Grade 7 · Science · Unit 1 of 11
Ecosystems
Living and non-living parts
What your child practises
Biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem, how they interact, and the limiting factors and carrying capacity that decide how many organisms an ecosystem can support.
Nova Scotia Curriculum learning outcome: Environmental Action · ecosystems and the living things in them
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
A disease kills many trees in a forest. What is a likely effect?
- Nothing else in the ecosystem changes
- More sunlight stops reaching the forest floor
- Only abiotic factors are affected
- Animals that depend on those trees lose food or shelter
Animals that depend on those trees lose food or shelter
Hint: Trees are producers and also give shelter. Losing them affects the animals that use them.
Question 2
What is an ecosystem?
- A group of animals of the same species
- All the carnivores in a region
- A network of interactions among living things and their non-living surroundings
- Only the plants that grow in one place
A network of interactions among living things and their non-living surroundings
Hint: An ecosystem includes both the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) parts, and the ways they affect each other.
Question 3
Lake water warms during a heat wave and holds less dissolved oxygen. How might this affect fish?
- All fish grow faster
- Fish breathe more easily
- Fish that need a lot of oxygen may struggle to survive
- Fish are not affected at all
Fish that need a lot of oxygen may struggle to survive
Hint: Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen, an abiotic factor that fish need.
Question 4
What is a habitat?
- A group of the same species
- The energy from the Sun
- The food an organism eats
- The place where an organism lives and finds what it needs
The place where an organism lives and finds what it needs
Hint: A habitat provides food, water, shelter and space.
Question 5
Biotic or abiotic? Sort each part of an ecosystem.
Sort into: 🌱 biotic (living) · 🪨 abiotic (non-living)
- 🌡️the temperature
- 🌳a maple tree
- 🦫a beaver
- ☀️sunlight
- 🌬️wind
- 🦠bacteria in the soil
- 🍄a mushroom
- 🪨a boulder
🌱 biotic (living): a maple tree, a beaver, bacteria in the soil, a mushroom · 🪨 abiotic (non-living): the temperature, sunlight, wind, a boulder
Hint: Biotic parts are living things (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria). Abiotic parts are the non-living things, such as sunlight, water, air, rock and temperature.
Question 6
Why can a small pond support fewer fish than a large lake?
- Fish need less food in ponds
- It has less space, food and dissolved oxygen
- Ponds have no producers
- Pond fish are always larger
It has less space, food and dissolved oxygen
Hint: A bigger ecosystem has more of the resources that limit a population.