Deck 18: An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere

Question 1

What name is given to the region where sea meets land?

A)pelagic realm
B)intertidal zone
C)benthic realm
D)aphotic zone

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Ecology is the study of ________.

A)life
B)human effects on the environment
C)interactions between humans and other species
D)interactions between organisms and their environments

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following organisms are NOT ultimately dependent on sunlight for energy?

A)species that live in hydrothermal vent habitats
B)migratory bird species
C)marine species that live in the aphotic zone
D)trees that have experienced "flagging"

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Wetlands ________.

A)are important in improving water quality
B)include rivers,streams,ponds,and lakes
C)are bodies of swiftly flowing water
D)are found in the intertidal zone

Question 5

What level of ecology is concerned with the adaptations of individuals?

A)community
B)organismal
C)ecosystem
D)population

Question 6

Which of the following is a behavioral response to environmental variability?

A)migrating to a different location
B)acclimation
C)endothermy
D)"flagging" by trees

Question 7

Which of the following is abiotic?

A)a protist
B)a plant
C)a fungus
D)a rock

Question 8

What level of ecology is concerned with groups of individuals of the same species?

A)community
B)organism
C)ecosystem
D)population

Question 9

What term applies to the physical and physiological changes experienced by astronauts who spend months in space?

A)acclimation
B)adaptation
C)camouflaging
D)flagging

Question 10

What level of ecology is concerned with both the biotic and abiotic aspects of an environment?

A)community
B)organism
C)ecosystem
D)population

Question 11

Which of these biomes is one of the most biologically productive of all biomes?

A)open oceans
B)estuaries
C)temperate grasslands
D)coniferous forests

Question 12

In an aquatic ecosystem,what name is given to the region where photosynthesis can occur?

A)pelagic zone
B)aphotic zone
C)benthic realm
D)photic zone

Question 13

Which of these is a community?

A)all of the Staphylococcus aureus (a species of bacteria living on your skin
B)all of the organisms living in your home
C)all of the people living in your neighborhood
D)all of the nut grass (considered a weed)in your backyard

Question 14

If you study how two species of finches compete for food,you are trying to answer a question about ________.

A)community ecology
B)population ecology
C)organismal ecology
D)ecosystems ecology

Question 15

Suppose that a group of climate scientists claims that they can predict future impacts of global climate change with 98% accuracy.Why should you be skeptical of this claim?

A)They do not have reliable methods to measure this change.
B)Their predictions are based on incomplete information about species diversity and interactions of living organisms with each other and with their environments.
C)They should be focusing their predictions based only on climate change in the polar regions where the greatest effects of climate change are experienced.
D)They have not accounted for abiotic factors that affect global climate change in their predictions.

Question 16

Which nutrients often limit the distribution and abundance of photosynthetic organisms?

A)water and oxygen
B)nitrogen and phosphorus
C)carbon dioxide and nitrogen
D)water and carbon dioxide

Question 17

What are estuaries?

A)types of freshwater biomes
B)areas near the start of a river
C)regions where ocean meets land
D)transition areas between a river and the ocean

Question 18

What is a population?

A)a group of organisms living in a particular geographic area
B)a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular geographic area
C)a community as well as all the abiotic factors in a particular geographic area
D)all of the organisms of a species existing at a particular time

Question 19

Aquatic organisms ________.

A)have a waxy coating to prevent water loss
B)may experience problems with water balance
C)typically have a plentiful supply of nitrogen
D)never find light to be in short supply

Question 20

What level of ecology is concerned with groups of individuals of different species?

A)community
B)organism
C)ecosystem
D)population

Question 21

Permafrost,or permanently frozen subsoil,characterizes ________.

A)temperate broadleaf forest
B)chaparral
C)tundra
D)coniferous forest

Question 22

Which of the following can moderate climate by absorbing heat when the air is warm and releasing heat when the air is cold?

A)clouds
B)glaciers
C)mountains
D)oceans

Question 23

An effect of deforestation has been to ________.

A)decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
B)increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
C)increase the rate at which carbon dioxide is incorporated into organic material
D)decrease the rate of carbon dioxide production through cellular respiration

Question 24

What is one important difference between savannas and temperate grasslands?

A)Savannas only rarely experience fires.
B)Temperate grasslands are mostly treeless.
C)Savannas are inhabited by grazing mammals.
D)Temperate grasslands have nutrient-poor soil.

Question 25

In what part of the ocean are phytoplankton found?

A)pelagic realm
B)intertidal zone
C)benthic realm
D)aphotic zone

Question 26

In the oceans,global warming has ________.

A)decreased the amount of oxygen available
B)benefited corals
C)made the water more basic
D)made the water more acidic

Question 27

________ are the dominant herbivores of savanna ecosystems.

A)Antelopes
B)Zebras
C)Buffalo
D)Insects

Question 28

What name is given to the open ocean?

A)pelagic realm
B)intertidal zone
C)benthic realm
D)photic zone

Question 29

What fraction of Earth's surface has been altered by human use?

A)25%
B)50%
C)75%
D)95%

Question 30

What name is given to the seafloor?

A)pelagic realm
B)intertidal zone
C)benthic realm
D)aphotic zone

Question 31

Temperature increases due to global warming have been greatest ________.

A)close to the poles
B)in the sea
C)in the tropics
D)in deserts

Question 32

Most of the temperate grassland in North America has been converted to ________.

A)cities
B)farmland
C)national parks
D)small neighborhoods

Question 33

The greenhouse effect causes an increase in global temperatures.This increase is due primarily to ________.

