Deck 18: An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere

Question 1

What level of ecology is concerned with groups of individuals of the same species?

A) community
B) organism
C) ecosystem
D) population

Answer 1

D

Question 2

If you study how two species of finches compete for food,you are trying to answer a question about _______.

A) community ecology
B) population ecology
C) organismal ecology
D) ecosystems ecology

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Ecology is the study of ______.

A) life
B) human effects on the environment
C) interactions between humans and other species
D) interactions between organisms and their environments

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What term applies to the physical and physiological changes experienced by astronauts who spend months in space?

A) acclimation
B) adaptation
C) cosmosation
D) accreditation

Question 5

What level of ecology is concerned with groups of individuals of different species?

A) community
B) organism
C) ecosystem
D) population

Question 6

Wetlands ______.

A) are important in improving water quality
B) include rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes
C) are an example of a marine biome
D) are found in the intertidal zone

Question 7

What are estuaries?

A) a type of freshwater biome
B) areas near the start of a river
C) regions where ocean meets land
D) a transition area between a river and the ocean

Question 8

In an aquatic ecosystem,what name is given to the region where photosynthesis can occur?

A) pelagic zone
B) aphotic zone
C) benthic zone
D) photic zone

Question 9

Aquatic organisms ______.

A) have a waxy coating to prevent water loss
B) may experience problems with water balance
C) typically have a plentiful supply of nitrogen
D) never find light to be in short supply

Question 10

What level of ecology is concerned with the adaptations of individuals?

A) community
B) organismal
C) ecosystem
D) population

Question 11

What is a population?

A) a group of organisms living in a particular geographic area
B) a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular geographic area
C) a community as well as all the abiotic factors in a particular geographic area
D) all of the organisms of a species existing at a particular time

Question 12

What name is given to the open ocean?

A) pelagic realm
B) intertidal zone
C) benthic realm
D) photic zone

Question 13

What level of ecology is concerned with both the biotic and abiotic aspects of an environment?

A) community
B) organism
C) ecosystem
D) population

Question 14

Which of the following is a behavioral response to environmental variability?

A) migrating to a different location
B) acclimation
C) endothermy
D) "flagging" by trees

Question 15

Which of the following is abiotic?

A) a protist
B) a plant
C) a fungus
D) a rock

Question 16

Which nutrients often limit the distribution and abundance of photosynthetic organisms?

A) water and oxygen
B) nitrogen and phosphorus
C) carbon dioxide and nitrogen
D) water and carbon dioxide

Question 17

What name is given to the region where sea meets land?

A) pelagic realm
B) intertidal zone
C) benthic realm
D) aphotic zone

Question 18

Which of the following organisms are not ultimately dependent on sunlight for energy?

A) species that live in hydrothermal vent habitats
B) predators
C) marine species that live in the aphotic zone
D) bacteria that feed on dead organic matter

Question 19

Which of these biomes is one of the most biologically productive of all biomes?

A) open oceans
B) estuaries
C) temperate grasslands
D) coniferous forests

Question 20

Which of these is a community?

A) all of the Staphlococcus aureus (a species of bacteria) living on your skin
B) all of the organisms living in your home
C) all of the people living in your neighborhood
D) all of the nut grass (considered a weed) in my backyard

Question 21

Temperature increases due to global warming have been greatest _____.

A) close to the poles
B) in the sea
C) in the tropics
D) in deserts

Question 22

The greenhouse effect causes an increase in global temperatures.This increase is primarily due to ______.

A) CO₂ and other greenhouse gases allowing more solar radiation to penetrate Earth's surface
B) CO₂ and other greenhouse gases slowing the escape of UV radiation from Earth
C) the loss of ozone that trapped cooling UV radiation in the atmosphere
D) CO₂ and other greenhouse gases slowing the escape of heat from Earth

Question 23

The effect of deforestation has been to ______.

A) decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
B) increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
C) increase the rate at which carbon dioxide is incorporated into organic material
D) increase the rate of carbon dioxide production through cellular respiration

Question 24

The Sahara Desert and the Negev Desert belong to the same ______.

A) community
B) abiota
C) biome
D) biota

Question 25

Most of the temperate grassland in North America has been converted to ______.

A) cities
B) farmland
C) national parks
D) suburbs

Question 26

In the oceans,global warming has ______.

A) decreased the amount of oxygen available
B) benefited corals
C) made the water more basic
D) made the water more acidic

Question 27

What fraction of Earth's surface has been altered by human use?

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 75%
D) 95%

Question 28

Long,snowy winters as well as evergreen trees such as pine and fir are found in ______.

