Ecosystems questions

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Ecosystems question collection

Review Ecosystems questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across ecosystem vocabulary; food chains and food webs; producers, consumers and decomposers.

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Question 1

What is an ecosystem?
  1. A community interacting with its physical environment
  2. All populations without their physical environment
  3. One species living in one area
  4. The place where one organism lives

Question 2

Which action identifies a producer in a food chain?
  1. Making its own food
  2. Eating producers
  3. Eating consumers
  4. Breaking down remains

Question 3

Which organism is most likely a primary consumer in a grassland food chain?
  1. Rabbit
  2. Grass
  3. Fox
  4. Fungus

Question 4

What is the role of decomposers?
  1. Break down dead material
  2. Make food by photosynthesis
  3. Feed on living producers
  4. Hunt living consumers

Question 5

In a food chain, what does an arrow show?
  1. Direction of energy transfer
  2. Direction of animal movement
  3. Direction of wind speed
  4. Where reproduction occurs

Question 6

What does a food web show that one food chain does not?
  1. Several feeding links for one organism
  2. The habitat's average temperature
  3. Changes in rainfall over time
  4. The genetic variation in one species

Question 7

What does interdependence mean in an ecosystem?
  1. Different species rely on one another
  2. Each species survives without other species
  3. Every species uses the same resources
  4. Abiotic factors have no effect on species

Question 8

Why are insect pollinators important for many crop plants?
  1. They transfer pollen, enabling fertilisation
  2. They provide mineral ions directly to roots
  3. They increase chlorophyll production at night
  4. They decompose all dead plant material

Question 9

What may happen first if a top predator is removed?
  1. Its prey population increases
  2. Its prey population decreases
  3. Producer populations all increase
  4. Decomposer populations stop changing

Question 10

When do organisms compete?
  1. When they need the same limited resource
  2. When they use different abundant resources
  3. When one is a predator of the other
  4. When they live in separate habitats

Question 11

Which is an abiotic factor in an ecosystem?
  1. Light intensity
  2. Predation
  3. Competition
  4. Disease caused by bacteria

Question 12

Which is a biotic factor in an ecosystem?
  1. Availability of food organisms
  2. Acidity of the soil
  3. Temperature of the air
  4. Amount of rainfall

Question 13

Why can a thicker fur coat be an adaptation in a cold habitat?
  1. It reduces heat loss
  2. It increases water loss from skin
  3. It speeds up diffusion of oxygen in blood
  4. It allows photosynthesis in mammals

Question 14

How is a cactus leaf adaptation linked to dry habitats?
  1. Leaves are reduced to spines to lower water loss
  2. Leaves are broad and thin to increase evaporation
  3. Leaves absorb mineral ions from air
  4. Leaves become transparent to stop photosynthesis

Question 15

What does biodiversity describe?
  1. The variety of living organisms in an area
  2. The number of top predators
  3. The mass of plants in a field
  4. The total amount of sunlight received

Question 16

Why can high biodiversity improve ecosystem stability?
  1. Alternative feeding links can buffer change
  2. Competition between species is removed
  3. Disease cannot pass between organisms
  4. Temperature and rainfall remain constant

Question 17

What is bioaccumulation of toxic materials?
  1. Build-up of toxins in organisms over time
  2. Breakdown of toxins into glucose in cells
  3. Transfer of toxins only from predators to plants
  4. Rapid loss of toxins after every meal

Question 18

Why can a hawk contain more pesticide than one caterpillar?
  1. It eats many contaminated prey
  2. It drinks more contaminated water
  3. It is sprayed more often
  4. Its larger body concentrates any chemical

Question 19

Which field method is commonly used to estimate plant population in grassland?
  1. Quadrat sampling
  2. Microscope lens calibration
  3. X-ray scanning
  4. Blood pressure measurement

Question 20

How can an invasive species reduce native populations?
  1. Outcompeting them for limited resources
  2. Increasing resources for every native species
  3. Removing every predator from the habitat
  4. Changing native species directly into producers

Question 21

What is a population?
  1. All members of one species in an area
  2. All species in an area
  3. One individual organism
  4. All predators in an area

Question 22

What is a community?
  1. All populations of different species in an area
  2. One species in an area
  3. An organism and its habitat
  4. The non-living parts of a habitat

Question 23

What is a habitat?
  1. The place where an organism lives
  2. An organism’s scientific name
  3. A type of food web
  4. A genetic characteristic

Question 24

What does a secondary consumer eat?
  1. Primary consumers
  2. Producers
  3. Top predators
  4. Decomposers

Question 25

What do decomposers return to soil?
  1. Mineral ions
  2. Light energy
  3. Oxygen bubbles
  4. Living predators

Question 26

Why use several quadrats when estimating a plant population?
  1. To make the sample more representative
  2. To avoid calculating a mean
  3. To make each quadrat contain the same plants
  4. To increase each quadrat's area

Question 27

What can happen when a crop's insect pollinators decline?
  1. Fewer fruits and seeds
  2. More fruits from less competition
  3. Wind replaces the insects
  4. Plants reproduce using runners

Question 28

Which action identifies a consumer in a food web?
  1. Eating other organisms
  2. Making its own food
  3. Breaking down dead material
  4. Recycling mineral ions

Question 29

How can an abiotic change alter a population?
  1. Changing survival and reproduction rates
  2. Changing the species' scientific name
  3. Changing every individual into a producer
  4. Changing all alleles in one generation

Question 30

What is an adaptation?
  1. A feature that improves survival or reproduction
  2. A short-term response to one stimulus
  3. An injury caused by the environment
  4. The place where an organism lives

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Review Ecosystems questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across ecosystem vocabulary; food chains and food webs; producers, consumers and decomposers.

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