Question 1

A reverse biomass pyramid is typical of

Accepted Answer

A) terrestrial ecosystems because of the high concentration of sunlight. 
B) terrestrial ecosystems because land can support more animals than water. 
C) aquatic ecosystems because top consumers live much longer than producers. 
D) aquatic ecosystems because water contains much more oxygen than air.

Question 2

Which one of the following best represents a negative tipping point?

Accepted Answer

A) logging trees and preventing their regrowth in a forest 
B) allowing natural wildfires to burn wherever they occur 
C) allowing resilience mechanisms to function after a wildfire 
D) relying upon bordering systems to repopulate a region that has been flooded

Question 3

As we consider the pressing demands of a growing human population,ecosystem services must be

Accepted Answer

A) given proper economic value and not taken for granted. 
B) perceived as free. 
C) understood as unlimited resources. 
D) managed for maximum economic output.

Question 4

In some deserts,there are mice and lizards that are about the same size.The mice eat grains and the lizards feed on insects.Given this information,we would expect that the biomass of the

Accepted Answer

A) lizards would be about the same as the mice. 
B) lizards would be greater than the mice. 
C) mice would be greater than the lizards. 
D) lizards and mice would be about 10 times greater than the organisms that they consume.

Question 5

In a forest,deer,raccoons,squirrels,and other animals eat and find shelter.A detrital food web occurs as their wastes accumulate on the forest floor.In this detrital web,

Accepted Answer

A) deer and raccoons function as the producers. 
B) fungi and earthworms function as producers. 
C) decomposers function as consumers. 
D) the deer and raccoons represent decomposers.

Question 6

Which one of the following contributes the most to global climate change?

Accepted Answer

A) planting forests to grow wood for lumber and paper pulp 
B) the use of natural gas to heat homes 
C) the generation of electricity from nuclear fuel 
D) eating a vegetarian diet

Question 7

Anaerobic respiration

Accepted Answer

A) occurs without oxygen and may produce methane gas. 
B) is a type of photosynthesis that does not require carbon dioxide. 
C) typically results in increased biomass. 
D) requires oxygen to break down glucose and other plant sugars.

Question 8

Walking along a large city park on a hot summer day,you look for a cool resting place and sit down on a large rock under a willow tree,at the quiet edge of a stream.You have searched for and found an example of a

Accepted Answer

A) microclimate. 
B) biome. 
C) landscape. 
D) population.

Question 9

About 40% of the land's primary production on Earth

Accepted Answer

A) has been appropriated to meet human needs. 
B) has been destroyed by global climate change. 
C) uses more oxygen than it produces. 
D) has been lost just to build enough homes for all of the people on Earth.

Question 10

Hydrothermal vent communities are unusual because

Accepted Answer

A) a primary producer synthesizes organic matter. 
B) a producer exists without sunlight. 
C) a consumer eats a producer. 
D) there are no producers in the ecosystem.

Question 11

You are enjoying a salad with lettuce coated by mushrooms,tomatoes,carrots,and bits of bacon from grain-fed pigs.Your salad represents

Accepted Answer

A) producers,consumers,and decomposers. 
B) only producers and consumers. 
C) only producers and carnivores. 
D) only producers.

Question 12

In the fall,Rose bought some fresh apple cider without preservatives sold by the local orchard.After several weeks stored in the refrigerator,Rose noticed the taste of alcohol in the cider.Friends later told her that she had accidentally made hard cider.Rose wondered how this could happen,and then her friends explained.After some time,natural yeast in her cider

Accepted Answer

A) broke down the glucose and made alcohol by fermentation. 
B) produced glucose by the process of alcoholic fermentation. 
C) broke glucose down into alcohol by aerobic respiration. 
D) used photosynthesis to create alcohol and sugars.

Question 13

The best ecosystem management requires

Accepted Answer

A) good stewardship and sustainability. 
B) planned disturbances and careful timing. 
C) restoration ecologists. 
D) government regulation and control.

Question 14

One of the reasons that humans continue to convert ecosystems to more direct human uses is that

Accepted Answer

A) the benefits are experienced locally while the losses are experienced regionally or globally. 
B) the human uses are much more productive than the natural systems. 
C) ecosystems function best when they are managed by humans for human uses. 
D) humans can redirect natural systems to more sustainable systems.

Question 15

Energy is lost as it moves from one trophic level to the next because

Accepted Answer

A) one trophic level does not consume the entire trophic level below it. 
B) some of the calories consumed drive cellular activities and do not add mass. 
C) some ingested materials are undigested and eliminated. 
D) All of the above.

Question 16

Bison grazing on grasses growing in a meadow represent

Accepted Answer

A) a consumer eating a producer. 
B) a predator eating a consumer. 
C) anaerobic metabolism. 
D) two producers exchanging energy.

Question 17

In this unusual ecosystem,

Accepted Answer

A) there is no photosynthesis. 
B) no energy is transferred between trophic levels. 
C) temperature is the most important biotic factor. 
D) producers eat consumers.

Question 18

Compared to an ecosystem with just a single stage of succession,an ecosystem with a variety of successional stages

Accepted Answer

A) is more likely to experience forest fires. 
B) has greater biodiversity. 
C) is less likely to experience erosion. 
D) has a much lower rate of primary productivity.

Question 19

Indigenous people living deep in the Brazilian rain forest have lived off the land for many centuries.Now iron ore mining companies are expanding into these regions.Government officials want to resolve the growing conflicts between the natives and the mining industry.They have been urged to bring together all of the interested parties.
-Which of the following groups would represent the primary stakeholders in this dispute?

Accepted Answer

A) representatives of the mining company 
B) the native people 
C) representatives of the Brazilian government 
D) all of the citizens of Brazil

Question 20

Cattle and termites both have symbiotic microorganisms living in their digestive tracts that help these animals by

Accepted Answer

A) digesting cellulose. 
B) producing oxygen. 
C) producing large organic molecules. 
D) releasing kilocalories.

Exam 5: Ecosystems: Energy, Patterns, and Disturbance