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Biology Final Exam Review

Terms in this set (83)

When a New England farm is abandoned, its formerly plowed fields first become weedy meadows, then shrubby areas, and finally forest. This sequence of plant communities is an example of
secondary succession
The prokaryotes that cause tooth decay have a ________ relationship with humans
parasitic
When two different populations in a community benefit from their relationship with each other, the result is called
mutualism
An owl and a hawk both eat mice. Which of these describes the relationship between a hawk and an owl?
competition
In an average ecosystem, about how much energy is present in the organisms at a given trophic level compared to the organisms at the next higher trophic level?
ten times as much
Which of the following represents a step in the nitrogen cycle?
nitrogen fixing bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium
One of the most worrisome results of the large-scale clearing and cultivation of land is
erosion and soil degradation
If an overlap develops between the ranges of two closely related species, and if the species occupy the same niche in the zone of overlap, what will probably happen in the zone of overlap?
one species will take over most or all of the zone of overlap
In a food chain consisting of phytoplankton → zooplankton → fish → fishermen, the fishermen are
tertiary consumers
When a crocodile eats a fish, the interspecific interaction between the two could be expressed as ________ for the crocodile and ________ for the fish.
+...-
the number of species in a community is called the
species richness
The sum total of a population's use of the biotic and abiotic resources of its habitat constitutes its
niche
Which of the following statements about the nitrogen cycle is true?
the nitrogen cycle requires different types of bacteria
In an ecosystem, you would expect to find interspecific competition between
populations of two species that occupy the same niche
Non-native species that are introduced in new environments, spread far beyond the original point of introduction, and cause damage are called
invasive species
Which of the following substances is cycled between organic matter and abiotic reservoirs?
carbon
Which of the following statements regarding food webs is true?
several species of primary consumers may feed on the same species of producer
A community is composed of
potentially interacting populations of different kinds of organisms
For a given area and time period, the amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy in organic compounds is called
primary production
Camouflage typically evolves as a result of
predation
Within an ecosystem, a tree is a
producer
In a hypothetical food chain consisting of grass, grasshoppers, sparrows, and hawks, the grasshoppers are
primary consumers
One mechanism that prey populations evolve to avoid predation is
chemical defenses
Organisms that digest molecules in organic material and convert them into inorganic forms are
decomposers
Which of the following is an example of predation?
a hawk swooping down quickly to capture, kill and eat a prairie king snake
In terms of population dynamics, what is "boom-and-bust" cycling?
a situation in which a population moves back and forth between rapid growth and decline
An ecological footprint
is a means of understanding resource availability and usage
An ecologist hypothesizes that predation by a particular owl species is the major factor controlling the population of a particular rabbit species. If this is the case, which of the following population effects could be expected in this rabbit-owl pair?
an increase in the owl population should cause a fall in the rabbit population
A survivorship curve is a
a graph that plots an individual's likelihood of being alive as a function of age
An ecologist recorded 12 white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, per square mile in one woodlot and 20 per square mile on another woodlot. What was the ecologist comparing?
density
The most common kind of dispersion in nature is
clumped
If a population has a birth rate of 40 individuals per 1,000 per year and a death rate of 30 individuals per 1,000 per year, how will the population change each year? (Assume that the population is below carrying capacity and that there is no immigration or emigration.)
it will increase by 1%
The density of Douglas firs in an old-growth forest is estimated by counting the Douglas firs in four sample plots of 1 hectare each. The number of fir trees in the plots is 10, 12, 7, and 11, respectively. What is the estimated density of firs in the forest?
