Deck 3: Ecosystems: What Are They and How Do They Work

Question 1

Ecology is the study of

A)human impact on the environment
B)the abiotic elements of the environment
C)the biotic elements of the environment
D)how organisms interact with each other and the nonliving environment
E)how evolution formed populations

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Life on earth depends on interaction of gravity, the cycling of matter, and

A)cycling of energy
B)one-way flow of high-quality energy
C)one-way flow of matter
D)the destruction of energy
E)the consumption of matter

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Groups of different species living together in a particular place with a potential for interacting with one another is called a(n)

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

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The very necessary process of breaking down the dead bodies of organisms is a function of

A)detritivores
B)omnivores
C)carnivores
D)herbivores
E)producers

Question 5

Which of the following is not an end product of anaerobic respiration?

A)acetic acid
B)methane
C)oxygen
D)ethyl alcohol
E)hydrogen sulfide

Question 6

Organisms that feed only on plants are called

A)detritivores
B)omnivores
C)carnivores
D)herbivores
E)decomposers

Question 7

High quality energy is constantly

A)being made
B)being recycled
C)being destroyed
D)becoming matter
E)becoming low quality energy

Question 8

Organisms that complete the final breakdown and recycling of organic materials from the remains of all organisms are the

A)detritivores
B)omnivores
C)carnivores
D)herbivores
E)decomposers

Question 9

The parts of the earth's air, water, and soil where life is found is called the

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

Question 10

All physical forms of water (solid, liquid, and gas) make up the

A)atmosphere
B)lithosphere
C)biosphere
D)hydrosphere
E)troposphere

Question 11

Although tropical rain forests are only 2% of the earth's land surface, they contain what percentage of the earth's land plants and animal species?

A)50
B)40
C)30
D)20
E)10

Question 12

Which of the following is not a reason we should care about the disappearance of the tropical rain forests?

A)their loss will reduce earth's biodiversity
B)their loss will accelerate atmospheric warming
C)their loss will change regional weather patterns
D)their loss will mean more places to build cities
E)their loss may push us beyond an ecological tipping point

Question 13

Which of the following is not an abiotic component of an ecosystem?

A)nutrients
B)microbes
C)water
D)solar energy
E)air

Question 14

The most fundamental structural and functional units of life are

A)atoms
B)molecules
C)compounds
D)cells
E)mitochondrion

Question 15

Which of the following is not a type of consumer?

A)decomposer
B)producer
C)omnivore
D)carnivore
E)detritivore

Question 16

Ozone gas in the lower part of the stratosphere filters out how much of the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation?

A)33%
B)20%
C)95%
D)67%
E)10%

Question 17

The oceans of the earth cover approximately what percentage of the earth's surface?

A)3%
B)29%
C)51%
D)71%
E)97%

Question 18

Which of the following is not a major component of the earth's life-support system?

A)unisphere
B)atmosphere
C)hydrosphere
D)geosphere
E)biosphere

Question 19

Specialized bacteria can produce their own food from inorganic compounds in the environment without the use of sunlight. This process is called

A)photosynthesis
B)cellular metabolism
C)fermentation
D)chemosynthesis
E)nitrogen fixation

Question 20

Fossil fuels and minerals are found in the

A)unisphere
B)atmosphere
C)hydrosphere
D)geosphere
E)biosphere

Question 21

Each trophic level in a food chain or food web contains a certain amount of organic matter, called

A)food
B)energy
C)biomass
D)organisms
E)decomposition

Question 22

The hydrologic cycle is the movement of

A)carbon
B)hydrogen
C)hydrocarbons
D)carbohydrates
E)water

Question 23

The typical percentage of high quality energy loss in transfers from one trophic level to the next is about

A)1%
B)5%
C)35%
D)60%
E)90%

Question 24

Carbon is a major component of

A)water
B)the oceans
C)organic compounds
D)the atmosphere
E)hydrologic cycle

Question 25

Humans intervene in the nitrogen cycle in several ways.Which of the following is not one of those ways?

