Deck 23: Global Conservation of Biodiversity

Question 1

The carbon-sequestering ability of tropical rainforests is an example of a _____ service.

A) regulating
B) provisioning
C) cultural
D) supporting

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The beauty of a national park is an example of a _____ service.

A) supporting
B) provisioning
C) regulating
D) cultural

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The most recent mass extinction event occurred

A) 65 million years ago.
B) 200 million years ago.
C) 35 million years ago.
D) 450 million years ago.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Drinking water is an example of a _____ service.

A) cultural
B) provisioning
C) supporting
D) regulating

Question 5

A focus on the economic value a species can provide is called the

A) intrinsic value of biodiversity.
B) instrumental value of biodiversity.
C) provisioning service.
D) regulating service.

Question 6

What is NOT an example of a regulating service?

A) climate regulation
B) nutrient cycling
C) flood control
D) water purification

Question 7

A supporting service provides benefits of biodiversity that

A) have aesthetic, spiritual, or recreational value.
B) humans use.
C) include climate regulation, flood control, and water purification.
D) allow ecosystems to exist.

Question 8

The mass extinction that occurred 443 million years ago was caused by

A) global warming.
B) an asteroid.
C) volcanism.
D) an ice age.

Question 9

Which of the following describes intrinsic values of biodiversity?

A) aesthetic
B) cultural
C) inherent
D) economic

Question 10

The cancer drug Taxol, which originally came from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), is an example of a _____ service.

A) provisioning
B) cultural
C) supporting
D) regulating

Question 11

Nutrient cycling is an example of a _____ service.

A) regulating
B) cultural
C) supporting
D) provisioning

Question 12

Cultural services are those that

A) humans use, including lumber, fur, meat, crops, water, and fiber.
B) allow ecosystems to exist, such as primary production, soil formation, and nutrient cycling.
C) include climate regulation, flood control, and water purification.
D) provide aesthetic, spiritual, or recreational value.

Question 13

Flood control is an example of a _____ service.

A) provisioning
B) cultural
C) regulating
D) supporting

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT a category of instrumental values?

A) cultural
B) regulating
C) consumer
D) supporting

Question 15

Biodiversity hotspots throughout the world contain _____ percent of the world's plant species.

A) 75
B) 40
C) 80
D) 50

Question 16

A mass extinction event is one in which _____ percent of the existing species go extinct within a 2-million-year period.

A) 75
B) 95
C) 55
D) 25

Question 17

Provisioning services are those that

A) support ecosystems, such as primary production, soil formation, and nutrient cycling.
B) include climate regulation, flood control, and water purification.
C) humans use, including lumber, fur, meat, crops, water, and fiber.
D) provide aesthetic, spiritual, or recreational value.

Question 18

What is the difference between instrumental and intrinsic values of biodiversity? Give examples for each.

Question 19

Why are regulating services considered instrumental values? Give examples.

Question 20

How many mass extinctions have occurred?

A) 5
B) 15
C) 10
D) 3

Question 21

The period of the last _____ may be a sixth mass extinction.

A) 100,000 years
B) 10 million years
C) 1,000 years
D) 10,000 years

Question 22

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines the term extinct as pertaining to a species that was alive in the wild in the

A) past but no individuals remain alive today.
B) year 1000 but no individuals remain alive today.
C) year 1500 but no individuals remain alive today.
D) year 1900 but no individuals remain alive today.

Question 23

The collapse of the Atlantic cod fishery in the early 1990s was the result of

A) pollution.
B) climate change.
C) introduced species.
D) overharvesting.

Question 24

Extinction rates over the past 50 years are _____ times higher than the historic rate.

A) 100
B) 1,000
C) 10
D) 10,000

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT an IUCN category relating to species assessment?

A) threatened
B) least concern
C) near-threatened
D) endangered

Question 26

The largest cause of declining biodiversity is

A) habitat loss.
B) overharvesting.
C) introduced species.
D) global climate change.

