AP Biology Unit 1 Multiple Choice

In an experiment on birds learning to sing, young male chicks were exposed only to the songs sung by another species. Later, as they approached maturity, songs of their own species were played to them. When the birds reached maturity, they were able to sing neither of the typical song of their species nor the full song of the second species. Which of the following accounts for this result?

Birds pass through a critical period early in life when learning their species-typical song is possible

A researcher is investigating the relationship between the existing species diversity in a community and the ability of an introduced nonnative species to destabilize the community. Which of the following graphs is most consistent with the claim that communities with high diversity are more resistant to change than are communities with low diversity?

D

Thrips are insects that feed on rose pollen. Scientists noted that the thrips population increased in the spring and decreased dramatically during the summer. The researchers hypothesized that food abundance was the limiting factor for the population. Which of the following types of data would be most useful for the scientists to collect at regular intervals on a designated test plot of rose plants?

Density of rose pollen produced (g/m²)

What can be inferred from the data in the graph about the loss of calcium in the deforested watershed?

It appears to be correlated with the seasons

Which of the following statements describes an activity that is part of the nitrogen cycle?

Legume plants only assimilate nitrogen through nitrates, created by nitrification

Which would be the most likely result if there was an increase in the number of small crustaceans?

The biomass of the phytoplankton will decrease

Undersea landslides can disrupt marine habitats by burying organisms that live on the ocean floor. The graph above shows the size of a population of a certain organism that lives on the ocean floor. The population was affected by a recent landslide at the time indicated on the graph. Which of the following best predicts how the population will be affected by the landslide?

The reduced population will likely have genes that allowed it to survive in the first place

Beaked whales feed at various depths, but they defecate at the ocean's surface. Nitrogen-rich whale feces deposited in surface waters supply nutrients for algae that are eaten by surface-dwelling fish. Which of the following best predicts what would happen if the whale population decreased?

The surface fish populations would decline due to reduced populations of algae

Which of the following best describes opportunistic, or r-strategy, organisms?

They reach sexual maturity rapidly

Which of the following is a possible cause of the succession that occurred in this diagram?

a forest fire burns the trees and clears the land of debris

Global warming is the result of the accumulation of which of the following gases in the atmosphere?

carbon dioxide

Bees that regularly feed on blue paper settle on blue paper even though it lacks food

classical conditioning

An epiphyte grows in the upper canopy of the tropical rain forest and gains its nutrients directly from the atmosphere.

commensalism

In most ecosystems, net primary productivity is important because it represents the

energy available to heterotrophs

Where would you expect the biodiversity of the animal population to be the highest in this diagram?

hardwood trees

Three distinct bird species, flicker, woodpecker, and elf owl, all inhabit a large cactus, cereus giganteus, in the desert of Arizona. Since competition among these birds rarely occurs, the most likely explanation for this phenomenon is that these birds

have different ecological niches

Which of the following organisms in this population are secondary consumers?

herrings

Hatched goslings become attached to the first moving object they see

imprinting

Chimpanzee stacks boxes to reach bananas

insight learning

Madagascar is considered a biodiversity "hotspot" because

it contains a high concentration of different species

The calypso orchid grows in close association with mycorrhizae fungi. The fungi penetrate the roots of the flower and take advantage of the plant's food resources, The fungi concentrate rare minerals, such as phosphates, in the roots and make them readily accessible to the orchids

mutualism

bacteria in the gut of termite's digest cellulose

mutualism

A child learns not to touch a hot stove

operant conditioning

Lampreys attach to the skin of lake trout and absorb nutrients from its body

parasitism

The largest amount of energy is available to

phytoplankton

Which of the following organisms has the largest biomass in the food chain?

phytoplankton

Which best describes why losses of calcium did not occur immediately in the deforested watershed?

the deforestation occurred during the winter when runoff was low.

If the herring population is reduced by predation, which of the following is most likely to occur in this aquatic ecosystem?

the plankton population will be reduced over the next year

to estimate the total amount of calcium lost annually by each of the two watersheds, it would be most useful to measure which of the following?

volume of water flowing out of each watershed daily