A)Burning fossil fuels adds nitric oxide.
B)Agriculture releases nitrous oxides.
C)Destruction of forests releases nitrogen.
D)We store nitrogen in the topsoil when we harvest nitrogen rich crops.
E)Agriculture using fertilizers adds nitrogen to aquatic systems.

Question 26

Which of the following statements is false?

A)Water exists as a liquid over a wide temperature range.
B)Water compresses when it freezes.
C)Water filters out wavelengths of UV radiation.
D)It takes a large amount of energy to evaporate water.
E)Liquid water is a good solvent.

Question 27

Which of the following is a primary link between photosynthesis and aerobic respiration?

A)phosphorus
B)sulfur
C)hydrogen
D)carbon
E)nitrogen

Question 28

The hydrologic cycle is driven primarily by

A)solar energy
B)lunar tides
C)solar tides
D)mechanical energy
E)chemical energy

Question 29

How much of the earth's water supply is available as accessible liquid freshwater?

A)10%
B)1%
C)0.024%
D)21%
E)97%

Question 30

Despite a low net primary productivity (NPP), which ecosystem or life zone produces the most biomass each year?

A)swamps and marshes
B)tropical rain forest
C)temperate forests
D)open ocean
E)estuaries

Question 31

If grass stores 1,000 energy units received from the sun, the ecological efficiency of the ecosystem is 10%, and the trophic levels are grass  cow  human, how many units of energy does the human receive of the original 1,000 units?

A)900
B)200
C)100
D)10
E)1

Question 32

Aerobic respiration requires

A)glucose and carbon dioxide
B)glucose and oxygen
C)oxygen and water
D)carbon dioxide and water
E)carbon dioxide and oxygen

Question 33

Which of the following about microorganisms is false?

A)Bacteria and other microbes help purify the water we drink.
B)Bacteria and fungi help produce the foods we eat.
C)Bacteria help break down food in our intestines.
D)Microbes help speed up global warming.
E)Microbes help control diseases of plants.

Question 34

Which of the following terrestrial ecosystems or life zones produces the highest net primary productivity per year?

A)temperate forest
B)Savanna
C)tundra
D)swamps and marshes
E)extreme desert

Question 35

Vitousek, Rojstaczer, and others estimate humans now use, waste, or destroy what percentage of the earth's total potential NPP?

A)1 - 8%
B)9 ─18%
C)10 ─55%
D)20 ─65%
E)90%

Question 36

Precipitation can take several paths when it reaches the earth's surface.Which of the following is not one of those paths?

A)surface runoff into lakes, streams, and the ocean
B)storage as ice in glaciers
C)storage as groundwater in aquifers
D)permanent storage as part of rocks
E)storage in living components of ecosystems

Question 37

Complex networks of interconnected food chains are

A)food webs
B)food chains
C)trophic levels
D)pyramids of energy
E)trophic chains

Question 38

Which of the following is a way that humans harmfully impact the water cycle?

A)overpumping of aquifers
B)increasing runoff by clearing vegetation from the land
C)increased runoff due to crops, buildings, and pavement
D)change natural flood control by disturbing wetlands
E)all of these

Question 39

Which of the following terrestrial ecosystems or life zones produces the lowest net primary productivity per year?

A)taiga
B)extreme desert
C)desert scrub
D)temperate grassland
E)agricultural land

Question 40

Which of the following is not one of the major processes of the water cycle?

A)lunar tides
B)evaporation
C)transpiration
D)precipitation
E)all of these are major processes

Question 41

Scientists have less than _____ percent of the ecological data they need to evaluate the ecosystems in the United States.

A)5
B)8
C)12
D)25
E)50

Question 42

Although tropical rain forests are only about 2% of the earth's land surface, they contain at least 50% of the world's land plant and animal species.

Question 43

If the earth were an apple, all life would be contained in the thickness of the skin.

Question 44

Destruction of the tropical rain forest will likely change regional weather patterns in ways that will prevent their return.

Question 45

Much of the earth's sulfur is stored in

A)plants and animals
B)the oceans
C)the atmosphere
D)underground rocks and minerals
E)soil

Question 46

A "trophic level" refers to the ability of an organism to survive outside the optimum range in a range of tolerance.

