Deck 20: Ecosystem Ecology, Conservation and Sustainability

Question 1

Which of the following is not thought to be a direct contributor to greenhouse gases and global warming?

A) deforestation
B) industrial activities
C) cattle farming
D) accumulation of plastic in the environment

Answer 1

accumulation of plastic in the environment

Question 2

After reading the paragraphs below, answer the question(s) that follow(s).
Introduced species are a problem all over the world, and there are many examples in the United States. Several years ago, a fisherman caught a northern snakehead fish in a pond in Crofton, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, DC). Snakeheads are a favourite food of immigrants from China, and live fish can frequently be found in Asian markets. It's suspected that the fish in the Crofton pond were purchased locally and then intentionally released.
Snakeheads are top predators, and 90% of the northern snakeheads' diet consists of other fishes. The northern snakehead can breathe out of water and travel short distances (about 30 metres) across land. They also breed rapidly. Females can lay more than 100 000 eggs per year. Juveniles have also been identified in the Potomac River and other rivers in Pennsylvania.

-In general, introduced species can be catastrophic for ecosystems because they

A) disrupt the balance of interspecies interactions that have typically evolved over long periods of time.
B) become the keystone species in any ecosystem.
C) invariably become the top predator in an ecosystem.
D) compete for resources with the top predator in an ecosystem.

Answer 2

disrupt the balance of interspecies interactions that have typically evolved over long periods of time.

Question 3

Hinduism is a religion that discourages the eating of meat. What percent of the population of India practices this religion?

A) 25%
B) 80%
C) 60%
D) 10%

Answer 3

80%

Question 4

Chemical cycles in an ecosystem include both biotic and abiotic components and are called

A) biochemical cycles.
B) bio-abio cycles.
C) biogeochemical cycles.
D) geochemical cycles.

Question 5

Eutrophication is not a causation of which of the following issues in Canadian lakes?

A) massive algae blooms
B) overpopulation of mussels
C) oxygen depletion
D) death of fish due to algae decomposition

Question 6

After reading the paragraph below, answer the question that follows.
You have purchased a brand new aquarium system. You bring it home, set it up, and fill it with clean tap water at the correct temperature. Excited to get this new hobby going, you ignore the advice of the man at the pet store who advised you to go slowly. You run out, purchase seven relatively large fish and put them in your aquarium. The next day, five of the seven fish are doing the backstroke. The day after, two fish have died and the remainder seem to be in poor health.

-What was the general problem that probably caused the fish deaths?

A) starvation due to absence of prey species
B) predation due to absence of prey species
C) nitrogen toxicity due to insufficient nitrogenous waste detoxifying bacterial populations
D) too high population density