Question 27

Declines in genetic diversity can

A) increase the probability that a population will survive changing environmental conditions.
B) reduce the probability that a population will survive changing environmental conditions.
C) decrease the probability of speciation.
D) increase the rate of evolution.

Question 28

Why has it been challenging to determine the declines in species diversity of amphibians?

Question 29

The Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) has become critically endangered as a result of

A) pollution.
B) invasive species.
C) habitat loss.
D) climate change.

Question 30

Tropical forests are being logged at a rate of _____ million hectares per year.

A) 20
B) 5
C) 50
D) 10

Question 31

A review of research in Europe demonstrated that species richness is

A) positively related to aboveground biomass.
B) negatively related to aboveground biomass.
C) positively related to genetic diversity.
D) negatively related to genetic diversity.

Question 32

The Svalbard facility on an island north of the Norwegian mainland was constructed to store

A) plants.
B) seeds.
C) animals.
D) embryos.

Question 33

Scientists hypothesize that losses of large mammals between 11,500 and 500 years ago were caused by

A) humans.
B) climate change.
C) pollution.
D) invasive species.

Question 34

Which chemical caused declines in predatory bird populations in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States?

A) DDT
B) Alar
C) organophosphates
D) pyrethroids

Question 35

How has agriculture led to losses of genetic diversity? Why is this a problem?

Question 36

All species of moas (Dinornis) in New Zealand have gone extinct as a result of

A) habitat loss.
B) overharvesting.
C) invasive species.
D) pollution.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a cause of declining genetic diversity?

A) inbreeding depression
B) declining population sizes
C) bottleneck effect
D) mutation

Question 38

Biotic _____ is the process by which unique species compositions originally found in different regions slowly become more similar as a result of the movement of people, cargo, and species.

A) normalization
B) confluence
C) magnification
D) homogenization

Question 39

Which of the following is NOT a way that pesticides may decrease biodiversity?

A) by killing nontarget species
B) through the process known as biomagnification
C) by altering food webs
D) by shortening the growing season

Question 40

Of the 607 species of conifers, how many have gone extinct?

A) 42 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 5 percent
D) No conifers have gone extinct.

Question 41

The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) reintroduction was very successful in increasing natural populations of condors. In addition to reintroduction, what strategies were used to conserve this species?

Question 42

The pesticide DDT in a body of water increases about _____ in concentration when it binds to particles such as algae.

A) 10-fold
B) 5-fold
C) 50-fold
D) 30-fold

Question 43

The goal in protecting a habitat is commonly the preservation of a large enough area to support a _____ population.

A) maximum sustaining
B) minimum sustaining
C) maximum viable
D) minimum viable

Question 44

Protecting habitat for buffalo and wildebeests is challenging because of all of the following except

A) they have a very large range.
B) they undergo large-scale movements.
C) there may not be enough contiguous habitat to meet their requirements.
D) they are prone to many parasitic diseases originating in their habitats.

Question 45

The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) was saved from extinction by

A) habitat protection.
B) reduced harvesting.
C) captive breeding and species reintroduction.
D) the banning of pesticides.

Question 46

Over the past 20 years, sea levels have been rising at a rate of _____ millimeters per year.

A) 5
B) 1
C) 10
D) 3

Question 47

Methylmercury is an organic mercury compound that is a waste product of industrial processes and also results from the burning of fossil fuels. Methylmercury has been shown to increase up food chains by biomagnification. Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) can have tissue concentrations of methylmercury of 0.69 ppm (parts per million). Assuming a food web that starts with phytoplankton (0.00069 ppm) and a 10-fold biomagnification from each level in the food chain to the next level, calculate the concentration of methylmercury at each level in the food chain. How many levels are there in the food chain, including the phytoplankton and the tuna?

Question 48

It has been documented (see Figure 23.12) that forest cover has declined in many regions of the world for nearly the past 20 years. In other parts of the world, forest cover has increased during this time. Why do conservation biologists see both of these developments as potentially problematic for biodiversity?

Question 49

In a food chain that undergoes biomagnification of a pesticide, which organism can be expected to have the highest pesticide concentration?