A)CO₂ and other greenhouse gases allowing more solar radiation to penetrate Earth's surface
B)CO₂ and other greenhouse gases slowing the escape of UV radiation from Earth
C)the loss of ozone that trapped cooling UV radiation in the atmosphere
D)CO₂ and other greenhouse gases slowing the escape of heat from Earth

Question 34

Long,snowy winters as well as evergreen trees such as pine and fir are found in ________.

A)chaparral
B)temperate broadleaf forests
C)coniferous forests
D)temperate grasslands

Question 35

Temperate zones ________.

A)have the coolest climates on Earth
B)have milder climates than the tropics
C)are relatively dry
D)are concentrated in the polar regions

Question 36

Which of these biomes are maintained by fire?

A)temperate broadleaf forests and chaparral
B)chaparral and savannas
C)deserts and chaparral
D)savanna and temperate grasslands

Question 37

With regard to the environment as a whole,when is the worst time to apply pesticide to your lawn?

A)when it is raining,or is about to rain
B)when it is cold,or is about to get cold
C)at the same time you apply fertilizer
D)at night

Question 38

Water-storing plants and deeply rooted shrubs are plants that characterize ________.

A)tropical forests
B)chaparral
C)deserts
D)savanna

Question 39

Water moves from land to the atmosphere through ________.

A)precipitation only
B)transpiration only
C)transpiration and evaporation
D)evaporation and precipitation

Question 40

The Sahara Desert and the Negev Desert belong to the same ________.

A)community
B)savanna ecosystem
C)biome
D)temperate grassland

Question 41

At different times in their lives,salmon can be found in all of the following EXCEPT ________.

A)a freshwater biome
B)a chaparral
C)the pelagic realm
D)an estuary

Question 42

Malaria is an infectious disease transmitted to humans from a parasite that infects mosquitoes that feed on humans.World health officials have concerns that climate change may impact the transmission of malaria into tropical highland areas in Africa.If these concerns turn out to be valid,they would be evidence for which of the following?

A)Global climate change affects the distribution of species.
B)Global climate change will negatively impact the transmission of malaria only in Africa.
C)Global climate change affects freshwater and marine biomes.
D)Global climate change will enable scientists to more easily control the spread of malaria.

Question 43

In this scenario,how would you best describe CO₂?

A)It is a baseline comparison for the GWP values of all other GHGs.
B)It is a GHG whose GWP value is dependent upon the GWP values of all other GHGs.
C)It is the GHG that is the most efficient at trapping heat on Earth.
D)It is the GHG that is the least efficient at trapping heat on Earth.

Question 44

Which of the following actions would increase your carbon footprint?

A)reusing or recycling items
B)eating more vegetables and less meat
C)eating more beef and less chicken
D)walking instead of driving

Question 45

Examine the figure below.Phytoplankton live in the ________.

A)photic zone and aphotic zone
B)aphotic zone
C)benthic realm
D)photic zone

Question 46

Scientists have documented that spring seasons starting earlier due to climate change have resulted in some caterpillar species beginning their maturation stage earlier than normal.There are bird species that need the caterpillars to feed their chicks.However,since the caterpillars are maturing before the chicks hatch (and therefore cannot be used for chick food),the birds are experiencing a drop in their lifetime reproductive success.Interestingly,scientists have also documented that the individual birds that are best able to change when they lay their eggs to align with earlier spring seasons have the greatest lifetime reproductive success.These phenomena are examples of ________.

A)an evolutionary response to climate change
B)an increase in global greenhouse gas emissions due to climate change
C)a change in species distribution due to climate change
D)the effects of terrestrial biome distribution due to climate change

Question 47

Which of the following is NOT a cause of increasing CO₂ levels?

A)burning of fossil fuels
B)home energy use
C)production of manufactured goods
D)creating compost piles from vegetable waste

Question 48

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)are greenhouse gases that,for a specific amount of mass,trap significantly more heat than CO₂.How can you classify CFCs?

A)gases with lower GWP values than CO₂
B)gas with equal GWP values to CO₂
C)gases with greater GWP values than CO₂
D)gases that do not have GWP values

Question 49

has a GWP over 20 times higher than CO₂.However,CH₄ emitted today lasts for only about a decade in the atmosphere,while the GWP of CO₂ can last for thousands of years.What is a possible reason that CH₄ can have such a high GWP as compared to CO₂?

A)The 100-year time frame is too short of a time frame to compare CH₄ and CO₂.
B)CH₄ absorbs more energy than CO₂.
C)CH₄ is less efficient at trapping heat on Earth.
D)CH₄ is not a proven greenhouse gas.

Question 50

Which of the following is NOT a result of global warming?

A)changes in the breeding seasons of some species
B)increased forest clearing for agricultural purposes
C)melting permafrost
D)shifts in the ranges of some species

Question 51

Examine the figure below.Globally,the largest amount of water moves from ________.

A)the oceans to the atmosphere by evaporation
B)land to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration
C)the atmosphere to land by precipitation
D)land to the oceans by surface and groundwater runoff

Question 52

Examine the figure below.Which part of Earth receives the greatest intensity of solar radiation?

A)Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
B)equator
C)North and South Poles
D)All parts of Earth receive the same intensity of solar radiation.

Question 53

The physiological response that allows salmon to survive in fresh water,then in salt water,and then fresh water again is an example of ________.

A)a behavioral response
B)evolution
C)acclimation
D)an anatomical response