Ecology FINAL EXAM

There may have been a species that was not native to the United States hitching a ride on the apples.

A traveler was crossing the border from Canada to the United States and with a bag of Washington State apples. The customs officer at the border would not let the traveler take the apples into the United States, despite the apples originating from the United States. Why did the customs officer refuse to allow the traveler to cross the border with the apples?

creating compost piles from vegetable waste

All but one of these are causes for increasing carbon dioxide levels. Choose the EXCEPTION.

interactions between organisms and their environments

Ecology is the study of ________.

(NOT) Higher trophic levels have more total biomass and higher concentrations of PCBs than lower trophic levels.(NOT)

Examine the figure. Which statement correctly compares the biomass of different trophic levels to the concentrations of PCB contained in each level.

(NOT) Primary consumers have higher PCB concentration than secondary consumers. (NOT)

Examine the figure. Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton that are contaminated by PCBs in the water. Which comparison correctly describes the concentration of PCBs in different trophic levels?

Equator

From the figure, which part of Earth receives the greatest intensity of solar radiation?

increased forest clearing for agricultural purposes

Global warming may trigger all but one of these results to occur. Choose the EXCEPTION.

+/-

Herbivory is an example of a ________ interaction.

1 hectare

Humans can be infected with the Lyme disease bacterium. According to the graph, a hiker has the highest risk of encountering an infected black-legged tick nymph in forests that are ________ in area.

may experience problems with water balance

If their own solute concentration does not match that of their surroundings, aquatic organisms ________.

1 kcal

If there were an additional trophic level in this figure that consisted of organisms that prey on snakes, about how much energy would be available to organisms at that trophic level?

community ecology

If you study how two species of finches compete for food, you are trying to answer a question about ________.

Species richness should increase, and the relative abundances of each species should be about equal.

In Yellowstone National Park, wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1920s. A current restoration project has reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Predict the response of the Yellowstone ecological community if wolves are a keystone species.

Question options: photic zone

In an aquatic ecosystem, what name is given to the region where photosynthesis can occur?

secondary consumers

In an aquatic food chain, small fishes that eat zooplankton are ________.

the relative abundance of the different species

In order to assess the species diversity of a community, you would need to know the number of different species present as well as ________

NOT RIVERS

In suburban areas with a high density of humans, it is necessary to have a well-functioning wastewater treatment system. If engineers wanted to create a wastewater treatment system that takes advantage of natural resources, they should consider incorporating ________ into their plan.

fish that eat shrimp and other invertebrates

In the ecosystem shown, a toxin that accumulates in body tissues would have the largest effect on ________.

both an herbivore and a primary consumer

In the food chain grass → antelope → human → lion, the antelope is ________.

(NOT) primary consumer(NOT)

In the food chain grass → antelope → human → lion, the human is a ________.

made the water more acidic

In the oceans, global warming has ________.

pelagic realm

In what part of the ocean are phytoplankton found?

temperate zones

Latitudes between the tropics and the Arctic Circle and the Antarctic Circle are called ________.

coniferous forests

Long, snowy winters as well as evergreen trees such as pine and fir are found in ________

affects the distribution of species

Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted to humans from a parasite that infects mosquitoes that feed on humans. World health officials have concerns that climate change may impact the transmission of malaria into tropical highland areas in Africa. If these concerns turn out to be valid, they would imply that global climate change ________.

fungi and prokaryotes

Most decomposers are ________.

farmland

Most of the temperate grassland in North America has been converted to ________.

primary consumers

Organisms that consume producers are ________.

nitrate

Plants can most readily utilize the ________ form of nitrogen.

competition

Populations of two coexisting species are both tertiary consumers in a community. What relationship may exist between these two organisms?

NOT ECOSYSTEM

Refer to the accompanying figure. Together, all of the living components of the coral reef represent a(n) ________.

an evolutionary response to climate change

Scientists have documented that spring seasons starting earlier due to climate change have resulted in some caterpillar species beginning their maturation stage earlier than normal. There are bird species that need the caterpillars to feed their chicks. However, since the caterpillars are maturing before the chicks hatch (and therefore cannot be used for chick food), the birds are experiencing a drop in their lifetime reproductive success. Interestingly, scientists have also documented that the individual birds that are successful in altering their egg-laying patterns to align with earlier spring seasons have the greatest lifetime reproductive success. These phenomena are examples of ________.

bacteria

The organisms that can convert atmospheric nitrogen gas to a form that can be utilized by plants are ________.

is as much as 100 times higher than at any time in the last 100,000 years

The present rate of species loss ________.

primary productivity

The rate at which an ecosystem's producers convert solar energy to chemical energy stored in biomass is called ________.

habitat destruction and fragmentation

The single greatest threat to biodiversity comes from ________.

