Staar Science Review Organisms and the Environment

The strangler fig is a vine that starts out as a seed in the tree canopy of the rain forest. It drops its roots down from the canopy to the forest floor. By sprouting in the rain-forest canopy, the strangler fig seedling is exposed to more -

• sunlight

• soil

• nutrients

• consumers

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NGSS.MS-LS1-5

Black walnut trees produce a nontoxic chemical that becomes highly toxic when it is exposed to air or soil. How does this chemical help black walnut trees compete with plants growing nearby?

• By attracting herbivores to the other plants

• By suppressing the growth of the other plants

• By increasing the photosynthesis rates in the other plants

• By limiting the amount of water available to the other plants

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• Zone I only

• Zones I and II only

• Zone III only

• Zones I, II, and III

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Lions and cheetahs prey on wildebeests that graze in the grasslands of the African savanna. What likely effect would increased rainfall over several rainy seasons have on the populations of wildebeests, lions, and cheetahs?

• All three populations would increase.

• The wildebeest population would decrease, and the lion and cheetah populations would increase.

• The wildebeest population would increase, and the lion and cheetah populations would decrease.

• All three populations would decrease.

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Which of the following is most likely to cause a change in the genetic traits in an isolated population of a ground-dwelling lizard?

• The exposure of an individual lizard in the population to radiation that causes a mutation that is not passed on to its offspring.

• An unusually dry summer in the lizard population's ecosystem

• The introduction of an invasive predator that preys on the brightest-colored individuals in the lizard population

• A fast-moving wildfire that burns the canopy of the trees in the lizard population's ecosystem

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NGSS.MS-LS2-4

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Some areas of the ocean are known as dead zones. These zones form when excess organic material decomposes. This increased decomposition uses up the oxygen from the water.

Which human activity is most affected by the increasing number of dead zones in the ocean?

• Offshore oil drilling, because water in dead zones is toxic

• Commercial fishing, because fish cannot survive without oxygen

• Commercial shipping, because dead zones change the course of ocean currents

• Sand mining, because oxygen is not available to form the sands on ocean beaches

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NGSS.MS-LS2-4

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What sentence best describes how energy flows through this pyramid?

• Energy is transferred down each level of the energy pyramid.

• The energy lost at each level is consumed by organisms in the top level.

• Energy is transferred from organisms in one level to those in the level above.

• The organisms at the bottom level provide energy directly to organisms in all the other levels.

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How many predators in this food web are omnivores?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

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How many organisms in this food web eat only producers?

• 3

• 2

• 1

• 4

Both primary and secondary succession begin with pioneer species that -

• change the area and make it safer from predatory organisms

• invade the area so that new organisms cannot be established

• modify the area and allow larger and more complex organisms to appear

• use up all the existing resources and prevent establishment of non-native organisms

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NGSS.MS-LS2-3