(NGSS HS-LS2-1, HS-LS2-2, DCI LS2.A, LS2.C, CCC Stability and Change)
Multiple choice are worth 3 points each.
(NGSS HS-LS2-1, HS-LS2-2, DCI LS2.A, LS2.C, CCC Stability and Change)
Multiple choice are worth 3 points each.
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Data Question and CCC (Stability and Change)
A scientist is studying the populations of foxes and rabbits in a forest ecosystem. The graph shows how the populations changed over time. (8 pts TOTAL)
According to the graph, how does the fox population influence the rabbit population? Provide details. (2 points)
Using the graph as evidence, explain how changes in the rabbit population impact the fox population. (2 points)
Hypothesize what would likely occur to the rabbit population if the fox population were eliminated from the forest ecosystem. (2 points)
Describe both the short-term (within months) and long-term (over years) ecological changes expected if foxes are no longer present in the forest. (2 points)
Question 19
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CER & PE (15 pts TOTAL)
Examine the diagram below, which shows a typical food web that could be found in the Great Lakes area.
Adult cormorants (a bird in the food web) eats an average of one pound of fish per day, usually small bottom-dwelling or schooling fish that are less than 6 inches long. Cormorant numbers in the Great Lakes area have increased in recent years which alarms many fishermen. Some people have argued that cormorants should be removed from the shores of the Great Lakes area due to their negative effects on the fishing industry (human fishing for food).
Question: Should Cormorants Be Removed from the Ecosystem?
CLAIM: Clearly state your conclusion (to remove or not to remove). (3 pts)
EVIDENCE: Cite at least three specific examples from the food web and given text to bolster your claim, detailing effects on three distinct populations. (6 pts)
REASONING: Elaborate on the connection between your evidence and your claim, using appropriate ecological terms and concepts. (6 pts)
Vocabulary: predator, prey, competition, carrying capacity, limiting factors, food chain, food web, producers, consumers, energy flow, population size
See the rubric to ensure you get the greatest amount of points for your answer.
A mushroom gains its energy by decomposing (feeding on) the tissues of dead organisms. Based on this, which of the following statements must be TRUE for mushrooms?
They are autotrophs because they do not eat their food, as animals do.
They are both autotrophs and heterotrophs, because they may grow in sunlight or darkness.
They are autotrophs because decomposition is very similar to photosynthesis.
They are heterotrophs because their food is made by other organisms.
The diagram shows a model of feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
What is shown by the arrows that lead to and from the raccoon?
The raccoon is part of one food web, but no food chains.
The raccoon is part of several food chains and several food webs.
The raccoon is part of several food chains, but not a food web.
The raccoon plays a role in a complex food web, which is made up of several interconnected food chains.
Which statement is the most precise description of primary producers?
All utilize photosynthesis to convert sunlight into protein.
All take in energy to make energy-rich compounds (sugar).
All take in food and break it apart to release energy.
All are small, single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and algae.
Which of the following BEST describes the flow of energy through a food chain?
Energy flows from consumers to primary producers, in one direction only.
Energy flows between primary producers and consumers, in an endless cycle.
Energy flows from primary producers to consumers, in one direction only.
Energy flows between primary producers and consumers, in either direction.
Which statement best illustrates the movement of matter within and among ecosystems?
Nutrients are made and destroyed as they are used by living things.
Nutrients continuously move through living organisms and natural cycles in the Earth (like in soil and air).
Nutrients cycle between trophic levels in food chains and food webs.
Nutrients flow in a two-way direction through food chains and food webs.
The diagram represents four trophic levels in an ecosystem.
Which statement most accurately explains the flow of energy in this ecosystem?
Energy must flows through all the trophic levels and then back down to the producers.
90% of the energy from the plants is transferred to the mice, grasshoppers, and rabbits because plants don't have to search for their food.
In an ecosystem, just 10% of energy moves up to the next trophic level.