A) chaparral
B) temperate broadleaf forest
C) coniferous forest
D) temperate grasslands

Question 29

In what part of the ocean are phytoplankton found?

A) pelagic realm
B) intertidal zone
C) benthic realm
D) aphotic zone

Question 30

Water moves from land to the atmosphere through _____.

A) precipitation only
B) transpiration only
C) transpiration and evaporation
D) evaporation and precipitation

Question 31

Permafrost,or permanently frozen subsoil,characterizes _____.

A) temperate deciduous forest
B) chaparral
C) tundra
D) coniferous forest

Question 32

With regard to the environment as a whole,when is the worst time to apply pesticide to your lawn?

A) when it is raining, or is about to rain
B) when it is cold, or is about to get cold
C) at the same time you apply fertilizer
D) at night

Question 33

Which of the following is not a result of global warming?

A) changes in the breeding seasons of some species.
B) decreasing sea levels.
C) melting permafrost.
D) shifts in the ranges of some species.

Question 34

The temperate zones ______.

A) have the coolest climates on Earth
B) are relatively wet
C) are relatively dry
D) are the zones closest to the equator

Question 35

Which of the following can moderate climate by absorbing heat when the air is warm and releasing heat when the air is cold?

A) clouds
B) glaciers
C) mountains
D) oceans

Question 36

Water-storing plants and deeply-rooted shrubs are plants that characterize ______.

A) tropical forests
B) chaparral
C) deserts
D) savanna

Question 37

What name is given to the seafloor?

A) pelagic realm
B) intertidal zone
C) benthic realm
D) aphotic zone

Question 38

Which of these biomes is maintained by fire?

A) temperate deciduous forest
B) chaparral and savanna
C) desert and chaparral
D) savanna and temperate grassland

Question 39

What is one important difference between savannas and temperate grasslands?

A) Savannas only rarely experience fires
B) Savannas have trees
C) Savannas are inhabited by grazing mammals
D) Savannas have very fertile soil

Question 40

______ are the dominant herbivores of savanna ecosystems.

A) Antelopes
B) Zebras
C) Buffalo
D) Insects

Question 41

Please read the following scenario to answer the following question(s).
Salmon eggs hatch in freshwater streams and, during the first year of their life, the young salmon migrate up to 1,000 km to the ocean. They spend varying amounts of time in the ocean (ranging up to five years), where they feed and grow, rapidly acquiring more than 95% of their biomass during this period. During the summer of their maturing year, they begin the long journey back to their home streams where they spawn. Although it is still uncertain how salmon navigate back to their spawning grounds, current hypotheses suggest that they have a highly developed sense of smell. At the spawning grounds, females use their tails to form a hollow cavity where they lay up to 8,000 eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs, and both adults typically die soon thereafter.
At different times in their lives,salmon can be found in all of the following except ______.

A) a freshwater biome
B) a chaparral
C) the pelagic realm
D) an estuary

Question 42

Examine the figure below.Globally,the largest amount of water moves from ______.

A) the oceans to the atmosphere by evaporation
B) land to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration
C) the atmosphere to land by precipitation
D) land to the oceans by surface and groundwater runoff

Question 43

Examine the figure below.Which part of Earth receives the greatest intensity of solar radiation?

A) Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
B) equator
C) North and South Poles
D) all parts of Earth receive the same intensity of solar radiation.

Question 44

Which of the following actions would increase your carbon footprint?

A) reusing or recycling items
B) eating more vegetables and less meat
C) eating more beef and less chicken
D) walking instead of driving

Question 45

Examine the figure below. Phytoplankton live in the _____.

A) photic zone and aphotic zone
B) aphotic zone
C) benthic zone
D) photic zone

Question 46

Please read the following scenario to answer the following question(s).
Salmon eggs hatch in freshwater streams and, during the first year of their life, the young salmon migrate up to 1,000 km to the ocean. They spend varying amounts of time in the ocean (ranging up to five years), where they feed and grow, rapidly acquiring more than 95% of their biomass during this period. During the summer of their maturing year, they begin the long journey back to their home streams where they spawn. Although it is still uncertain how salmon navigate back to their spawning grounds, current hypotheses suggest that they have a highly developed sense of smell. At the spawning grounds, females use their tails to form a hollow cavity where they lay up to 8,000 eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs, and both adults typically die soon thereafter.
The physiological response that allows salmon to survive in fresh water,then in salt water,and then fresh water again is an example of ______.

A) a behavioral response
B) evolution
C) acclimation
D) an anatomical response