Ecology B/C

[Paradox21]

i just took a test ued in the invitational hosted at my school and there were questions in which i had to match animals to their proper biome, here's the problems:
1. tundra
2. savannah
3.tropical rain forest
4.taiga
5.desert


A. Black bear
B. Silvery Gibbon
C. Artic Fox
D. Zebra
E. ...i don't remember this one
pretty easy but is this fair?

Hmm, it seems a bit dubious to me. The rules say that approximately 50% of the questions should be about grassland and taiga ecology, with the other half being general ecological principles. Clearly there are no ecological principles, so the argument would have to be that it is about grasslands and taiga. Which, I could maybe understand because it forces you to know what animals do not belong in grasslands and taiga. What I would primarily object to is the use of zebra and silvery gibbon, because the intent of Ecology is to test on North American biomes. I suppose the argument could be made that zebras and gibbons are so common that you should be expected to know them. If all of the animals were really obscure, I might object to the question, but in my mind it seems border-line but fine.

[cypressfalls Robert]

on that particular test at least 80 % was not Taiga or Grassland ecology, there was just a simple food chain/pyramid problem on taiga wildlife that took up one page and one grassland graph problem and thats it. The test itself had about 20 questions, mostly defining terms; 20 problems~ 5 mc~13 free response~2 drawing? -the foodchain + pyramid. Although, who am i to complain I took it to rank out of the SO members in my school (2nd).

[amerikestrel]

on that particular test at least 80 % was not Taiga or Grassland ecology, there was just a simple food chain/pyramid problem on taiga wildlife that took up one page and one grassland graph problem and thats it. The test itself had about 20 questions, mostly defining terms; 20 problems~ 5 mc~13 free response~2 drawing? -the foodchain + pyramid. Although, who am i to complain I took it to rank out of the SO members in my school (2nd).

Good job!

I think that question is okay; the only objection I have to it is, as Paradox said, the test is supposed to be about the biomes of North America. I had something like that on the regional test last year, but I think it was a tie-breaker question.

But overall, I think it's important to know the different biomes anyway.

[L42]

here's the problems:
1. tundra
2. savannah
3.tropical rain forest
4.taiga
5.desert


A. Black bear
B. Silvery Gibbon
C. Artic Fox
D. Zebra
E. ...i don't remember this one
pretty easy but is this fair?

Could you provide the answers? Thank you!

[gyourkoshaven]

here's the problems:
1. tundra
2. savannah
3.tropical rain forest
4.taiga
5.desert


A. Black bear
B. Silvery Gibbon
C. Artic Fox
D. Zebra
E. ...i don't remember this one
pretty easy but is this fair?

Could you provide the answers? Thank you!

1-C
2-D
3-B
4-A
5-E (I guess)

I'm pretty sure those are right.

[googlyfrog]

I think that's right too. It doesn't make sense any other way. I mean, an arctic fox in a desert? A gibbon in the tundra?

[amerikestrel]

Yeah, that seems right.

I hope that this doesn't seem like a stupid question, but what is the definition of the word "niche". I looked it up online, but then that was contradicted on a practice test I took. It seems like wherever I look I can't find a good explanation where part of it isn't contradicted by a different explanation. Does anyone know if there is a set definition of what is included by that word?

Also, how do pronounce it? "Nitch or neesh?

[gyourkoshaven]

/ˈniːʃ/ or /ˈnɪtʃ/ According to wikipedia.

My definition of a niche would be a certain organism's role in their biome.

[amerikestrel]

/ˈniːʃ/ or /ˈnɪtʃ/ According to wikipedia.

So does that mean it could be either way? I've always had a hard time interpreting those pronunciation keys...

My definition of a niche would be a certain organism's role in their biome.

Yes, that's the basic definition of it, but what does "role" include? What I really mean is that one source will say that a certain factor is included in an organism's niche while another source will say that that factor isn't. Also, would things like the range of temperatures that an organism can survive in be included in the niche, or is it only things that the organism directly has an influence on?

[gyourkoshaven]

I think in this case, if you ask 100 different people, you'll get 100 different answers. In my opinion, abiotic factors aren't included, but some people do consider them part of the niche.