Ecology and Biomes Quiz

Grade 7 · Science · Quiz

Test your knowledge of ecosystems, biomes, and the flow of energy through living communities.

Questions

1. Which biome receives the most rainfall annually and has the greatest biodiversity?

   1. Temperate forest
   2. Tropical rainforest
   3. Savanna
   4. Boreal forest
   Show answer

   Answer: Tropical rainforest

   Tropical rainforests near the equator receive over 2,000 mm of rain annually and host more than half of all known species on Earth due to the warm, wet climate year-round.

2. In a food chain, a hawk eats a snake that ate a frog that ate a grasshopper that ate grass. What trophic level is the hawk?

   1. Second
   2. Third
   3. Fourth
   4. Fifth
   Show answer

   Answer: Fifth

   Grass (1st) → grasshopper (2nd) → frog (3rd) → snake (4th) → hawk (5th). The hawk is at the fifth trophic level.

3. Which term describes the relationship where one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed?

   1. Mutualism
   2. Parasitism
   3. Commensalism
   4. Predation
   Show answer

   Answer: Commensalism

   Commensalism is a relationship where one organism benefits and the other is unaffected. Example: barnacles on a whale — the barnacle gets transportation, the whale is unaffected.

4. What drives the water cycle in an ecosystem?

   1. Wind patterns only
   2. Solar energy and gravity
   3. Decomposer activity
   4. Photosynthesis alone
   Show answer

   Answer: Solar energy and gravity

   Solar energy evaporates water, and gravity pulls it back down as precipitation. Both forces are essential to drive the continuous cycling of water through ecosystems.

5. The tundra biome is characterized by permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost.

   Show answer

   Answer: True

   Permafrost is a layer of soil that remains frozen year-round. It is a defining feature of the tundra and limits the types of plants that can grow there to low shrubs, mosses, and grasses.

6. Which of the following is an example of a biotic factor in a pond ecosystem?

   1. Water temperature
   2. Sunlight intensity
   3. Algae
   4. Dissolved minerals
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   Answer: Algae

   Algae are living organisms, making them a biotic factor. Water temperature, sunlight, and dissolved minerals are all abiotic (nonliving) factors.

7. When a forest is cut down and replaced by a farm, what best describes the change?

   1. A change in abiotic factors only
   2. Habitat destruction reducing biodiversity
   3. A natural succession event
   4. An increase in carrying capacity
   Show answer

   Answer: Habitat destruction reducing biodiversity

   Clearing a forest removes habitat, reducing the variety and number of species that can survive there. This is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide.

8. The process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to produce food is called ______.

   Show answer

   Answer: photosynthesis

   Photosynthesis is the process plants use to convert light energy into chemical energy stored in glucose: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light energy → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂.

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