Grade 9 · Science · Unit 6 of 6
Cycles & Sustainability
Solar energy, matter cycles and care for the land
What your child practises
How the Sun's energy and cycles of matter (carbon, water, nitrogen) link living and non-living things, how ecosystems and food webs work, BC examples like salmon and the mountain pine beetle, and First Peoples ideas about interconnectedness and caring for the land.
BC Curriculum learning standard: Effects of solar radiation; matter cycles; sustainability of systems; First Peoples knowledge of interconnectedness and sustainability
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Warmer winters in BC have helped the mountain pine beetle survive. What has been the result?
- Large areas of pine forest have died.
- The beetle has gone extinct.
- Pine forests are unaffected.
- Pine forests have grown larger.
Show answer
Large areas of pine forest have died.
Hint: Fewer very cold days means fewer beetles die in winter.
Question 2
What is a community in ecology?
- Only the largest animals
- The non-living parts of an area
- All the populations of different species living and interacting in an area
- A single family of animals
Show answer
All the populations of different species living and interacting in an area
Hint: A community includes plants, animals, fungi and microbes in the same place.
Question 3
What is ecological succession?
- The gradual change in the community of an area over time, such as after a fire
- The order of the planets
- A species moving to a new continent in a day
- A type of food chain
Show answer
The gradual change in the community of an area over time, such as after a fire
Hint: After a disturbance, first plants return, then other species follow.
Question 4
Which is an example of a limiting factor?
- A new name for a species
- A sunny day
- A shortage of food or water
- The colour of a flower
Show answer
A shortage of food or water
Hint: Limiting factors keep populations from growing without end.
Question 5
Producer, consumer or decomposer? Sort each organism.
Sort into: 🌱 Producer · 🦌 Consumer · 🍄 Decomposer
- 🐋orca
- 🍄mushrooms breaking down a fallen log
- 🦠soil bacteria
- 🌲Douglas fir tree
- 🦌black-tailed deer
- 🌿kelp
Show answer
🌱 Producer: Douglas fir tree, kelp · 🦌 Consumer: orca, black-tailed deer · 🍄 Decomposer: mushrooms breaking down a fallen log, soil bacteria
Hint: Producers make their own food. Consumers eat other organisms. Decomposers break down dead matter.
Question 6
What does a producer do in a food chain?
- Hunts in packs
- Breaks down dead things
- Makes its own food, usually by photosynthesis
- Eats other animals
Show answer
Makes its own food, usually by photosynthesis
Hint: Plants and algae are producers and form the base of food chains.