| A | B |
|---|
| The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment is called ___. | ecology |
| The combined parts of the Earth that contain life is called ____. | the biosphere |
| If two animals can breed together and produce fertile offspring, they are members of the same ___. | species |
| Members of the same species must be able to mate and produce ____ offspring. | fertile |
| A group of organisms that belong to the same species and live in the same general area is called a(n) ____. | population (Technically, a population is a group that interacts and breeds together) |
| A group made up of all the different species living in the same general area is called a(n) ___. | community |
| The living and non-living things that interact in a certain area is called a(n) ____. | ecosystem |
| A group of ecosystems found in different parts of the world that have the same climate and rainfall patterns is called a(n) ___. | biome (Examples of biomes include deserts, tropical rainforests, the tundra, grasslands, etc.) |
| Which of the three basic methods that ecologists use to study the environment involves the use of computer simulations? | mathematical models |
| Another word for producer is ____. | Autotroph, 
|
| What do you call organisms that can produce their own food without light? | chemosynthesizers,
|
Most chemosynthesizers are _______.,  | bacteria |
| Autotrophs use either light energy or chemical energy to produce ___. | carbohydrates,
|
| Another word for consumer is ____. | heterotroph,
|
| What do you call organisms that feed only on plants? | Herbivores,
|
| What do you call organisms that only feed on other animals? | Carnivores,
|
| What do you call organisms that feed on both plants and animals? | Omnivores |
| What do you call organisms that get energy by breaking down organic matter left over from dead organisms? | Decomposers |
| Describe how energy in an ecosystem moves? | It moves in a one-way path, from the sun or inorganic compounds, to producers and then consumers. |
| Describe how matter moves in an ecosystem? | Matter cycles through an ecosystem, going from producers to the consumers who eat the producers and eventually to decomposers who change the matter into forms the producers can use, to start the cycle all over again. |
| True or false? "Matter is used up in an ecosystem." | False, it keeps cycling from one type of organism to another. |
| True or False? "Energy is used up in an ecosystem." | True, energy travels in a one way direction, and is eventually lost as heat from the different organisms as it travels up the food chain. |
| A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating or being eaten is called a ___. | food chain |
| A ______ describes the complex feeding relationships among all organisms in an ecosystem, including the decomposers. | food web |
The picture below depicts a ____.,  | food chain, |
The picture below depicts a ____.,  | food web, |
| Each step in a food chain or ecological pyramid is called a ____. | trophic level |
| The first trophic level in a food chain or ecological pyramid is made up of ____. | producers (autotrophs),
|
| The second trophic level in a food chain or ecological pyramid is made up of ____. | Hervibores |
| If all the plants in a field were determined to contain 10,000 calories of energy, how much energy would you expect to get by eating all the animals that feed on those plants in the field? | 1000 calories (remember the 10% rule) |
| The original source of energy that flows through an ecosystem comes from ____. | the sun |
| The total amount of living tissue in an ecosystem, expressed in kilograms, is called ____. | biomass |
| The changing of water from gas form (water vapor) to liquid form is called ____. | condensation |
| The changing of water from liquid form to gas form (water vapor) at temperatures below boiling is called ___. | evaporation |
| Evaporation from the surface of plant leaves is called ____. | Transpiration |
| When water condenses and then starts to fall as either rain or snow, these two forms of water can both be called ______. | precipitation |
| When organisms burn their food in the presence of oxygen, the two waste products are carbon dioxide and ___. | water |
| Water that ends up deep below the ground is called ___. | ground water |
| Matter gets recycled within and between ecosystems through ____ cycles | biogeochemical cycles (bio=living, geo refers to geology and chemical refers to chemistry) |
| The chemical substances that an organism requires to live are called ___. | nutrients |
| Producers require nitrogen to be turned into ____ so that nitrogen atoms can be extracted and used to make proteins and nucleic acids. | nitrates and nitrites |
| _______ is required by plants in order to make molecules like DNA and RNA plus an energy carrying molecule called ATP. | Phosphorus |
| Which two types of elements are the key ingredients in fertilizer, because plants need them to grow. | Nitrogen and phosphorus |
| The process by which bacteria convert nitrogen gas (N2) into ammonia (NH3) is called ____. | nitrogen fixation |
| The conversion of nitrogen from one form to another in the nitrogen cycle is carried out primarily by ___. | bacteria |
| Which type of plants help make soil more fertile because they can fix nitrogen out of the air and convert it into useable forms? | Legumes (they include peas, beans, lentils, peanuts, alfalfa. Legumes actually don't do the converting themselves, but have bacteria that grow in their root nodules that can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and turn it into fertilizer) |
| A lake that receives a large input of a limiting nutrient, like nitrogen or phosphorus, can develop a(n) ____. | algal bloom,  |
| The rate at which producers create organic matter (by growing) in an ecosystem is called ____. | primary productivity |
| What is most likely to be a limiting nutrient in a freshwater pond? | phosphorus |
| If a nutrient is in such a short supply in an ecosystem that it affects the growth of organisms, it is called a(n) ___. | limiting nutrient |
| Aquatic ecosystems are most likely to receive heavy doses of limiting nutrients that can cause algal blooms from the runoff from ___. | fertilized fields (like farmland or golf courses) |
| Which gas is given off by decomposers as they decompose dead organisms? | carbon dioxide (because they are getting energy from the dead organisms through cellular respiration) |
| Which two molecules are given off when organisms burn food for energy through the process of cellular respiration? | carbon dioxide and water |
| Which two substances are required by producers in order to conduct photosynthesis? | carbon dioxide and water (which are converted to food and oxygen during photosynthesis) |
| Carbon dioxide and water are ____ during photosynthesis. | required |
| Carbon dioxide and water are ___ during cellular respiration. | produced |
| Photosynthesis is pretty much the exact opposite process of ___. | cellular respiration (photosynthesis requires energy to make food from carbon dioxide and water while cellular respiration burns food using oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water along with energy) |
| Where in the carbon cycle is carbon stored in a process that took millions of years to build up? | Carbon took millions of years to build up underground as fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. (Unfortunately, it is now being released back into the atmosphere quickly over the last two hundred years as we've started burning the fossil fuels for energy) |
| What is the process called where nitrogen containing compounds in dead organisms are converted back into nitrogen gas (N2) so that nitrogen can re-enter the atmosphere? | denitrification |
| Ammonia is converted by bacteria into ________ so that it can be used by plants to grow. | nitrates and nitrites (which are also key ingredients in fertilizer) |
| Carbon dioxide is increasing in the atmosphere due to the use of ____. | Fossil fuels |
| Which of the cycles would not be possible without the help of bacteria? | Nitrogen |
