Name Class Date

Test: Interactions Among Living Things

Interpreting Diagrams Use the terms listed in the box to label the diagram below.
Write your answers in the spaces provided. Then, answer the questions that follow.

primary consumer producer tertiary consumer secondary consumer

1. _________________________________________ 3. _________________________________________

2. _________________________________________ 4. _________________________________________

5. What is shown in the diagram? ______________________________________________________________

6. Do the organisms shown in the diagram share the same habitat? Explain your answer. _____________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Suppose a disease caused many of the producers shown in the diagram to die out. What effect
would this have on the tertiary consumer population? Explain your answer. ______________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Multiple Choice Write the letter of the term or phrase that best completes
each statement in the spaces provided.

__________ 1. Plants are

a. consumers. b. decomposers c. producers. d. scavengers.

__________ 2. Animals that eat only dead organisms are

a. consumers. b. decomposers. c. producers. d. scavengers.

__________ 3. A rabbit is a
a. consumer. b. decomposer. c. producer. d. scavenger.

__________ 4. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are cycled through the environment by the processes of
respiration and
a. photosynthesis. b. carbon dioxide. c. evaporation. d. the water cycle.

__________ 5. A way of showing how the energy from food moves through populations of organisms
in a community is
a. an energy pyramid. b. a food chain. c. a food diagram. d. a food pyramid.

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Test: Interactions Among Living Things (continued)

__________ 6. All of the following can upset the balance of an environment except
a. an individual organism does not reproduce. b. an earthquake.
c. a volcanic eruption. d. a flood.

__________ 7. All of the following recycle through the environment except

a. water. b. people. c. nitrogen. d. carbon dioxide.

__________ 8. A food web shows the relationship between

a. renewable resources. b. natural resources. c. food chains. d. energy pyramids.

__________ 9. Organisms that break down the wastes or remains of other organisms are
a. decomposers. b. scavengers. c. producers. d. consumers.

__________ 10. A way of showing how energy moves through a food chain is
a. symbiosis. b. predation. c. an energy pyramid. d. a food web.

__________ 11. The struggle among organisms for resources in an ecosystem is

a. predation. b. competition. c. an energy pyramid. d. symbiosis.

__________ 12. A relationship in which an organism kills and eats another organism is
a. commensalism. b. prey. c. predation. d. competition.

__________ 13. A close relationship between two organisms from different species that may help or
harm them is called
a. mutualism. b. symbiosis. c. commensalism. d. predation.

__________ 14. A relationship between two different kinds of organisms that benefits both of them is
a. parasitism. b. commensalism. c. symbiosis. d. mutualism.

__________ 15. The organism that a parasite feeds on is called a

a. host. b. predator. c. prey. d. consumer.

__________ 16. A trait of a living thing that helps it survive in its environment is
a. condensation. b. an adaptation. c. a behavior. d. a cactus.

__________ 17. An adaptation in which an organism looks like its environment is called
a. warning coloration. b. mimicry. c. camouflage. d. protective covering.

__________ 18. An adaptation in which an organism looks like another organism is called
a. mimicry. b. camouflage. c. warning coloration. d. protective covering.

__________ 19. Excessive cutting of forests is

a. decreasing carbon dioxide. b. predation. c. conservation. d. deforestation.

__________ 20. A species of living organisms that is in danger of becoming extinct is

a. a community. b. endangered. c. in balance. d. a pollutant.

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Test: Interactions Among Living Things (continued)

Written Response Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
21. CONTRAST: How do scavengers differ from decomposers? Give examples in your answer. ________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

22. INFER: Are animals that are omnivores primary producers, secondary consumers, or tertiary
consumers? Explain your answer. ____________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Concepts and Challenges in Life Science, Teacher’s Resources CD-ROM

(c) by Pearson Education, Inc./Globe Fearon/Pearson Learning Group. All rights reserved. Interactions Among Living Things
Answer Key
Test: Interactions Among Living Things
Interpreting Diagrams
1. producer 2. primary consumer 3. secondary
consumer 4. tertiary consumer 5. a food chain
6. Yes; In order to be part of the same food chain, the
organisms must all live in the same area or habitat.
7. If the number of producers decreased, the rabbit
population would also decrease. Fewer rabbits
would cause the snake population to decrease. As a
result, the population of hawks or tertiary
consumers would decline.
Multiple Choice
1. c 2. d 3. a 4. a 5. b 6. a 7. b 8. c 9. a 10. c
11. b 12. c 13. b 14. d 15. a 16. b 17. c 18. a
19. d 20. b
Written Response
21. Scavengers, such as vultures, feed upon the
remains of organisms without breaking down the
remains. Decomposers, such as bacteria, break
down the remains of dead material into smaller
molecules as they feed on them.
22. Since omnivores eat both plants and animals,
they are both primary and secondary consumers.
They may also be tertiary consumers.

Concepts and Challenges in Life Science, Teacher’s Resources CD-ROM

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