Biodiversity Quiz Questions

At what latitude are you most likely to see the greatest species diversity?

0 N/S

At what two latitudes do you see warm humid air rising?

0 N/S, 60 N/S

What two latitudes are more likely to have big trees?

0 N/S, 60 N/S

Assuming that a female wolf is reproductively active at one year of age, and that they remain reproductively capable until death at about age 16, what is the biotic potential of a female wolf?

180 Wolf pups

At what latitude are you most likely to see hot deserts?

30 N/S

What two latitudes have the least precipitation?

30 N/S, 90 N/S

In order to be classified as mass extinction, what percent of higher taxa must be destroyed?

50%

Which of the following statements is the BEST description of a Prezygotic barrier?

A barrier in which fertilization of the egg is prevented.

Man-made structures can act as mechanisms for un-natural allopatric speciation events. Which of the following statements is an example of something that could result in human-induced allopatric speciation?

A dam separates trout above the dam from trout below the dam.

Which of the following would be considered mutualism?

A monkey eating a fruit

Which of the following populations is most at risk from background extinction events?

A population that lives in only one species of tree.

Which of the following populations are most at risk from background extinction events?

A population with a range of distribution that covers a small area.

What situation is most likely to support the most species diversity?

A region that gets regular but moderate disturbances.

Which of the properties of RNA allow it to be acted on by natural selection?

Ability to duplicate itself; Ability to perform enzymatic functions

Which of the following defines "keystone species?"

An organism whose niche increases diversity in an ecosystem

Which term applies to this situation: People breed plants and animals to amplify traits they like.

Artificial Selection

A mountain lion was stalking a baby moose, when the bull moose charged her. Now the mountain lion is very wary of and avoids all moose. This is an example of...

Associative learning

The ultimate goal of any communication between organisms (except courtship display) is to...

Avoid physical confrontation

Which species concept is based on reproductive barriers between organisms?

Biological

Which species concept is more useful as a means to classify animals than other organisms?

Biological

How can scientists estimate the time period the fossilized organism lived in?

By combining radiometric and relative dating.

Deceptive signals are those that...

Can be faked to exploit another organism.

Which era was the "Age of the Birds?"

Cenozoic

In which organism does the "second hole" become the mouth?

Chordates

What is the distribution pattern of a pack of wolves?

Clumped

When two species that interact in some form trade selection pressure back and forth, it is called...

Coevolution

How are spatial learning and cognitive mapping different?

Cognitive mapping may be innate, depending on the species.

A signal that is intended to change the behavior of another organism is...

Communication

When one species outcompetes another to extinction, we call it...

Competitive exclusion

Sexual selection that manifests as a behavior is usually called...

Courtship display

Name the scientist that first suggested that a species could become extinct.

Cuvier

Mass Extinctions are typically caused by...

Density independent factors

When did all the animal phyla (major groups) that exist today first appear?

During the Cambrian Explosion

Which of the following levels of ecology includes living and non-living factors?

Ecosystem

Which statement concerning energy is correct?

Energy is ultimately lost from the system as heat.

Name the time period in which people were encouraged to seek God's divinity in nature

Enlightenment/Age of Reason

Which group of animals shows bilateral symmetry?

Everything except sponges and cnidarians

The term "extirpated" means that a species is...

Extinct in part of its range.

The earliest evidence of life on earth is represented by...

Fossilized evidence of the membrane components of the Archaeans.

An event that decreases population size and dramatically changes the allele frequencies in the gene pool from the original population represents which microevolutionary event?

Genetic Drift

When we first started using herd dogs to herd sheep, the sheep were scared and ran from the dogs. Now, they just amble along calmly wherever the dogs "tell" them to go. This is an example of...

Habituation

A species that is considered to be endangered has the potential...

Has the ability to become extinct or extirpated in the foreseeable future.

What was wrong with Wegener's proposed "Continental Drift?"

He proposed that the continents were plowing through the earth's mantle like a ship on icy water.

What is significant about the work of Wallace?

His research had the exact same outcome as Darwin's

Characters that are anatomically similar and share underlying structures are called _________ and may show___________ if they are adapted for different purposes.

Homologous Structure; Divergence

Name the scientist that presented the idea that geological phenomena , such as the formation of the Grand Canyon, probably took place slowly over millions of years.

Hutton

Which statement concerning disturbances is correct?

In the long run, disturbances increase diversity.

What happens to the carbon dioxide that is dissolved into the ocean?

It is assimilated into the shells of mollusks as calcium carbonate

The Southeastern United States is not a hot desert primarily because...

It is situated north of an arrangement of islands that pushes slow moving air across a warm shallow sea and up onto the mainland.

What does it mean to have true tissues?

It means all the cells have to carry out all the functions necessary for the survival of the organism.

What does it mean to have radial symmetry?

It means that any plane through the mid-point will divide the organism into mirror image halves.

Which statement best characterizes a trace fossil?

It shows more of how an organism lived and what the environment was like.

