Ecology Review

1. Which type of organisms are the foundation of the energy pyramid?

• Producers
• Primary Consumers
• Secondary Consumers
• Decomposers

2. Which of the following is an abiotic factor?

• Plants
• Bacteria
• Fungi
• Sunlight

3. Why is there less total energy at the top of the energy pyramid?

• Organisms store all of the energy that they have ever eaten
• There are more organisms at the top of the energy pyramid
• Energy is used up by organisms throughout their lives, so less energy is passed on to the next level
• Top predators require less energy for their life processes

4. Which sequence best represents the flow of energy through an ecosystem?

• Sun --> herbivores --> producers --> consumers
• Green plants --> carnivores --> consumers --> herbivores
• Consumers --> carnivores --> herbivores --> producers
• Sun --> producers --> herbivores --> carnivores

5. When organisms die, the nutrients in their bodies are recycled back to the soil through the activity of:

• Predators
• Decomposers
• Pathogens
• Parasites

6. Look at the diagram of the energy pyramid. The best explanation for the decrease in the amount of energy transferred to each level up the pyramid is that much of the energy is:

• Eaten (consumed) by predators
• Used up by the life processes of the organisms and released as heat
• Stored within the organisms
• Used in photosynthesis

7. Look at the energy pyramid again. Why is the snake placed directly above the rabbit?

• The snake and the rabbit share the same food sources
• The rabbit gets energy from the snake
• The snake gets energy from the rabbit
• The snake and the rabbit live in the same habitat

8. Again, the energy pyramid. If the trophic level with the snakes contains 20,000 units of energy, how much energy will be left for the trophic level with the hawks?

• 20,000
• 2,000
• 200
• 20

9. An autotroph is an organism that can:

• Make its own food by doing photosynthesis
• Obtain energy by eating other organisms
• Decompose other organisms to get energy
• Spontaneously generate

10. A cactus, a snake, and a hawk can be members of the same:

• Community
• Kingdom
• Population
• Species