Ecosystems Practice Wrong Answers (7-20-21)

Which letter correctly identifies a process of the hydrologic cycle in which the phase of water is changed from a liquid to a gas?

Wrong Answer: A Right Answer: B

The table above shows the balanced chemical equations that represent three processes that are part of the nitrogen cycle. Which of the following is exemplified by the equations above? (data table screenshot in desktop folder)

Wrong Answer: Approximately 10%10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. Right Answer: Each biogeochemical cycle demonstrates the conservation of matter.

Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following questions(s) refer to the following elements. (A) Carbon (B) Sodium (C) Sulfur (D) Phosphorus (E) Potassium Guano from fish-eating birds is a commercial source of this element.

Wrong Answer: Carbon Right Answer: Phosphorus

Which of the following is true of carbon as it cycles in nature?

Wrong Answer: Carbon dioxide is released during photosynthesis. Right Answer: Carbon sinks include forests and oceans.

Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the following processes: (A) Nitrification (B) Denitrification (C) Assimilation (D) Ammonification (E) Nitrogen fixation Ammonia is converted to nitrite, then to nitrate.

Wrong Answer: Denitrification Right Answer: Nitrification

Which of the following best describes the movement of energy in an ecosystem?

Wrong Answer: Energy is constantly recycled by decomposers for use by producers. Right Answer: Energy is harnessed by producers, and available energy decreases with each trophic level transfer.

Which of the following regions of the ocean is LEAST likely to contain photosynthetic organisms?

Wrong Answer: Intertidal zone Right Answer: Abyssal zone

Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the following processes: (A) Nitrification (B) Denitrification (C) Assimilation (D) Ammonification (E) Nitrogen fixation Nitrate ions and nitrite ions are converted into nitrous oxide gas and nitrogen gas (N to the down 2nd).

Wrong Answer: Nitrification Right Answer: Denitrification

Five different species of warblers, seed-eating birds, live in the same species of conifer trees. All of the birds migrate to coniferous forests during the summer, and different species reside in different areas in the same tree. They feed on the seeds of the conifer trees, but the different species do not mate with each other. Which of the following best explains why the different warbler species can all have habitats in the same conifer trees?

Wrong Answer: Not all the warblers are residents in the forest at the same time of the year because of different migration patterns. Right Answer: Resource partitioning of the seeds reduces competition, and the five different species can live in the same tree.

Which of the following is a process that indirectly removes carbon from Earth's atmosphere?

Wrong Answer: Outgassing by volcanoes Right Answer: Formation of carbonate deposits

Which of the following elements is most likely to limit primary production in freshwater lakes?

Wrong Answer: Oxygen Right Answer: Phosphorus

The diagram shows the amount of phosphorus measured in teragrams (1 teragram == 1 × 10 to the 12th grams), in the various reservoirs of the phosphorus cycle. (diagram screenshot in a desktop folder) According to the diagram, the movement of phosphorus between biological organisms and soil is in a steady state in an undisturbed system. Which of the following best explains the reason for this steady movement?

Wrong Answer: Phosphorus is taken up by plants during photosynthesis to create carbohydrates. Right Answer: Readily available organic phosphorus in the soil is assimilated by plants.

Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the following processes. (A) Photosynthesis (B) Eutrophication (C) Denitrification (D) Decomposition (E) Transpiration The process by which a soil nutrient is reduced and released to the atmosphere as a gas

Wrong Answer: Photosynthesis Right Answer: Denitrification

How does the burning of fossil fuels contribute to the net increase in atmospheric carbon?

Wrong Answer: Photosynthesis is reduced by virtue of increased smoke and haze. Right Answer: Carbon that has been sequestered underground is added to the carbon cycling between the atmosphere and the biosphere.

In a fish species, the number of eggs that hatch and survive for one year varies depending on the number of eggs that were produced. As the number of eggs produced increases past a threshold number, the survival rate of the offspring decreases. Which of the following statements best explains why only a limited number of offspring can survive in a fish population?

Wrong Answer: Resource partitioning allows similar species to coexist in the same ecological community. Right Answer: The chance of survival decreases when there is intraspecific competition for resources among surviving yearlings.

Of the following organisms, which occupies the lowest trophic level?

Wrong Answer: Spider Right Answer: Deer

The diagram below represents the nitrogen cycle. In the nitrogen cycle illustrated above, nitrification occurs in which of the following steps?

Wrong Answer: Step 1 Right Answer: Step 3

Which of the following best describes a symbiotic relationship?

Wrong Answer: Striped bass and bluefish eat the same variety of mackerel. Right Answer: Intestinal bacteria inhabit the gut of humans.

Which of the following best explains why terrestrial trophic pyramids usually do not have levels higher than tertiary consumers?

Wrong Answer: Tertiary consumers are the largest organisms in an ecosystem and require the most space to survive. Right Answer: A large proportion of energy is lost as heat as it is transferred up the pyramid, so there is not enough energy available to support another level.

A field is abandoned, and an invasive plant that can live in nutrient-poor soil moves into the field. If the land is later cleared of this invasive species and it is discovered that the soil has an abundance of nitrogen compounds, what conclusion can best be made?

Wrong Answer: The plants used up all of the phosphorus and potassium and left the nitrogen behind. Right Answer: Bacteria in soil and in root nodules converted free nitrogen into nitrogen compounds.

The great grasslands of the world have which of the following primary characteristics in common?

Wrong Answer: They are restricted in occurrence to the region between 30° north latitude and 30° south latitude. Right Answer: Seasonal cycles of temperature and precipitation produce abundant vegetative growth.

Which of the following is a characteristic of tropical rain forests?

Wrong Answer: They rarely receive more than 100 centimeters of rain per year. Right Answer: Their soils are relatively poor in nutrients.

Which of the following best explains why decomposers in soils and water are important to ecosystems?

Wrong Answer: They remove heavy metals. Right Answer: They recycle nutrients.