Name: _______________________________________________ Date: _________________________ Block: ________

Unit 3B Reading Guide

Honors Biology
Chapter 13 – Principles of Ecology

Chapter 13 – Principles of Ecology

Section 13.3 – Energy in Ecosystems

1. What is the difference between a producer and a consumer?

2. Why do all ecosystems depend on producers?

3. How are consumers dependent on the Sun?

4. Could producers survive without consumers? Explain why or why not.

Section 13.4 – Food Chains and Food Webs

1. What is a food chain? What is a food web? What are the differences between a food chain and a food web?

2. What is a trophic level?

3. Define the 5 types of consumers, and give an example of each.

4. What are the trophic levels in a food chain?

5. What happens to energy as it flows through a food web?

6. How might the stability of an ecosystem be affected if all of the decomposers were suddenly removed from the
ecosystem?
Section 13.6 – Pyramid Models
1. What is an energy pyramid? How does an energy pyramid help to describe energy flow in a food web?

2. What is biomass?

3. Describe the flow of energy from one trophic level to another.

4. What percent of the energy from one trophic level is passed to the next trophic level?

5. Describe the difference between how nutrients and elements move through the environment and how energy
moves through the environment.

6. What is the difference between a biomass pyramid and a pyramid of numbers?

7. If each level in a food chain typically loses 90% of the energy it takes in, and the producer level uses 1000 kcal of
energy, how much of that energy is left after the third trophic level? Draw a picture to visually represent your
calculations.
Section 13.5 – Cycling of Matter
1. What is the hydrologic cycle? Describe the ways in which water cycles through the environment.

2. Why is the cycling of elements and nutrients important?

3. What is a biogeochemical cycle? What 4 biogeochemical cycles are described in the book?

4. Explain how deforestation might affect the oxygen cycle.

5. List 4 sources of carbon that can be found in the environment.

6. Explain how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are linked to the carbon cycle.

7. What is nitrogen fixation? Why is it important?