Topic 23 What an ecosystem is — what needs James (15)

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 1 · tests LIF5-001

EasyMCQType 1 — which sentence about a place's ecosystem is true; why a thing not alive belongs; Willa's claim: the correct reason (hard)

A swamp in Florida holds alligators, egrets and cypress trees, with warm water, mud and sunlight. Which sentence about the swamp's ecosystem is true?

1. a) It is the alligators and the egrets, and nothing else in the swamp.
2. b) It is the warm water, the mud and the sunlight, and nothing else.
3. c) It is the living things and the things that are not alive that they use, together. ← key
4. d) It is the cypress trees and the mud they grow in, and nothing else.

Why it is this type: The alligators, the egrets and the cypress trees are the swamp's living things. The water, the mud and the sunlight are not alive, but the living things use them. All of them, together, are the swamp's ecosystem.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 2 · tests LIF5-001

EasyMCQType 2 — which of four things belongs to the place's ecosystem (three are not alive and not used, or living and far away); the TWO things not alive that belong (multi, hard)

A kelp forest grows in the sea off the coast of California, with sea otters, fish and sea urchins. Which of these also belongs to the kelp forest's ecosystem?

1. a) the cold salt water the kelp grows in ← key
2. b) a ship sailing far out at sea
3. c) a gull's nest on a cliff miles away
4. d) a surfboard left on the beach

Why it is this type: An ecosystem is the living things in a place, together with the things that are not alive that they use. The kelp, the otters, the fish and the urchins all live in the cold salt water. So the salt water belongs to the kelp forest's ecosystem.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 3 · tests LIF5-001

EasyMCQType 3 — what all of a place's living things and the things they use are called; which of four is an ecosystem

Salmon, bears and spruce trees live along a river in Alaska, with its cold water, gravel and sunlight. What do we call all of them, together?

1. a) a food chain
2. b) a food web
3. c) an ecosystem ← key
4. d) a life cycle

Why it is this type: All the living things in a place, together with the things that are not alive that they use, are called an ecosystem. The salmon, the bears and the spruce trees are the living things, and the water, the gravel and the sunlight are the things they use. So all of them, together, are an ecosystem.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 4 · tests LIF5-002

EasyMCQType 4 — which of four parts of a place is abiotic (or biotic); the TWO abiotic parts (multi, hard)

Which of these four parts of a mountain valley is biotic?

1. a) a boulder
2. b) the snow
3. c) a wildflower ← key
4. d) the wind

Why it is this type: A part that is alive, or was once alive, is biotic. The boulder, the snow and the wind were never alive. The wildflower is alive, so the wildflower is biotic.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 5 · tests LIF5-002

MediumMCQType 5 — the once-alive boundary: which word describes a dead log; which is biotic though not alive now; why a pine needle is biotic; which pair is one biotic and one abiotic

Why is a fallen pine needle on the forest floor biotic?

1. a) It was once part of a living tree. ← key
2. b) It is lying on the soil.
3. c) It is brown and dry.
4. d) It will rot away one day.

Why it is this type: A part of an ecosystem that is alive, or was once alive, is biotic. The pine needle grew on a living pine tree. So the pine needle is biotic because it was once part of a living tree.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 6 · tests LIF5-003

EasyMCQType 6 — a described pair: what does X depend on Y for

A bluebird catches beetles on the bark of a dead tree and nests in a hole in the same tree. What does the bluebird depend on the dead tree for?

1. a) food
2. b) a place to live or hide
3. c) both food and a place to live or hide ← key
4. d) nothing: it does not depend on it

Why it is this type: The bluebird eats the beetles on the tree's bark: food. It nests in a hole in the tree: a place to live. So the bluebird depends on the dead tree for both.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 7 · tests LIF5-003

HardMCQType 7 — which living thing does X depend on for food; which sentence is true of a hunt; which sentence says how X depends on another LIVING thing; the one living thing among four things used (hard); depending only for a place to hide (hard)

A kingfisher eats small fish, and it digs its nest tunnel into a sandy river bank. Which of these is a LIVING thing the kingfisher depends on?

1. a) the river bank
2. b) the small fish ← key
3. c) the river water
4. d) the sand

Why it is this type: The river bank, the water and the sand were never alive. The small fish are alive, and the kingfisher eats them. So the small fish are the living thing the kingfisher depends on. Hard because: the one living thing picked out of four things the bird uses, three of them not alive.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 8 · tests LIF5-005

HardtypedType 8 — which thing not alive does X depend on; which sentence says how X depends on a thing not alive; which living thing loses the thing it breathed (hard); the one word for what a fish takes oxygen from (typed, hard)

A bass swims in a lake and takes in oxygen through its gills. Type the one word for the thing that is not alive that it takes the oxygen from.

Accepted answers (typed): water / the water / lake water / watter…; wrong_fb for air, oxygen, gills, lake.

Why it is this type: A fish needs air too: it takes in oxygen from the water through its gills. The bass is a fish in the lake. The one word is water.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 9 · tests LIF5-004

HardMCQType 9 — a described pair: how do they affect each other; which pair both need the same food; why two bluebirds affect each other; the pair that affects each other the SAME way as a given pair (hard); the TWO pairs where one eats the other (multi, hard)

On a lake, loons and ospreys both catch and eat the same fish. Which other pair affects each other in the SAME way as the loons and the ospreys?

1. a) two raccoons that both eat the crayfish in one small river ← key
2. b) a raccoon that catches and eats a crayfish in a river
3. c) a crayfish that hides under a stone in a river
4. d) a stone that the river's water rolls along the bottom

Why it is this type: The loons and the ospreys both need the same food. Two raccoons that both eat the crayfish in one river also both need the same food. So the two raccoons are the pair that affects each other in the same way. Hard because: two pairs classified, the given one's way found and the matching pair picked.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar

Topic 23 · What an ecosystem is · Type 10 · tests LIF5-004

HardMCQType 10 — which animal is the predator / the prey; which pair of words fits; which of four eaters is a predator (hard: the plant-eater boundary); the term produced (typed, hard)

Which of these animals is a predator?

1. a) a grasshopper that eats grass
2. b) a bison that eats grass
3. c) a toad that catches and eats grasshoppers ← key
4. d) a cow that eats hay

Why it is this type: A predator is an animal that hunts and eats another animal. The grasshopper, the bison and the cow eat plants, so none of them is called a predator. The toad catches and eats grasshoppers, which are animals, so the toad is a predator. Hard because: the boundary of the word judged among four eaters — eating a plant is not being a predator.

Recommendation: Approve as the exemplar