Study Guide – Ecology

Biology

Instructions: This is NOT a graded assignment. You may bring this study guide, along with any hand-written or typed information on it, for use on the Ecology Unit Test. You will be able to use the equivalent of one sheet of paper, front and back, for the test – so any relevant information will need to be copied from your notebook onto this study guide.

1. Understand the meaning of the following terms:

a. Ecology

b. Ecosystem

c. Succession

d. Food web

e. Trophic level

f. Biotic factors

g. Abiotic factors

h. Soil macroinvertebrates (also recognize the main classifications we looked at in class)

i. Producer

j. Consumer

k. Decomposer

l. Protist

m. Ecological interactions

n. Predator – Prey

o. Mutualism

p. Commensalism

q. Amensalism

r. Competition

2. Be able to create and explain examples of the ecological interactions we discussed in class

3. Be able to create food webs and describe trophic levels for real or hypothetical organisms (you should know the relevant information for the soil macroinvertebrates we discussed in class)

4. Be able to use information about succession within a specific ecosystem – you should be able to make predictions about what MIGHT happen and explain why certain things DO happen for a variety of situations – for example, in looking at the slide show on Bald Hill, there was a clear pattern to the types of vegetation we saw. If you were looking at two different areas in the Willamette Valley that were similar to Bald Hill, and one of them was covered with shrubs while the other one was covered with oak trees and a few Douglas Firs, which site do you suppose was left untouched by humans or other disturbances for a longer period of time?