A) algae
B) carnivorous fish
C) zooplankton
D) herbivorous fish

Question 50

Explain how an insecticide like DDT, which was found in low concentrations in water after its application for insect control, nearly caused the loss of species like the bald eagle in some places in the United States during the 1960s.

Question 51

What is the process by which the concentration of a contaminant increases as it moves up the food chain?

A) bioexpansion
B) bioconcentration
C) biomagnification
D) bioaccumulation

Question 52

A minimum viable population is the _____ population of a species that can _____.

A) smallest; persist in the face of environmental variation
B) ideal; persist in increasing global temperatures
C) smallest; maintain genetic variability
D) ideal; return a population from threatened status

Question 53

You measure 1,000 mg of the pesticide DDT in the soil, and 30 days later the amount in the soil is 998.1 mg. What is the half-life (in years) of DDT in this soil?

Question 54

Briefly describe what is known as the cause of the five past mass extinctions and the possible sixth mass extinction that may be under way.

Question 55

Global climate change is predicted to lead to all of the following except

A) causing extreme weather events.
B) altering precipitation patterns.
C) shifting distributions of species.
D) changing day length patterns

Question 56

The time required for a chemical to break down to half of its original concentration is called its

A) decomposition coefficient.
B) retention time.
C) half-life.
D) decontamination time.

Question 57

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has had effects beyond the conservation of wolves. What are other benefits of the reintroduction?

Question 58

The northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) was saved from extinction by

A) captive breeding.
B) species reintroduction.
C) habitat protection.
D) reduced harvesting.

Question 59

The half-life of a contaminant is calculated as

A) Ln (N₀ ÷ N_t) ÷ t ln (2).
B) Ln (N₀ × N_t) ÷ t ln (2).
C) t ln (2) ÷ ln (N₀ × N_t).
D) t ln (2) ÷ ln (N₀ ÷ N_t).

Question 60

In the calculation of half-life, N₀ represents the

A) final amount of the contaminant.
B) initial amount of the contaminant.
C) elapsed time.
D) half-life.

Question 61

Instrumental values of biodiversity differ from intrinsic values of biodiversity in which ways?

A) Society can place a clear dollar value on instrumental values.
B) Society can place a clear dollar value on intrinsic values.
C) Intrinsic values include those that allow ecosystems to exist.
D) Instrumental values are those that are based (or not) on one's belief system.

Question 62

The concept known as minimum viable population (MVP) refers to

A) the species whose role in a community is the most important and if its habitat is lost will have cascading effects through the entire community.
B) the smallest population size of a species that can persist even if environmental conditions change.
C) the smallest, single contiguous habitat that can hold a species.
D) the historical size of a species habitat that is required for its survival prior to the impacts of human harvesting, introduced species, and global climate change.

Question 63

An introduced species tends to have a greater impact (leading to the decline or extinction of native species) if they

A) are accidentally introduced.
B) are intentionally introduced.
C) compete with native species.
D) act as predators or pathogens on native species.

Question 64

An endemic species is one that

A) has no intrinsic value.
B) has no instrumental value.
C) has a relatively restricted distribution.
D) is found in all biogeographic regions yet is still endangered.

Question 65

According to the IUCN (2017), which group of species is the most threatened or near-threatened with the risk of future extinction globally?

A) birds
B) amphibians
C) reptiles
D) mammals

Question 66

The environmental organization called Conservation International describes a(n) _____ as an area that contains at least 1,500 endemic plant species and that has experienced at least a 70 percent vegetation loss due to human activity.

A) ecologically critical area
B) critically endangered habitat
C) critical species intervention site
D) biodiversity hotspot

Question 67

The IUCN has defined categories to be applied to species based on their conservation status. The category "extinct in the wild" refers to a species that

A) was known to exist in the year 1500 but no individuals remain alive today.
B) was known to exist in the year 1900 but no individuals remain alive today.
C) can be found only in zoos or facilities that might be conducting captive breeding.
D) are found only in less than 1 percent of their original documented native habitat