Which of the following is specific to primary succession?

Lava flow hardens into rock; mosses and lichens appear on the rock.

Name the scientist that classified organisms according to anatomical similarities and differences

Linnaeus (Von Linne)

Which term applies to this situation: large scale evolution in a population due to many changes in the gene pool resulting in dramatically different organisms, i.e. reptile to bird.

Macroevolution

Fixed action patterns...

May not be modified through learning

Which era began with the formation of Pangaea?

Mesozoic

Which era saw the first appearance of the angiosperms (flowering plants)?

Mesozoic

Name the time period in which monks were required to read the Bible, and schools were established in the abbeys.

Middle Ages

A mating system in which a male and female are pair bonded for a season or for life...

Monogamy

Which species concept is based on anatomical similarities and differences?

Morphological

Which species concept is most useful when classifying extinct organisms represented by fossils?

Morphological

Why is it so rare to find fossils with soft body parts intact?

Most environments have bacteria present that will "eat" the soft parts

Copying errors in the DNA that take place when the germ cells are dividing to form gametes (sperm and egg) represent what microevolutionary event?

Mutation

Which of the following biogeochemical cycles includes an atmospheric reservoir that is largely unavailable to nutrient cycling?

Nitrogen

What are the two most limiting factors of plant growth?

Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Female mate choice is a function of which microevolutionary event?

Non-Random mating

How did the presence of free oxygen in the ocean/atmosphere result in the mass extinction of the anaerobic forms of Bacteria and Archaea?

Oxygen itself is a corrosive gas, toxic to anaerobic life forms.

Which era had a warm, humid climate?

Paleozoic

Which era was the "Age of the Fishes?"

Paleozoic

Which of the following interspecific interactions positively benefits one species, but negatively impacts the other species?

Parasitism

Which species concept is based on genetic similarities and differences?

Phylogenetic

A mating system in which one female mates with multiple males is called...

Polyandry

Which of the following is able to produce organic molecules from inorganic nutrients?

Producers

Name the time period in which the Humanist movement proposed that man controlled his own fate.

Renaissance/Reformation

When two species specialize into discrete areas of essentially the same niche in order to avoid direct competition, we call it...

Resource partitioning

Two species interact in some form. When one of these species gets an adaptation that changes this interaction, it is said to have placed ________________ on the other species.

Selection Pressure

This term describes any trait that increases reproductive success without necessarily affecting survivorship.

Sexual Selection

The meerkats are ground-dwelling animals. They have distinct alarm calls for different types of predator. A young meerkat learns the correct alarm call for each predator by listening to the adults. What type of learning is this?

Social Learning

Which statement applies to reproduction in the Cnidarians (jellyfish)?

The Medusa is the sexually reproductive stage.

What great mass extinction led to the diversification of multicellular, eukaryotic forms of life?

The Snowball-Earth event

The condition in which life is considered to have first appeared was probably most like...

The area around a hydrothermal vent.

Often, if a baby is orphaned at birth, a surrogate mother will be found to raise it. For example, a baby goat orphaned at birth may be raised by a sheep. When this goat reaches adulthood, it will seek sheep as mates instead of goats. How does the concept of imprinting explain this situation?

The goat identified itself as a sheep during the critical time period following birth; now it thinks it's a sheep.

According to the Big Bang theory...

The heavier elements were produced as the result of stars exploding.

Which statement best represents how evolutionary history affects biodiversity?

The longer a population resides in an area, the more mutations occur in the gene pool.

Sexual Dimorphism means that...

The male and female look different

Which stage of ecological succession has the most diversity?

The middle with woody shrubs and some "full sun" trees

In reference to topography, what is a rain shadow?

The side of the mountain that does not get rain.

Are wolves r-selected or k-selected? What is your answer based on?

They are k-selected; they are large bodied and provide a great deal of parental investment.

The remarkable thing about the gases emitted by volcanoes, in regard to the origin of life, is...

They contain most of the elements important to life.

How do animals release nitrogen back to the ecosystem?

They excrete it in urine

One of the defining characteristics of animals is that they are motile (can move). How can sponges be considered animals?

They have a motile larval stage.

What is the selective advantage of communication displays?

They provide context to a behavior.

A species that is considered to be threatened has the potential ...

To become endangered in the foreseeable future.

Which statement most accurately describes Darwin?

Trained theologian seeks God's divinity in nature.

What is sexual selection about?

Traits that increase the likelihood of mating with no regard to survivorship

In which region or regions does the prevailing wind flow from East to West?

Tropical, Polar

T/F Scientists propose that most of the diversity of the animal kingdom is due to mutations within the Hox genes, which control embryonic development.

True

In the temperate region, the topmost, warm layer of the ocean travels...

West to East

The Miller Experiments are the subject of controversy because we don't really know for sure what the exact composition of the Early Earth Atmosphere was. Even so, the experiments support the hypothesis that....

biological molecules can be formed spontaneously and abiotically under early Earth conditions.