Question 47

The "greenhouse effect" is a strictly artificial (human-made) phenomenon.

Question 48

Humans add sulfur to the atmosphere through which of the following?

A)making electricity
B)making gasoline
C)converting metallic mined ores to free metals
D)burning coal
E)all of these

Question 49

Nitrogen is a major component of all of the following except

A)proteins
B)nucleic acids
C)groundwater
D)ammonia
E)DNA

Question 50

All of the following are ways humans interfere in the phosphorus cycle except

A)erosion from fertilized crop fields, lawns, increases phosphate ions in streams
B)increasing phosphate levels in tropical forests by clearing forests
C)removing large quantities of phosphate from the earth for fertilizer
D)stimulating aquatic systems to overproduce through runoff of phosphate ions
E)all of these interfere in the phosphorus cycle

Question 51

The form of nitrogen most usable to plants is

A)ammonium ions
B)nitrogen gas
C)proteins
D)nitrites
E)nitrates

Question 52

Part of the solar energy striking the earth generates winds.

Question 53

Ecologists would make use of which of the following in their study of nature?

A)field research
B)geographic information system software
C)controlled experiments
D)remote sensing devices
E)all of these

Question 54

Which of the following is not a part of the phosphorus cycle?

A)soil
B)atmosphere
C)organisms
D)rocks
E)marine sediments

Question 55

Only about 14% of the tropical rain forests have been destroyed or disturbed at this point.

Question 56

Greenhouse gases, including methane, CO₂, and water vapor, make up about 30% of the earth's troposphere.

Question 57

All life is based on the power of the sun.

Question 58

While the troposphere is 11 miles thick above sea level at the tropics, it is only four miles thick above the North and South poles.

Question 59

Sophisticated satellite imaging programs from __________ now allow scientists and non-scientists to be connected to even the most remote ecosystems.

A)National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency
B)National Aeronautic and Space Administration
C)U.S.Military
D)Google Earth
E)European Space Agency

Question 60

Sulfur is added to the atmosphere in all the following ways except

A)from volcanoes
B)anaerobic decomposition in swamps
C)eating meat
D)sea spray
E)acid rain deposition

Question 61

In hundreds of years we have released large quantities of fossil fuels that took millions of years to form.

Question 62

The reason we observe a "pyramid" of energy flow instead of an energy flow "cube" is because the low ecological efficiency of biological systems limits the numbers of organism in the higher trophic levels.

Question 63

Over land, most water that reaches the atmosphere comes from transpiration.

Question 64

Transfer of energy through food chains or webs is very efficient, making a lot of energy available to organisms.

Question 65

All microbes are pathogenic (disease causing) or otherwise dangerous.

Question 66

Agricultural runoffs containing phosphates cause huge blooms of algae in streams and lakes.

Question 67

Because the soil contains a sufficient amount of phosphates, phosphorus is not usually a limiting plant nutrient.

Question 68

Since 1950 human activities have more than doubled the annual release of nitrogen into the environment.

Question 69

Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the biomass produced by photosynthesis minus the rate at which biomass is used for aerobic respiration.

Question 70

A larger number of humans could be supported on the earth if more of them consumed grains, vegetables, and fruits rather than eating meat.

Question 71

Nitrogen gas, the major component of the atmosphere, cannot directly be used by plants and animals.

Question 72

Ecologists do not make use of most new technologies, preferring to continue the "muddy-boots biology" style of research.

Question 73

Most producers capture sunlight to produce energy-rich carbohydrates through photosynthesis.

Question 74

Autotroph is another word for a consumer in a trophic system.

Question 75

The larger the number of trophic levels in a food chain or web, the greater the accumulated loss of energy.

Question 76

Because carbon makes up such a small amount of the earth's atmosphere, even a small change, caused by nature or by humans, affects the earth's climate.

Question 77

The hydrologic cycle is a way nature renews water quality.

Question 78

Nutrient cycles connect past, present, and future forms of life.

Question 79

An ecosystem is defined as a community of different populations of species interacting with one another and their nonliving environment.

Question 80

Deep sea habitats are an exception to the first principle of sustainability, in that they use a non-solar source of energy.