BIO 102 - ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS (FINAL)
What was the unintended consequence for birds when trees infected with Dutch Elm disease were sprayed with DDT? Select all that apply.
- Birds died when they ate earthworms with accumulated levels of DDT. - Leaves coated in DDT fell to the ground and were eaten by earthworms.
How did Rachel Carson account for the public's blind acceptance of DDT without scientific evidence of its safety? Select all that apply.
- Carson reasoned that individuals in positions of power made all the decisions without being informed of the associated risks. - Carson said that people put unquestioned faith in the power of experts to bend nature to their will with technology.
How did DDT become accepted and popularized without knowing whether it was safe?
- DDT was successfully used by public health officials to combat illnesses such as malaria, which is carried by mosquitoes. - DDT was successfully used by farmers to protect their crops from insects. - DDT was advertised by chemical companies as "an aid to domestic comfort and tranquility," and neighborhoods were sprayed en masse as children played happily in the clouds of chemicals. - DDT was first used in World War II to combat typhus fever, which is carried by insects, in U.S. soldiers.
Why is phosphorus important to the ecosystem?
-Phosphorus is critical for the structure of nucleic acids. -Phosphorus is a necessary component for the formation of bone. -Phosphorus is an important component of cell membranes. -Phosphorous is a component of teeth.
In aquatic environments, DDT is converted to DDE, a chemical that affects reproduction in predatory birds such as pelicans and bald eagles. In the 1950s, populations of these predatory birds plummeted. How did DDE from aquatic environments end up affecting eagles?
DDE is first absorbed from the water by zooplankton, and then moves up the food chain to higher trophic levels, eventually accumulating in predatory birds that feed on fish.
What is true about biomagnification?
DDT is absorbed by small animals, such as zooplankton, and then moves up the food chain when a predator eats a prey animal.
What type of biome has short evergreen trees and shrubs with leathery leaves and is characterized by long, hot, dry summers and cool, damp winters?
Mediterranean
What must be converted from an atmospheric gas into a form that plants can take up from soil?
Nitrogen
Why is it more energetically efficient to be a vegetarian than to eat meat?
No energy is lost to another animal's metabolism when a person eats plants
Why is the sun the ultimate source of energy for all carnivores?
Some of the energy produced during photosynthesis passes from one trophic level to the next as herbivores eat producers and are then eaten by carnivores.
What is true about energy transfer?
Some of the molecules consumed by organisms are never incorporated into their tissues and is lost in feces.
What is the result of the one-way path of energy flow through the ecosystem?
Tertiary consumers are often rare in an ecosystem.
After harvesting and selling a crop of corn, a farmer collects the corn stalks and feeds them to her cows. Why should the farmer add fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus to the field before growing another crop?
The nitrogen and phosphorus the plants tookfrom the soil will not return to the field through decomposition.
To ensure a constant supply of fresh water, which statement about the water cycle must be true?
The rate of water withdrawal from natural sources must be less than the rate of replacement.
Why is water considered a renewable resource?
Water resources are continually replenished by the water cycle.
An important role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria is to
convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia.
What is the major feature that defines a biome?
its plant life
What biome covers the greatest amount of Earth's surface?
oceans
What type of biome is characterized by evergreen trees, with long and cold winters and only short summers?
taiga
