SOL Prep

Ecosystems

Virginia SOL BIOII.6

Investigate how ecosystems are dynamic systems in which energy transfers and matter flow through interactions among living organisms and their environment.

Study BIOII.6 with SOL PrepBack to Biology II Advanced Survey

What students need to be able to do

  • Explain how the laws of thermodynamics govern energy transfers through ecosystems.
  • Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how energy transfer influences productivity and ecological efficiency across trophic levels.
  • Develop and use a model to explain the cycling of matter in ecosystems through biogeochemical processes (carbon, nitrogen, water, and phosphorus).
  • Analyze the biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem and determine how these factors affect patterns of species distribution and population size.
  • Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how species interactions influence ecosystem structure.
  • Make, support, and evaluate a claim about how biodiversity and ecosystem resilience are influenced by natural and human-induced disturbances.