Hawks receive the most energy because energy from all the other trophic levels flows to the hawks.
Lake Tefillin, a sizable freshwater lake known for recreation, received a new population of rainbow trout one year. The accompanying graph chronicles the expansion of this trout population over the subsequent years.
Which BEST describes the growth pattern of the rainbow trout?
The population exhibits logistic growth as limiting factors become more impactful with increasing population size.
Logistic growth, because the lake provides unlimited resources even after the population reaches carrying capacity
Exponential growth, because limiting factors are always affecting the population
Exponential growth, because the lake provides unlimited resources to the population
In a forest ecosystem, a variety of predators compete with one another for the same prey. The predators include wolves, coyotes, foxes, and hawks. Their prey include deer, rabbits, mice, and the chickens that live outdoors on nearby farms and backyards.
If human hunting significantly reduces wolf, coyote, and fox populations, how would this likely impact the hawk population?
The hawk population increases in a pattern of exponential growth, because the limiting factors on the population were removed.
The hawk population will rise to a new stable carrying capacity level, controlled by limiting factors like food.
The hawk population remains constant because competition has no effect on carrying capacity.
The hawk population decreases because of the natural cycle that affects predators and prey.
Which of the following would be a limiting factor for growth of a population of downy woodpeckers living in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri?
reducing the use of insecticide use in the area to control mosquito populations (the food source of downy woodpeckers)
West Nile virus is in the area and can kill many birds, including downy woodpeckers.
lack of black rat snakes that feed on young woodpeckers living in this area
downy woodpeckers migrating away from the Missouri mountain population (immigration)
Dr. Osgood and her team are using a computer simulation to study the relationships between predator and prey. The simulation assumes that both predator and prey populations are minimally affected by other animals. The results of one version of the simulation are shown in the graph.
Graph 1
The data in Graph 1 MOST STRONGLY support which two explanations about the predator-prey relationship of the model? Select TWO (2) answer choices.
A decreasing prey population acts to limit the size of the predator population.
An increasing predator population acts to increase the prey population.
An increasing prey population acts to decrease the predator population.
An increasing predator population acts to limit the size of the prey population.
Dr. Osgood claims that despite the varying population sizes of predator and prey, the ecosystem described by the model in Graph 1 is stable. If the simulation is allowed to continue, what result would support her claim?
Graph 1
The population size of either predator or prey species, but not both, gradually decreases to zero.
The average population sizes of both predator and prey species remain consistent over time.
The average population sizes of both predator and prey species gradually increase.
The average population size of either predator or prey species, but not both, gradually increases.
According to this graph of the population growth of fur seals, in what year did the population first reach its carrying capacity?
1925
1950
1915
1941
Which of the following populations probably exhibits exponential growth?
A fruit fly population recently arrived on a thriving island with no other animals, just plants.
A population of deer in an area with very few plants they eat
An algae population grown in a sealed glass flask
aAmature redwood tree population in a forest
An ecologist hypothesizes that predation by a particular owl species is the major factor controlling the population of a particular rabbit species. If this is the case, which of the following population effects would be expected on this rabbit-owl pair?
An increase in the owl population should cause a fall in the rabbit population.
A fall in the rabbit population should cause an increase in the owl population.
An increase in the incidence of disease in the rabbit population should not change the owl population.
A fall in the owl population should cause a fall in the rabbit population
In a certain ecosystem, field mice are preyed on by snakes and hawks. The entry of wild dogs into the system adds a third mouse predator. The most likely short-term result of this addition is
a tendency for hawks to prey on the dogs
migration of the hawks to another ecosystem.
a reduction in numbers of mice.
an increase in the snake population
Which process does not occur in ecosystems?
Producers convert light energy to chemical energy
Consumers directly use the energy source that powers the system
Energy flows through the system.
Carbon (matter) is cycled between biotic and abiotic forms.
When you eat an apple, you are serving as a __________.