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CAPE (CXC) Ecology — practice questions

Explore 30 free Ecology questions in CAPE (CXC) Biology. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Ecology questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–30 of 30.

A class studies a tide pool and then the Amazon rainforest, and calls both by the same term. Both are examples of an:Read the answer and worked solution →Land ecosystems are gathered into large categories such as desert and tundra. Those categories are called:Read the answer and worked solution →A pupil lists examples of them: tropical rainforest, savanna, grassland, temperate forest, tundra and:Read the answer and worked solution →Plants make their own food from sunlight rather than eating anything. Organisms that can do this are:Read the answer and worked solution →Animals cannot do that and must eat other organisms to get energy. Such organisms are:Read the answer and worked solution →At the base of a food chain sit the photosynthetic organisms. In that chain they are known as the:Read the answer and worked solution →The herbivores that eat those organisms occupy the next level up. They are the:Read the answer and worked solution →Carnivores that eat those herbivores are usually described as:Read the answer and worked solution →At the very top of the chain sit the organisms nothing else eats. They are called the:Read the answer and worked solution →Each organism sits at a specific position in the chain, measured by its energy level. That position is its:Read the answer and worked solution →A diagram showing every feeding link between many species, not just one line, is a food:Read the answer and worked solution →Moving up each trophic level, some energy escapes as heat and to decomposers. The energy available above therefore:Read the answer and worked solution →That loss explains why food chains cannot go on for ever. Eventually the remaining energy cannot support:Read the answer and worked solution →Fungi, moulds, earthworms and soil bacteria feed on dead producers and consumers alike. They are the:Read the answer and worked solution →Their work returns mineral nutrients to circulation. Those nutrients are said to be:Read the answer and worked solution →Ecologists subtract respiration and heat loss from what producers capture. What remains is the net primary:Read the answer and worked solution →Species numbers shift a little, yet overall biodiversity stays roughly constant. That dynamic state is called:Read the answer and worked solution →Two parameters are used to measure how ecosystems change. They are resilience and:Read the answer and worked solution →A forest is hit by drought yet barely changes. That ability to stay at equilibrium despite disturbance is its:Read the answer and worked solution →A second forest is knocked back by fire but returns to its old state quickly. That speed of recovery is its:Read the answer and worked solution →Arctic tundra soil often stays frozen all year round. That permanently frozen ground is called:Read the answer and worked solution →In a lake, the depth down to which photosynthesis can still happen, roughly 200 metres, is the:Read the answer and worked solution →Catch the feeding levelsRead the answer and worked solution →Pop the biomesRead the answer and worked solution →Run the ecosystem gatesRead the answer and worked solution →Slice the ecology wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Makes food or eats itRead the answer and worked solution →Sort the ecology wordsRead the answer and worked solution →Type the numberRead the answer and worked solution →Ecosystem bingoRead the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

A class studies a tide pool and then the Amazon rainforest, and calls both by the same term. Both are examples of an:

  1. Ecosystem
  2. Escarpment
  3. Equipment
  4. Enclosure
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Ecosystem

1. Each has living things interacting with their surroundings. 2. Size does not decide the label, from a tide pool to a rainforest. 3. Both are ecosystems. _Source: OpenStax Concepts of Biology, Chapter 20, Ecosystems and the Biosphere._

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Land ecosystems are gathered into large categories such as desert and tundra. Those categories are called:

  1. Barrows
  2. Biomes
  3. Bylaws
  4. Bureaus
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: B. Biomes

1. Each category covers many separate ecosystems with a shared character. 2. Climate and vegetation define which category a place falls into. 3. Those large categories are biomes. _Source: OpenStax Concepts of Biology, Chapter 20, Ecosystems and the Biosphere._

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A pupil lists examples of them: tropical rainforest, savanna, grassland, temperate forest, tundra and:

  1. Desert
  2. Dockyard
  3. District
  4. Doorway
Show answer and solution

Correct answer: A. Desert

1. The list covers the main land types by climate. 2. The missing one is the hot, very dry type. 3. It is desert. _Source: OpenStax Concepts of Biology, Chapter 20, Ecosystems and the Biosphere._

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