Living Environment Regents Ecology Practice Quiz (8 Questions)

Animals cannot synthesize (make) nutrients (food) from inorganic (not organic/not contain Carbon and Hydrogen) raw materials. Therefore, animals obtain (get) their nutrients (food) by

• consuming preformed (already formed/made) organic compound (food/C6H12O6)

• combining carbon dioxide with water

• hydrolyzing simple sugars

• using inorganic material (example: CO2 and H2O) to make energy

Answer explanation

Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are the organic nutrients (food) needed by all organisms. Animals cannot make their own nutrients. They must eat other organisms that contain the preformed organic nutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins); they eat other living things as their food.

Which organism is a heterotroph?

• grass

• fungi

Answer explanation

Heterotrophs are organisms that cannot make their own food. Fungi are not plants; they cannot make their own food and must break down dead organisms to get preformed (already made by another organism) organic material (Carbohydrates, Fats, and Proteins).

INTERESTING FACT: When fungi break down dead organisms, they release inorganic material that nourishes the soil and helps plants to grow

Aerobic (needing oxygen) organisms depend on autotrophs (organisms that make their own food). One reason aerobic organisms like humans depend on autotrophs is that autotrophs provide the aerobic organisms with

• oxygen (O2)

• carbon dioxide (CO2)

• hydrogen (H2)

Answer explanation

Aerobic organisms need oxygen for cellular respiration. Aerobic organism need oxygen because they don't make oxygen.

Autotrophs are photosynthetic organisms that make their own food. Plants are an example of autotrophs, and they use photosynthess to make their own food as well to make oxygen.

Aerobic organisms (like humans) depend on the oxygen made by autotrophs (plants)

Most of the minerals (inorganic material) are returned to the ecosystem (soil, for example) by which organisms

• decomposers (bacteria and fungi)

• secondary consumers (example: wolves)

• primary producers (example: trees)

Answer explanation

Decomposers release minerals (inorganic material) from dead plants and dead animal bodies. Such release material is returned to the environment, helping to nourish the soil and help plants grow.

In the food chain shown in the picture, which organism (living thing) is a primary consumer (an animal that eats plants)

• grasshopper

• grass

• frog

• snake

In a particular area (like central park), living things (plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi) and their nonliving surroundings together are considered

• a population

• a community

• an ecosystem

Answer explanation

population - all individuals of a single species living in a specific area on earth; example the human population of New York is made up of all the human beings living in NewYork

community - all the different species living together in an area; example: New York City's community of organisms include the New York City's tree population, NYC human population, NYC insects, and NYC bacteria that live amongst one another and interact with one another in New York City

ECOSYSTEM - all the living things (humans, insects, bacteria) and non-living things (air, water, sunlight) interacting in a specific area on earth

Which human activity would have the greatest impact (effect) on the amount of CO2 in the air?

• humans using less water

• humans destroying large forest areas (chopping down many trees, for example, to build hotels)

• humans enforcing laws that reduce the use of gasoline to power car engines

Answer explanation

Reducing the number of trees over a large area will greatly reduce the forest' ability in that area to absorb (use/take in) carbon dioxide and use it for making their food.

Pick on of the following ecological problems: 1. Global warming; 2. Loss of biodiversity

Explain the ecological problem you chose by addressing the following:

- describe one human action that may have caused the problem

- describe one way the problem can negatively affect humans

- describe one positive action that could be take to reduce or stop this problem

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Answer explanation

Global warming is a worldwide ecological problem caused by the release of carbon dioxide and other gases in automobile exhaust (the gas that comes out of a car). Global warming can negatively affect humans if the warming conditions disrupt weather patterns and lead to droughts (long periods of time without rain), floods (from melting of glaciers), or other natural disasters (forest fires). One positive action that could be taken to help stop global warming would be to find an energy source for automobiles (cars) that would not release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Loss of biodiversity is an ecological problem that negatively impacts humans. Loss of biodiversity is caused whenever humans destroy a natural

habitat (environment) and convert (change) it for other uses. For examples, when humans chop down many trees to build a hotel resort, they destroy the habitat (environment) of the many different types of living things that naturally lived in that habitat. The stability of an environment depends on the diversity of species that fill different roles in nature--role of producers, role of consumers, role of decomposers. When species diversity is reduced, our human health is also directly threathend because we may destroy species of organisms (like plants and herbs) that could have been used as medicine for treating diseases. Loss of biodiversity can be reduced by preventing enforcing enviromental protection laws that limit/reduce human activities that directly threaten the stability of the ecosystem (like chopping down large forest areas)