SNC1D Ecosystems Review 1. Construct a food chain from an ecosystem of your choice. Label each trophic level.

Identify each organism as either a herbivore, omnivore or carnivore (where applicable).

2. Classify the interaction between domesticated dogs and humans as one of the following: Predation, mutualism, parasitism or competition. Explain your answer.

3. In 1980, an area of North America became infested by large numbers of gypsy moths. The next year so may juvenile gypsy moths hatched that the young caterpillars could eat all of the leaves off a single tree in three days. The caterpillars ate so much food so quickly that they began to die of starvation before they were able to metamorphose, mate and lay new eggs. What happened to the gypsy moth population in 1981? Explain your response.

4.

Explain how the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is related to the sustainability of an ecosystem.

5.

In your own words, describe the role of decomposers in the nitrogen cycle.

6.

Is maintaining biodiversity a key strategy in maintaining sustainable ecosystems? Why or why not?

7.

Consider the following scenario:

Many types of seals breed in large colonies. Sharks and killer whales may easily hunt and kill the seals when the number of seals in a small area is high. However, if individual seals leave the colony and return later in the year, the seals can limit the predators' populations because they haven't been able to catch seals as easily earlier in the year.

a) in this predator-prey relationship, is the population regulated from the top down or from the bottom up? Explain your answer.

b) what the seal

if an endangered seal species were more likely to congregate in large colonies in one area, would you propose conservation scientists do to help decrease the number of individuals of species that were killed by predators? Why?

8. As a conservation biologist you are trying to conserve an ecosystem in which the dominant species and the keystone species are both endangered. You are able to focus on only one species. Which species

do you choose and why?

9. Scientists believe that up to 70 percent of the nitrogen in plants, trees, insects, birds and bears in the temperate rainforest comes from the Pacific Ocean via salmon. Use the terms nutrient cycle, connectivity, limiting factor, food chain, aquatic ecosystem, terrestrial ecosystem and biodiversity to explain how this hypothesis could be true.

10. Identify two methods used to control invasive species and identify at least one potential negative impact of that method on native species.

Part II Using the textbook for review Please answer the following questions from your textbook on pages 128-130 1-11, 13-15, 16- 18, 20,21, 26, 27, 31