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Ecology Quiz Year 9–10

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Ecology Quiz Year 9–10

A school sports day is being held beside a stream and a patch of native bush. Ari, Finn and Mei are helping the ecology team investigate how the ecosystem works. Read the evidence on this sheet and answer every question. Use complete sentences where asked.

Evidence from the stream edge

The team records this simplified food web. Arrows point from the food to the organism that eats it. Sunlight provides energy for the plants and algae. Algae → mayfly nymph → trout Water plants → mayfly nymph Water plants → snail → trout Mayfly nymph → native fish Native fish → kingfisher Trout → kingfisher Dead organisms and waste → fungi and bacteria → nutrients in the water and soil

1.Which statement best explains what makes the stream-edge ecosystem an ecosystem?

It contains only living organisms.
It includes organisms interacting with one another and with non-living conditions such as water, light and soil.
It is a list of every species found in New Zealand.
It contains only the plants that make food.

2.Using the food web, write one valid pathway of energy from sunlight to the kingfisher. Include at least three organisms.

3.In the food web, identify one producer, one consumer and one decomposer. State each organism’s role.

4.Ari says, “The kingfisher receives all the energy stored in the algae.” Is Ari correct? Explain what happens to energy as it passes along a food chain.

Sports-day survey results

Mei samples two equal-sized stream-edge plots before the event. These are the numbers of different native species found in each plot.

Plot A — shaded, planted bank

Plot B — bare, trampled bank

Native plant species: 8

Native plant species: 3

Native invertebrate species: 11

Native invertebrate species: 5

5.Which plot has greater biodiversity in this survey? Use two figures from the results to support your answer.

6.Finn wants to compare biodiversity in the two plots fairly. Give one important method he should keep the same when sampling both plots.

7.If trampling removes water-edge plants from Plot B, predict one likely effect on another part of the food web and explain why.

8.A trail camera records a stoat near the stream. Which is the most ecologically sound concern?

Stoats always increase native biodiversity.
Stoats may prey on native birds and other animals, changing populations in the food web.
Stoats can only affect plants.
An introduced predator has no effect if it is seen only once.

9.The sports-day team can fund one project. Which action would most directly reduce pressure from introduced predators on native wildlife?

Remove all native plants beside the stream.
Support a well-planned predator-control programme and monitor native wildlife afterwards.
Release more introduced animals to balance the food web.
Stop measuring wildlife so the results cannot change.

10.Propose one practical way to reduce sports-day impacts on the stream ecosystem. Explain how it could help.