Lake 2

Two lakes have the same number of species. Most of the fish in Lake 1 are of a single species, with a few individuals each for the remaining species. Lake 2, on the other hand, has about equal numbers of each species. Which lake has higher species diversity?

transpiration and evaporation

Water moves from land to the atmosphere through ________.

deserts

Water-storing plants and deeply rooted shrubs are plants that characterize ________.

transition areas between a river and the ocean

What are estuaries?

oceans and lakes

What can moderate climate by absorbing heat when the air is warm and releasing heat when the air is cold?

75%

What fraction of Earth's surface has been altered by human use?

a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular geographic area

What is a population?

Temperate grasslands are mostly treeless.

What is one important difference between savannas and temperate grasslands?

Energy flow is unidirectional; chemical elements can be recycled.

What is one way in which the movement of energy and chemicals differ in an ecosystem?

(NOT) 10-25% (NOT)

What is the range of actual efficiencies of energy transfer from one trophic level to the next?

ecosystem

What level of ecology is concerned with energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among various biotic and abiotic factors?

community

What level of ecology is concerned with groups of individuals of different species?

(NOT) organism(NOT)

What level of ecology is concerned with the adaptations of individuals?

pelagic realm

What name is given to the open ocean?

intertidal zone

What name is given to the region where ocean meets land?

benthic realm

What name is given to the seafloor?

(NOT) How does the structure of a cactus plant enable it to avoid desiccation in hot, arid environments? (NOT)

What question would be investigated by someone who studies ecosystem ecology?

How does a change in vocal signals helpurban great tits (Parus major)survive in urbanized areas?

What question would be investigated by someone who studies organismal ecology?

acclimation

What term applies to the physical and physiological changes experienced by astronauts who spend months in space?

eating more beef and less chicken

Which action would increase your carbon footprint?

tundra

Which biome is characterized by permafrost?

estuaries

Which biome is one of the most biologically productive of all biomes?

NOT PHOTIC ZONE

Which ecosystems support life in the absence of sunlight?

a rock

Which environmental factor is abiotic?

migrating to a different location

Which is a behavioral response to environmental variability?

nitrogen and phosphorus

Which nutrients often limit the distribution and abundance of photosynthetic organisms?

chaparral and savannas

Which of these biomes are maintained by fire?

all of the organisms living in your garden

Which of these is a community?

decomposers

Which of these organisms convert organic matter to inorganic matter by breaking down dead organisms?

(NOT)How do phosphoruscycling and solar energy affect water temperature and phytoplankton growth in aquatic ecosystems?(NOT)

Which question would be investigated by someone who studies population ecology?

There is insufficient energy to support more trophic levels.

Why are most food chains limited to three to five trophic levels?

when it is raining, or is about to rain

With regard to the environment as a whole, when is the worst time to apply pesticide to your lawn?

NOT RAIN

________ is a critical abiotic factor that contributes to plant growth in savanna ecosystems.

increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

An effect of deforestation has been to ________.

between corals and unicellular algae

An example of a mutualism, or +/+ relationship, is ________.

1%

Approximately what percentage of the visible light that reaches Earth's producers is converted to chemical energy?

undergo succession

As a result of a severe disturbance, a community will ________.

a food web

Bears eat berries, humans, and large fish; large fish eat smaller fish and insects; humans eat bears, large fish, and berries. The scenario described here is an example of ________.

organic material in

Biomass is the total amount of ________ an ecosystem

Their predictions are based on incomplete information about species diversity and interactions of living organisms with each other and with their environments.

Suppose that a group of climate scientists claims that they can predict future impacts of global climate change with 98% accuracy. Why should you be skeptical of this claim?

close to the poles

Temperature increases due to global warming have been greatest ________.

N2

The atmosphere is approximately 80% ________ gas.

P. aurelia is the superior competitor in this habitat

The figure below shows the growth curves of two populations of Paramecium, P. aurelia and P. caudatum. From the data, we can conclude that ________.

mountains can block the flow of moist air from a coast, causing radically different climates on opposite sides of a mountain range

The figure indicates that ________.

photic zone

The figure shows regions of an ocean. In what region do phytoplankton live?

carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases slowing the escape of heat from Earth

The greenhouse effect causes an increase in global temperatures. This increase is due primarily to ________.