Deck 1: The Nature of Ecology

Question 1

A group of individuals of the same species that occupy a given area is referred to as a(n)________.

Answer 1

population

Question 2

The ________ forms the basic unit in ecology.

Answer 2

individual

Question 3

All science begins with ________,which is the first step in the process known as the scientific method.

Answer 3

observation

Question 4

All populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem are referred to collectively as a(n)________.

Question 5

________ is activism with a stated aim of protecting the natural environment,particularly from the negative impacts of human activities.

Question 6

The term "ecology" is defined as the study of the

A)environment.
B)relationships between organisms.
C)relationships between organisms and their environment.
D)impact of humans on the environment.

Question 7

In a field experiment,an ecologist measures the effects of nitrogen on productivity,plotting data for nitrogen on the x-axis and productivity on the y-axis.In this experiment,the dependent variable is ________.

Question 8

The interaction of a biotic community and its abiotic environment is referred to as a(n)

A)biosphere.
B)ecosystem.
C)population.
D)biome.

Question 9

________ is the scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Question 10

A biome is

A)the thin layer surrounding the Earth that supports all life.
B)all the populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem.
C)a broad-scale region dominated by similar types of ecosystems.
D)an area of land or water composed of a patchwork of communities and ecosystems.

Question 11

An ecologist would probably produce a(n)________ to illustrate whether a relationship exists between body length and body weight.

Question 12

Which of the following is considered an abiotic component of the ecosystem?

A)temperature
B)microbes
C)plants
D)animals

Question 13

Qualitative observations that fall into separate and distinct categories are considered to be ________ data.

Question 14

Moisture and concentration of oxygen

A)are parts of an organism's environment.
B)have no effect on the physiology of an organism.
C)are biological conditions that impact an organism's survival.
D)do not vary in the environment.

Question 15

Which of the following is the correct organization of ecological systems from the lowest to the highest level of organization?

A)individual,biome,biosphere,community,population,ecosystem
B)individual,community,population,ecosystem,biosphere,biome
C)individual,population,community,ecosystem,biome,biosphere
D)individual,population,community,biome,biosphere,ecosystem

Question 16

A(n)________ is an abstract,simplified representation of a real system,allowing us to predict some behavior or response using a set of explicit assumptions.

Question 17

Which of the following questions is most appropriate to an investigation at the population level?

A)What is the effect of diminished resources on an individual's life span?
B)What is the relationship between resource availability and birthrate?
C)What factors influence the distribution of tropical forests?
D)How long does it take for carbon to be cycled from the atmosphere into living tissue?

Question 18

At the ________ level,an ecologist might focus on the factors that affect the relative abundance of various populations in the area.

Question 19

All populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem are referred to collectively as a(n)

A)community.
B)biome.
C)population.
D)ecosystem.

Question 20

The living,or ________,and nonliving,or ________,components of the environment interact within an ecosystem.

Question 21

The real goal of hypothesis testing is to

A)eliminate incorrect ideas.
B)form a theory.
C)fully explain observations.
D)understand why science never changes.

Question 22

A field experiment gives the investigator much more control over the environmental conditions than does a laboratory experiment.

Question 23

A model is used by ecologists to

A)prove how nature works by demonstrating cause-and-effect relationships.
B)analyze data that have been collected during an experiment.
C)make predictions about how nature works using a set of explicit assumptions.
D)observe how nature works in an experimental setting.

Question 24

An ecologist measured the length and weight of different individuals of a species of bird.The most common method of graphically displaying the data is a

A)frequency distribution.
B)histogram.
C)pie chart.
D)scatter plot.

Question 25

A freshwater pond ecosystem includes only the living organisms within the pond.

Question 26

If x and y have a positive relationship as shown by a scatter plot,then the value of y will

A)increase as the value of x decreases.
B)increase as the value of x increases.
C)decrease as the value of x increases.
D)stay the same as the value of x decreases.

Question 27

A hypothesis refers to a(n)

A)phenomenon that is observed but is not yet understood.
B)testable explanation for an observed phenomenon.
C)untestable explanation for an observed phenomenon.
D)falsified explanation for an observed phenomenon.

Question 28

A community includes both living and nonliving components.

Question 29

Because ecology relies on many different branches of science (e.g.,geology),it is considered

A)hypothetical.
B)unscientific.
C)permanent.
D)interdisciplinary.

Question 30

A population refers to all the individuals of the same species that occupy a given area.

Question 31

Ecology is the same as environmentalism.

Question 32

The correct sequence of the scientific method is

A)ask a question,observation,form a hypothesis,test a hypothesis,form a theory.
B)form a hypothesis,ask a question,observation,test a hypothesis,form a theory.
C)form a theory,ask a question,form a hypothesis,observation,test a hypothesis.
D)observation,ask a question,form a hypothesis,test a hypothesis,form a theory.

Question 33

A valid scientific hypothesis must be testable.

Question 34

The basic unit in ecology is the

A)ecosystem.
B)gene.
C)individual.
D)species.

Question 35

The number of seeds produced by a single flower affects the birthrate of that population of flowers.

Question 36

An ecologist who focuses on the individual could study all of the following,except

A)morphology.
B)physiology.
C)behavior.
D)death rate.

Question 37

Ecological models can be mathematical or they can be verbally descriptive.

Question 38

An ecologist conducts a greenhouse experiment to study the effect of nitrogen concentration on the productivity of sunflower seedlings.What is the independent variable in this experiment?

A)productivity of sunflowers
B)concentration of nitrogen
C)the number of sunflower seeds planted
D)the daily amount of water given to each sunflower seed

Question 39

Microbes are considered an abiotic factor within an ecosystem.

Question 40

A theory is an integrated set of hypotheses that explains a broad set of observations.

Question 41

Science is a process of testing and correcting concepts in order to explain the world around us.

Question 42

When data are categorical,any value within an interval is possible.

Question 43

There is generally only one valid explanation for an observation.

Question 44

Population ecology studies the responses of individual organisms to temperature,moisture,light,and other environmental conditions.

Question 45

In a histogram,the x-axis represents the category intervals,whereas the y-axis represents the number of individuals with a particular characteristic.

Question 46

The most common method for displaying a single data set is to construct a scatter plot.