Ecology Exam Resources

Ecology Exam Topics

- Biodiversity and factors that impact it
- Invasive species
- Ecological succession
- Niches/roles within ecosystems - ex. decomposers
- Photosynthesis and respiration
- Gross primary productivity and net primary productivity
- The movement of energy through the ecosystem
- Food webs and food chains
- Ecosystem structure (ex. populations v. communities)
- Interactions between species (ex. mutualism)
- Biomes
- Ecological pyramids - numbers, energy, biomass
- Nitrogen cycle and its impacts (eutrophication, algal blooms, dead zones)
- Phosphorus cycle
- Natural selection and evolution
- Ecosystem services

Ecology Pre-Exam FRQ Answer Rubrics with Sample Responses

Ecology Exam Review Questions

Answer all of the following questions to the best of your ability.

1. Why do introduced species often become pests?

2. More than 600 species of trees grow in Costa Rica, most of them in the tropical rainforests. What might account for the coexistence of so many species with similar resource needs?

3a. Which of the following can lead to populations that are less adapted to the environment than were their ancestors?

a. Natural selection c. Mutations

b. Migration d. Genetic drift

3b. Support your answer to 3a.

4. A new aquatic ecosystem has been found in a small lake underneath a thick pack of ice in Antarctica. Measurements show that light can penetrate the ice into the water. Through drill holes, scientists have brought up samples and set up a laboratory on-site. The ecosystem appears to be entirely microscopic, and there are at least four new species of plankton in the water samples. You have been sent to investigate and characterize the new ecosystem.

a. Discuss how you would determine that the energy source for the ecosystem is light.

b. Describe the possible experiments that you might conduct to determine the trophic levels of each species (A-D), and explain how the results of those experiments might help you conclude which species is at which trophic level.

5. Are humans a keystone species?

6. Farming has been described as managing land to keep it in an early stage of succession. What does this mean, and how is it achieved?

7. Describe what occurs during each step of the nitrogen cycle.

8. Explain what occurs during primary/secondary succession.

9. According to what you know, why is it that no population can grow indefinitely?

10. What are the major biomes on Earth and what factors determine their characteristics?

11. Describe the roles that producers, consumers, and decomposers play in an ecosystem.

12. What happens to energy as it flows through the food webs and food chains of an ecosystem?

Interesting Illustrated Explanation of Succession

Interesting Illustrated Explanation of Species Interactions

Also, here is an interesting broadcast from Freakonomics Radio about how invasive species have been (poorly) dealt with in the past.