Ecological Quiz

Choose the phrase that correctly finishes this statement: "A species is..."

• A specific part of the abiotic environment.

• A way of describing all the living parts of an ecosystem.

• A group of organisms that can successfully mate with each other and reproduce.

• Part of the natural decomposing materials in soil.

Ecology is the study of the:

• Abiotic parts of the environment, such as climate, air, and soil.

• Interactions between organisms.

• Biotic parts of the environment, such as animals and plants.

• Interactions between organisms as well as the interactions between organisms and their environment.

What is an ecosystem?

• All the interacting organisms that live in an environment and the abiotic parts of the environment that affect the organisms.

• A person who observes and studies the interactions between the biotic and abiotic parts of the environment.

• The relationship among the biotic parts of the environment.

• The relationship between all the abiotic elements of a pond.

When populations share their environment and interact with populations of other species, it is called

• Biome

• Ecoprovince

• Community

• Species

• Ecotone

Space where an organism lives and the role an organism plays within its ecosystem is referred to as a:

• Sampling

• Community

• Population

• Niche

• Biosphere

An organism that creates its own food is called:

• A producer

• A scavenger

• A carnivore

• A consumer

• A decomposer

A consumer is:

• An organism that produces its own food.

• An organism that does not need food to survive.

• An abiotic organism.

• An organism that cannot produce its own food.

Which of the following two organisms are producers?

• Plants and phytoplankton.

• Consumers and phytoplankton.

• Phytoplankton and herbivores.

• Phytoplankton and chlorophyll.

• Plants and consumers.

A food web is more realistic than a food chain for showing the feeding relationships in ecosystems because:

• It compares the number of consumers to the number of micro-organisms in an ecosystem.

• Food chains use only a small sampling of organisms.

• A food web explains why there are more producers than consumers.

• Producers are usually eaten by many different consumers and most consumers are eaten by more than one predator.

The largest percentage of solar energy that penetrates the atmosphere of the Earth is used to:

• Heat the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface.

• Carry on photosynthesis.

• Generate winds.

• Heat and evaporate water.