Biology-Test Questions

In ecosystems the amount of energy that passes from one trophic level to the next is called the conversion efficiency. What is the average conversion efficiency from primary to secondary consumers in most ecosystems?

10%

The energy available at the tertiary consumers (top carnivores) level in a particular ecosystem is 100 kJ m-2 y-1. How much energy (in kJ m-2 y-1) is likely to available at the producer level in this ecosystem?

10000

Most biologists recognize ___________ domains.

3

What kingdom includes organisms that are multicellular, eukaryotic, heterotrophic, and move at some point during their life cycle?

Animalia

The t-test is used to test the statistical significance of a difference. What is that difference?

Between the means of two samples

Which interaction would benefit only one organisms in a relationship?

Commensalism

Distinguish between correlation and causation, providing a specific example of each.

Correlation is whenever two things have the same trend/ similar data, but that does not mean that one of those things causes the other thing. For example, as the number of pirates decreased in the world, global warming increased. This does not mean that because the number of pirates has decreased, that is the cause of global warming. It is just similar in data.Causation is when something causes another thing. This could be someone rapidly gaining weight from consistently overeating every day.

Provide one example of a keystone species that could be found in the ecosystems of Missouri. Explain why this organism could be considered a keystone species.

Crayfish are considered keystone species in Missouri because a multitude of species (birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals) consume crayfish for food. They also feed Missouri's endangered eastern massasauga rattlesnake. Burrowing catfish decompose dead and decaying organic matter into finer materials that are consumed by other species, therefore upcycling nutrients back into their ecosystem. If crayfish are removed from their community, it could cause a large loss of other species.

Bacteria are found in the kingdom:

Eubacteria

Prokaryotic organisms make up the

Eubacteria and Archaebacteria

Organize the following terms to represent the human classifcation scheme from the domain to the species name. The largest taxonomic category should be listed on the top and the smallest on the bottom.

Eukarya Animalia Chordata Mammalia Primate Hominidae Homo Sapien

Which of the following trophic groups include fungi?

Saprotrophs

Which of the following might show primary succession?

a. A rock surface exposed by a retreating glacier

What is an advantage of estimating plant populations by random sampling using quadrats?

a. Accurate estimates can be obtained more quickly than if every plant in the population is counted.

Animals such as reef-building corals and mollusca form a resevoir in the carbon cycle. In what form is the carbon stored as in their bodies?

a. Calcium carbonate in their hard body parts.

What are the main processes by which carbon is released in the atmosphere?

a. Cellular respiration of consumers, producers and combustion of fossil fuels

The movements of energy and nutrients through living systems are different because

a. energy flows in one direction, and nutrients recycle.

When the size of a population greatly exceeds K, it will typically:

a. rapidly decrease.

What name is given to an organism that is able to manufacture its own food from simple chemical materials?

autotroph

Euglena is a unicellular organism that feeds on bacteria and uses CO2 as a carbon source.Which describes the nutrition of this organism?

autotrophic and heterotrophic

Which of the following is an example of mutualism?

b. An insect pollinating an orchid flower

Animals in the highest trophic level of a food chain will often be the largest in body size but will be few in numbers. What accounts for the small numbers?

b. Energy losses through the food chain

Which of the following statements describe a "population"?

b. Individuals belonging to the same species in a certain area

Which statement describes the term species?

b. Organisms that reproduce together to produce fertile offspring

Which of the following is the best definition of a population?

b. The number of individuals of the same species in a given area

Plants play a crucial role in the carbon cycle because they

b. allow carbon to enter an ecosystem through photosynthesis.

Nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere by

b. denitrifying bacteria.

A disease resulting in the deaths of one third of a dense population of bats in a cave would be a

b. density-dependent limiting factor.

Resource partitioning may include all of the following except:

b. intraspecific competition.

Corn planted in a field that has been previously planted with legumes and then plowed under is likely to be

b. more productive because bacteria living on the roots of legumes fix nitrogen in the soil.

How are the exponential and transitional phases of logistic/sigmoidal growth similar?

c. A population is increasing, moving toward its carrying capacity during both phases.

Slime moulds (Acrasiomycota) are protoctists. They feed on decaying organic matter, bacteria and protozoa. Which of the terms describes their nutrition? I. Detritivore II. Autotroph III. Heterotroph

c. I and III only

Why do food chains in an ecosystem rarely contain more than five organisms?

c. The conversion of food into growth by an organism is not very efficient.

An example of a population is

c. all maple trees in a forest.

Carbon is a major component of all organic compounds, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbon dioxide is continually exchanged between the atmosphere and oceans. What geological process most likely returns carbon to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide?

c. volcanic activity

Carbon dioxide is converted by photosynthesis in autotrophs. Which type of compound are made using the carbon dioxide?

carbohydrates

A mesocosm would be an example of which of the following types of systems?

closed

What is a community?

d. A group of populations living and interacting in an area

In a pond, two species of fish feed on insects and worms. The insects feed on the green plants that live in the water. What constitutes a population in this ecosystem?

d. All the fish of one species

Carbon dioxide diffuses out of organisms into water, or the atmosphere. What is the process which produces the carbon dioxide?

d. Carbon dioxide is produced by respiration in all living organisms.

The binomial system of nomenclature is a product of the work of:

d. Carolus Linnaeus.

Taxonomy is the science of:

d. naming, describing, and classifying organisms.

Which of the following would most likely cause a large number of density-independent deaths in a population?

d. winter storms

Which classification level would contain the greatest number of species?

domain

An organism's ecological role within the structure and function of a particular community is its:

ecological niche

What term refers to a community and its abiotic environment?

ecosystem

Which of the following ecological units includes abiotic factors?

ecosystem

What is exchanged between a sealed mesocosm and the surrounding external environment?

energy

The ____________ niche is the broadest role that an organism can potentially have in a community.

fundamental

Which classification level would be the least inclusive?

genus

Zea mays is the scientific name of the corn plant. Zea is the ____________ name.

genus

Which is not essential in a viable mesocosm?

herbivore

The movement of organisms into a range is called

immigration

If natality is slightly larger than mortality, and immigration is much larger than emigration, what will happen to the size of a population?

increase

The classification level of domain is immediately "above" (more inclusive than) the level of:

kingdom

Something that controls the growth or size of a population is a

limiting factor

The various growth phases through which most populations go are represented on

logistical curve growth

Nitrification happens in the ______.

soil

In a normal terrestrial ecosystem, most nutrients

tend to be recycled

Which organisms externally digest dead organic matter and then absorb the nutrients?

saprotrophs

What do error bars on graphs show?

How variable the data is.

Which processes occur in an ecosystem? I. Biomass increases in each successive trophic level. II. Inorganic nutrients are recycled. III. Chemical energy is stored in carbon compounds.

II and III

Which organisms produce methane in anaerobic environments such as waterlogged soils?

Methanogens

Nitrogen that is used by plants is in the form of...

nitrates

An example of a density-dependent factor that influences the size of a population is:

parasites

Which of the following does not contain carbon from the bodies of plants and animals that died millions of years ago?

phosphate salts

Spiders mainly use a web and poisonous fangs to trap and eat insects such as flies. What type of interaction is this?

predation

Which of the following groups of organisms can convert ammonium and nitrate ions into amino acids?

producers