Grade 6 Science: Benchmark #5
Name: ______Date: ______
Class: ______Student number: ______
Part 1: Multiple Choice
DIRECTIONS: Choose the best answer for each question. Then circle the number of the answer you have chosen.
1) Which level of classification is the most general?
1. family
2. order
3. genus
4. species
2) What is the source of a producers energy?
1. consumers
2. the sun
3. other producers
4. scavengers
3) Besides water, organisms need carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, proteins, and minerals to survive. How would a herbivore obtain these substances?
1. through photosynthesis
2. by eating plants and animals
3. by eating animals only
4. by eating plants only
4) Decomposers are important to an ecosystem because they
1. keep populations of primary consumers from growing too large
2. break down dead organisms so that the nutrients in the remains can be used again.
3. convert energy from the Sun into food
4. produce most of the oxygen that humans breathe.
5) What happens during the process of photosynthesis?
1. Chemical energy becomes light energy.
2. Radiant energy is stored in plant cells.
3. Radiant energy becomes chemical energy.
4. Plants use chemical energy to produce their own food.
6) The fur of a snowshoe rabbit changes to white during the winter. This change is an example of
1. adaptation
2. competition
3. metamorphosis
4. metabolism
7) Which of the following would a student use to show feeding relationship between all organisms in an ecosystem?
1. biomass
2. food chain
3. food web
4. energy pyramid
8) The correct order of categories for classifying an organism is
1. kingdom, genus, order, family
2. class, genus, kingdom, species
3. order, kingdom, class, family
4. kingdom, phylum, genus, species
9) A mountain lion is classified as Felis concolor, and a house cat as Felis catus. These two animals belong to
1. the same species but a different genus
2. the same genus but a different species
3. the same species but a different family
4. the same family but a different order
10) A characteristic of all known living things is that they:
1. are capable of locomotion
2. are made up of one or more cells
3. use atmospheric oxygen
4. use carbon dioxide
11) One characteristic of all living things is that they
1. Ingest food
2. Respond to changes by moving
3. Are made of cells
4. Are made of many cells.
12) The first organism in a food chain must be
1. a producer
2. a consumer
3. a herbivore
4. a decomposer
Base your answers to questions13 and 14 on the data table below.
13) Which two organisms are most closely related?
Organism A
/Organism B
/Organism C
/Animalia / Animalia / Animalia
Insecta / Mammalia / Mammalia
Diptera / Carnivora / Carnivora
Musca domestica / Canus lupus / Felis domestica
1. Organisms A and B
2. Organisms C and D
3. Organisms B and C
4. Organisms A, B, and C are not related
14) Using the chart in question 13, what is the scientific name of organism A?
1. Insecta diptera
2. Animalia domestica
3. Domestica musca
4. Musca domestica
15) Which process is illustrated in the diagram at right?
1. natural selection
2. mutation
3. metamorphosis
4. photosynthesis
(not drawn to scale)
Base your answers on questions 16-18 on the following diagram and your knowledge of science. The diagram shows a model of a food web.
16) Describe the role of grass in the meadow environment?
1. Grass serves as the only food source for all of the consumers.
2. Most organisms obtain their energy either directly or indirectly from grass.
3. Mountain lions do not depend on grass.
4. Only the carnivoes eat grass.
17) The primary source of energy for this environment comes from what source?
1. grass
2. Sun
3. mountain lion
4. decomposers
18) The snake and the racoon both eat the frog. Which term best describes their relationship?
1. mutualistic
2. competitve
3. symbiotic
4. parasitic
19) What factors contribute to global warming?
1. increased use of solar-powered cars
2. increase burning of fossil fuels
3. better long-term weather forecasts
4. changing distnace between Earth and the Sun.
20) Grasses, shrubs, and trees are all called producers because they make
1. water
2. carbon dioxide
3. minerals
4. food
Base your answers to questions 21-22 on the table below, which compares human population and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere over time.
Human Population and Carbon Dioxide Levels
Year
/Human Population
(billions)
/Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere
(parts per million)
/1960 / 2.50 / 317
1970 / 2.75 / 325
1980 / 3.00 / 337
1990 / 5.00 / 342
21) How have the size of human population and the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere changed from 1960 to 1990?
1. The human population has increased while the amount of CO2 has decreased.
2. The human population has decreased while the amount of CO2 has increased.
3. Both the human population and the amount of CO2 have increased.
4. Both the human population and the amount of CO2 have decreased.
22) Which human activity might explain the change in carbon dioxide levels shown in the graph?
1. storing nuclear waste
2. collecting solar energy
3. using wind energy
4. burning fossil fuels
Part two: short answer
Directions: Record your answers in the spaces provided in the test booklet.
1) Base your answers to questions based on the reading.
Some cells contain parts that are not found in animal cells. Cells in plants and plantlike protests have organelles called chloroplasts where food is made using the green pigment called chlorophyll. Plant cells also have a rigid cell wall outside of the cell membrane. The cell wall is a non-living structure that gives the cell its shape. The strength of billions of cell walls makes it possible for trees to be hundreds of feet tall.
Some organisms are composed of a single cell. Each cell in a single-celled organism has to perform all of the functions that keep the cell alive and growing. The cell s of single-celled organisms, like bacteria, looks different from animal and plant cells. A single bacteria, called bacterium, has a cell wall, but no nucleus. This means the genetic material of a bacterium is found in the cytoplasm.
23) What are four functions of cells that are the same in all organisms?
______
24) How is the cell membrane different from the cell wall?
______
25) What are two parts that you would not find in an animal cell?
______
26) How would chloroplasts and mitochondria work together in a plant cell?
______
27) A scientist discovers fossilized cells that belonged to an organism that lived millions of years ago. The cells appear to have cell walls. What type of organism might this be? Explain.
______
2) Base your answers to questions 28 and 29 based on the reading.
Polar ice sheets are breaking apart and melting at alarming rates, producing large drifting icebergs. Most scientists believe that these conditions are directly related to global warming - the gradual temperature increases that has been observed during the past decade. If the ice caps melted entirely, oceans would rise by 25 feet, flooding New York City, London, and many other coastal cities.
28) Why do icebergs float in water? ______
29) Describe one action humans could take to reduce global warming that is occurring. ______
30) A simple food chain is shown below:
Grasses ------> Rabbits ------> Bobcats
Using the above food chain, explain why the arrows point from left to right?
______
3) Base your answers to questions 31 through 33 on the information and illustration below.
Manatees are mammals that live in the warm, clear water environment of Florida’s shallow rivers. They are large, peaceful, gentle, curious creatures and slow-moving swimmers. They spend many hours each day feeding on water plants. Manatees must surface to breathe every fifteen minutes.
The manatee’s environment is changing because of hotels and homes being built along Florida’s rivers, and the change is affecting them in a negative way. Noise and activity from people and boats scare them. Manatees can be seriously injured by powerboat propellers because the manatees cannot tell the direction from which the boats are coming. The water plants the manatees use for food are being destroyed. As a result of these and other changes in their surroundings, manatees are on the endangered species list and may one day be gone from Florida’s rivers.
31) List two environmental conditions that might lead to the disappearance of manatees from Florida’s rivers.
______
32) Why is the manatee classified as a herbivore?
______
33) Identify one external feature of the manatee that allows it to live in water.
______