Learning Curve Chapter 21

Which characterization best describes a symbiotic relationship?

The organisms live in close association.

If two species appear to have identical niches, yet they are stably coexisting for an extended period of time, what can you conclude about their niches?

Their niches are not really identical, and they are somehow resource partitioning

If two organisms are involved in a symbiotic relationship, what can you infer?

They are living in close association.

If humans started to eat more fruits, vegetables, and grains, what might happen to populations of other top predators?

They would decrease in size, because if there are fewer producers available for other herbivores, then there will be fewer consumers available for other top predators to eat.

Which organism would be difficult to place within a simplistic food chain?

bear (i.e., an omnivore)

Compared to native bees, the honey bee's niche is _____.

broader

Which of these would NOT be considered an autotroph?

hawk

Lichens are the result of a symbiosis between fungi and a photosynthetic algae or bacterium. The fungus provides shelter for the photosynthetic partner, and the products of photosynthesis provide food for the fungus. What kind of symbiotic interaction is this?

mutualism―both partners (the fungus and the algae/bacterium) benefit

A bear that eats both blueberries and fish from a river is a(n) _____.

omnivore

Which food would NOT be part of your diet if bees were to go extinct?

oranges

When you eat a peach, you are eating the _____.

ovary

Mistletoe grows on other plants, tapping into the nutrients of the host plant. Mistletoe can kill its host plant. The relationship between mistletoe and its host plant is best described as _____.

parasitism

When sea otters were hunted nearly to extinction in California coastal communities, sea urchin populations increased, kelp beds decreased in size, and fish reproduced at far lower levels. What does this reflect?

that otters must have ordinarily eaten sea urchins

In order to maximize energy returns, what food(s) should be provided to famine-struck areas of the globe?

whole-grain products