Deck 1: The Nature of Ecology

Question 1

Identify the sources of variation in ecology that make prediction difficult.

Answer 1

Two sources of variability:
1. No experiment can duplicate or account for ALL factors that may be influencing the organism. 2. Inherent biological variability of organisms.

Question 2

Which of the following is considered a biotic component of the ecosystem?

A)climate
B)microbes
C)soil
D)water

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The highest level of organization of ecological systems is the ________.

Answer 3

biosphere

Question 4

The term "ecology" is defined as the study of the

A)environment.
B)relationships between organisms.
C)relationships between organisms and their environment.
D)impact of humans on the environment.

Question 5

________ is the scientific study of the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Question 6

Environmental factors that influence an organism's survival and success fall into one of three categories. Name these categories and briefly describe them.

Question 7

The mechanism that allowed the science of ecology to go beyond just descriptive natural history and instead study the processes which control distribution and abundance of organisms is

A)Lyell's theory on the age of the Earth.
B)Haeckel's study of botany.
C)Malthus' work on populations.
D)Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Question 8

If an ecologist wanted to illustrate whether a relationship exists between body length and body weight, he would probably produce a(n)________.

Question 9

Ambient temperature and concentration of carbon dioxide

A)are parts of an organism's environment.
B)have no effect on the physiology of an organism.
C)are biological conditions that impact an organism's survival.
D)do not vary in the environment.

Question 10

An ecologist who adds different amounts of nitrogen to specific plots of grasses uses a(n)________ to answer her research question.

Question 11

Bird wingspan would be considered ________ data.

Question 12

Whether abiotic or biotic, environmental factors fall into one of three categories

A)resources, conditions, or hazards.
B)animal, vegetable, or mineral.
C)food, water, or mates.
D)individual, population, or community.

Question 13

All populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem are referred to as a(n)________.

Question 14

An abstract, simplified representation of a real system is referred to as a(n)________.

Question 15

The ________ forms the basic unit in ecology.

Question 16

The biotic and abiotic components of the environment interacting together are referred to as a(n)________.

Question 17

At the ________ level, an ecologist might focus on the factors that affect the relative abundance of various populations in the area.

Question 18

At the ________ level, communities and ecosystems are linked through processes such as dispersal of organisms.

Question 19

A biotic community and its abiotic environment is referred to as a(n)

A)biosphere.
B)ecosystem.
C)population.
D)biome.

Question 20

An "educated guess" that a scientist poses to explain an observed phenomenon is referred to as a(n)________.

Question 21

A population refers to all the individuals of the same species that occupy a given area.

Question 22

Which of the following questions is most appropriate to investigate at the population level?

A)What is the effect of diminished resources on an individual's life span?
B)What is the relationship between resource availability and birth rate?
C)What factors influence the distribution of tropical forests?
D)How long does it take for carbon to be cycled from the atmosphere into living tissue?

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of categorical data that an ecologist might record for a bird?

A)beak length
B)feather colour
C)wingspan
D)feather number

Question 24

The biosphere is

A)the thin layer surrounding the Earth that supports all life.
B)all the populations of different species living and interacting within an ecosystem.
C)a broad-scale region dominated by similar types of ecosystems.
D)an area of land or water composed of a patchwork of communities and ecosystems.

Question 25

The number of seeds produced by a single flower affects the birth rate of that population of flowers.

Question 26

A field study

A)generally takes place within a greenhouse environment.
B)requires the ecologist to vary the level of an independent variable.
C)is the most controlled of research approaches.
D)utilizes sites in which the independent variable fluctuates naturally.

Question 27

The community of a pine forest would include all living organisms and nonliving components.

Question 28

A group of individuals of the same species occupying a given area is referred to as a(n)

A)community.
B)biome.
C)population.
D)ecosystem.

Question 29

Ecology is the same as environmentalism.

Question 30

Which of the following is the correct ecological hierarchy of a daisy (from smallest unit to largest unit)?

A)landscape, community, population, individual organism
B)individual organism, community, population, landscape
C)individual organism, population, community, landscape
D)landscape, population, community, individual organism

Question 31

The basic units in ecology are the

A)ecosystem and biosphere.
B)gene and individual.
C)individual and ecosystem.
D)population and community.

Question 32

The real goal of hypothesis testing is to

A)eliminate incorrect ideas.
B)form a theory.
C)fully explain observations.
D)understand why science never changes.

Question 33

Light intensity is considered a biotic factor.

Question 34

If x and y have a positive relationship as shown by a scatterplot, then the value of y will

A)increase as the value of x decreases.
B)increase as the value of x increases.
C)decrease as the value of x increases.
D)stay the same as the value of x decreases.

Question 35

An ecosystem includes both living and nonliving components.

Question 36

A hypothesis refers to a(n)

A)phenomenon that is observed but is not yet understood.
B)testable explanation for an observed phenomenon.
C)untestable explanation for an observed phenomenon.
D)falsified explanation for an observed phenomenon.

Question 37

Because ecology relies on many different branches of science (e.g., geology)it is considered

A)hypothetical.
B)uncertain.
C)permanent.
D)interdisciplinary.

Question 38

An ecologist conducts a greenhouse experiment to study the effect of nitrogen concentration on the productivity of Eucalyptus seedlings. What is the dependent variable in this experiment?

A)Eucalyptus productivity
B)nitrogen concentration
C)the number of Eucalyptus seedlings planted
D)the amount of water given to each seedling each day

Question 39

An ecologist who focuses on the individual would study all of the following, EXCEPT

A)morphology.
B)physiology.
C)behaviour.
D)death rate.

Question 40

A model is used by ecologists to

A)prove how nature works by demonstrating cause and effect relationships.
B)analyze data that have been collected during an experiment.
C)make predictions about how nature works using a set of explicit assumptions.
D)observe how nature works in an experimental setting.

Question 41

Explain why current and past human activity is now considered part of the "natural world" by many ecologists. How might this change the field of ecology?

Question 42

Explain why ecology is inherently an interdisciplinary science. Give two examples of the ties between ecology and other branches of science.

Question 43

There is generally only one valid explanation for an observation.

Question 44

To be valid, a hypothesis must be testable.

Question 45

Explain why it is difficult for ecologists to give definitive answers.

Question 46

Ecology only examines the impact of natural processes and ignores the influence of human activity on the environment.

Question 47

In a histogram, the x-axis represents the number of individuals with a particular characteristic while the y-axis represents the category intervals.

Question 48

An experiment is a test under controlled conditions performed to examine the validity of a hypothesis.

Question 49

Ecological models can be mathematical or they can be verbally descriptive.

Question 50

Describe a field experiment that you might use to test the hypothesis that water availability affects plant growth. Suggest one set of possible results and the implications of those results for the hypothesis.

Question 51

Ecology is an interdisciplinary science that relies heavily on many different branches of science.

Question 52

Explain why human population growth, biological diversity, sustainability, and global climate change are considered crucial environmental problems facing humans.

Question 53

Using a real example, illustrate how an organism can both respond to and modify the abiotic conditions of its ecosystem.

Question 54

Science is a process of testing and correcting concepts in order to explain the world around us.

Question 55

Explain why animal and plant populations are dependent on one another at the ecosystem level.

Question 56

When data are categorical, any value within an interval is possible.

Question 57

Define five types of data that can be used for quantitative analyses and give an example of each.

Question 58

The most common method for displaying a single data set is to construct a frequency distribution.

Question 59

A hypothesis is an integrated set of theories.

Question 60

What is meant by "the environment is defined relative to the individual"?