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Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of ecological concepts (e.g., niche, population, community, ecosystem, biome), types of biomes, and the characteristic flora and fauna of various biomes.
- Analyze factors that affect the population size of species in an ecosystem (e.g., growth rates, carrying capacity, competition).
- Apply knowledge of patterns of interdependence and interrelationships among species in a community (e.g., competition, predation, symbiosis) and identify adaptations of predators and prey.
- Apply knowledge of how abiotic factors (e.g., limiting factors, seasonal variability, natural disasters) and biotic factors (e.g., genetic diversity, competition, disease) affect characteristics of populations and ecosystems (e.g., biodiversity, carrying capacity).
- Demonstrate knowledge of resilience, stability, and change in ecosystems (e.g., change in biodiversity, changes in species behavior, ecological succession) in response to variation in biotic and abiotic factors (e.g., loss of a keystone species).
- Apply knowledge of the use of science and engineering practices in exploring and understanding content related to populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes, such as developing and using models, planning and safely conducting investigations, applying mathematical concepts, and communicating and evaluating data and conclusions.
Sample Item:
Use the information below to answer the question that follows.
Many species exhibit boom-or-bust population cycles, especially those in environments that lack physical or species diversity. For example, Arctic lemming populations rise and fall on an approximately four-year cycle. As the population of an area builds to a maximum, lemmings migrate to other areas and the original local population falls to almost zero.
Which of the following factors is likely to be most important in initiating the migration of lemming populations described?
- increased intraspecific competition and passivity among males in regard to access to females
- increased competition for resources with other species that inhabit similar ecological niches in the new environment
- increased predation by various predator species whose populations have also increased in size
- increased habitat degradation due to overuse of resources as populations exceed the carrying capacity of the local environment
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
Correct Response: D.
Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another in an ecosystem.
- Analyze roles of organisms (e.g., producers, consumers, decomposers) within food webs in ecosystems and the effects resulting from a disruption of a food web.
- Apply knowledge of food webs and energy transfer to analyze and compare limiting factors in different ecosystems.
- Apply knowledge of the cycling of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and water through the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere and the roles of photosynthesis and respiration in the cycling of carbon and oxygen.
- Apply knowledge of the use of science and engineering practices in exploring and understanding content related to the cycling of materials and the transfer of energy, such as developing and using models, planning and safely conducting investigations, applying mathematical concepts, and communicating and evaluating data and conclusions.
Sample Item:
Nitrogen was carried by agricultural runoff of fertilizers into a nearby lake. One of the first indications that nitrogen is a limiting factor in the lake would be an increase in:
- water clarity.
- water temperature.
- fish population.
- algal population.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
Correct Response: D.
Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of renewable resources (e.g., wind, solar) and nonrenewable resources (e.g., natural gas, coal) to the importance of conserving natural resources and mitigating the effects of climate change.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the concept of sustainability and its applications to human activities (e.g., agriculture, forestry management, fisheries management, recycling).
- Apply knowledge of the types and sources of environmental pollution and of the biological, physical, or chemical processes that produce pollutants to the effects of pollution on natural populations, communities, and ecosystems.
- Apply knowledge of the importance of biodiversity and of the ecological consequences of human activities that lead to a loss in biodiversity (e.g., habitat fragmentation, introduction of invasive species, overharvesting, pollution, climate change).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the evidence for, causes of, and consequences of climate change and associated sea level rise.
- Evaluate potential solutions for preventing, mitigating, and reversing human-caused damage to ecological and environmental systems.
- Apply knowledge of the use of science and engineering practices in exploring and understanding content related to the effects of human activities, such as developing and using models, planning and safely conducting investigations, applying mathematical concepts, and communicating and evaluating data and conclusions.
Sample Item:
Compared to fossil fuels, fuels that are derived from biomass sources:
- are more energy dense.
- do not produce carbon dioxide when burned.
- generate large volumes of wastewater.
- are able to be replenished in the next growing season.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
Correct Response: D.
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