ECOLOGY REVISION EXERCISES

In northern Canada, Europe and Asia, coniferous forests cover much of the land. They are called boreal
forests or taiga. Spruce trees and pine trees grow in these forests. Squirrels and small birds eat the seeds in
their cones. Owls, lynx and foxes eat squirrels and mice. Owls also eat small birds and may be eaten by
lynx. The mice feed on berries from the plants that grow on the forest floor, such as lingonberries and
bearberries. Moose graze on these plants, too. Moose are too large to be eaten by most predators, but they
are sometimes killed and eaten by wolves.

Boreal forest, northern Alberta

Spruce trees Small birds Owls

Pine trees Squirrels Lynx
Plants Moose Wolves
Mice Foxes

1. (a) Construct a food web to show the feeding relationships described above. Remember to make
your arrows point the right way.
(b) i. Use a green highlighter or pencil to show the producers in your food web.
ii. Use a blue highlighter or pencil to show the primary consumers (herbivores) in your food web.
iii. Use a red highlighter or pencil to show the higher-level consumers (carnivores) in your food web.

(c) i. How many different trophic levels are there in your food web? Explain your answer.
4, there are the producers, aka: trees, and plants who produce their own foods, then there is the second
trophic level which are the primary consumers, who are herbivores, aka: only eat plants. Then there is the
third level, the higher level consumers, aka: the carnivores, and lastly the highest level who eat the higher
level consumers, for example the lynx sometimes do eat owls.

ii. What is a trophic level?

step in a nutritive series, or food chain, of an ecosystem.

(d) Name one species that feeds at more than one trophic level.
Lynx, as they eat both the owls plus the primary consumers, ( squirrels and mice)
2. We resort to Ecology to study ecosystems like the Boreal Forests mentioned above.
(a) What is Ecology?
the study of organisms and how they interact with the environment around them

(b) Give two examples of ecosystems, other than forests.

Lakes, deserts
3. Explain the difference between each of the following pairs, giving examples from the food web you
made for question 1:
(a) Producer, consumer.
(b) Community, population.
(c) Food chain, food web.

4. With which type of organism (carnivore, decomposer, herbivore, and producer) do all food chains begin?
Explain your answer.
Producers start the food chain, as they create their own food. They don’t rely on other organisms to live.