require which of the following in order to survive?

• Oxygen

• Sunlight

• Carbon dioxide

• All of these

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The diagram shows a prairie food web. In the food web shown, all of the following are consumers EXCEPT –

• Prairie Grass

• Mountain Lion

• Squirrel

• Robin

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Decomposers like mushrooms get energy by –

• producing their own food

• eating grass, fruit, and seeds

• breaking down dead organisms

• absorbing carbon dioxide from the air

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In the food web diagram, what do the arrows represent?

• Life Cycle

• Metamorphosis

• How food is produced by organisms

• The flow of energy through an ecosystem

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