10 trees per hectare
Carrying capacity is
the maximum population size that a particular environment can support
In the logistic growth model, as population size increases, birth rates
decline and/or death rates increase
If an ecosystem has a carrying capacity of 1,000 individuals for a given species, and 2,000 individuals of that species are present, we can predict that the population
size will decrease
A group of individuals of a single species that occupy the same general area defines a
population
You drive through Iowa in the spring and notice that along a stretch of several kilometers, every third fence post has a male redwing blackbird perched on it defending its nesting territory. This is an example of
uniform dispersion
The pattern of distribution for a certain species of kelp is clumped. We would expect that the pattern of distribution for a population of snails that live on the kelp would be
clumped
An ecologist hypothesizes that predation by a particular owl species is the major factor controlling the population of a particular rabbit species. The first step in testing this hypothesis would be to determine
whether the owls eat the rabbits
A newly mated queen ant establishes an ant nest in an unoccupied patch of suitable habitat. The population of the nest grows quickly at first, then levels off at carrying capacity. Which of the following types of equation will best describe its population growth?
logistic
A tidal wave wipes out the entire population of mice living on an island. This is an example of
the effects of abiotic factors
Which of the following characterizes relatively K-selected populations?
offspring with good chances of survival
Which of the following will likely decrease a population's size?
decreasing the food supply available to the population
A table listing such items as age, observed number of organisms alive each year, and life expectancy is known as a (an)
life table
An r-selected species typically
has an advantage in habitats that experience unpredictable disturbances
The world human population
is growing, but at a slower rate than in the last century
The maximum number of individuals a habitat can support is called its
carrying capacity
If most of the individuals of a human population are in their pre-reproductive years, you would expect the population size to ________ after 20 years.
increase
Which of the following is the pattern of spacing for individuals within the boundaries of the population?
dispersion
Which of the following is a density-independent factor limiting human population growth?
earthquakes
Assume that there are five alligators per acre in a swamp in northern Florida. This is a measure of the alligator population's
density
Which of the following is an example of a population?
all of the students in your classroom
Which of the following organisms best illustrates K-selection?
a polar bear producing one or two cubs every three years
A survivorship curve that involves producing very few offspring, each of which has a high probability of surviving to adulthood, is typical of
elephants
The benthic zone in an aquatic biome
often supports communities of organisms that feed largely on detritus
Where would an ecologist find the most phytoplankton in a lake?
photic zone
Trees are not usually found in the tundra biome because of
permafrost
Which marine zone would have the lowest rates of primary productivity (photosynthesis)?
abyssal
If a meteor impact or volcanic eruption injected a lot of dust into the atmosphere and reduced the sunlight reaching Earth's surface by 70% for one year, all of the following marine communities most likely would be greatly affected except
deep sea vent communities
Which of the following are important biotic factors that can affect the structure and organization of biological communities?
predation, competition
The growing season would generally be shortest in which of the following biomes?
coniferous forest
Deserts typically occur in a band at 30 degrees north and south latitude because
descending air masses tend to be cool and dry
You are interested in studying how organisms react to a gradient of a variety of abiotic conditions and how they coexist in this gradient. The best location in which to conduct such a study is
an intertidal zone
Landscape ecology is best described as the study of
the factors controlling the exchanges of energy, materials and organisms among ecosystem patches
Generally speaking, deserts are located in places where air masses are usually
descending
Which of the following is not true about estuaries?
estuaries usually contain no or few producers
Which of the following environmental features might influence microclimates?
all of the above
Which of the following statements best describes the interaction between fire and ecosystems?
many kinds of plants and plant communities have adapted to frequent fires
Probably the most important factor(s) affecting the distribution of biomes is (are)
climate
Which of the following levels of organization is arranged in the correct sequence from most to least inclusive?
ecosystem, community, population, individual
Which of the following areas of study focuses on the exchange of energy, organisms, and materials between ecosystems?
landscape ecology
Species introduced to new geographic locations
can out-compete and displace native species for biotic and abiotic resources
Which biome is able to support many large animals despite receiving moderate amounts of rainfall?
savanna
In which of the following terrestrial biome pairs are both dependent upon periodic burning?
chaparral and savanna
Which lake zone would be absent in a very shallow lake?
aphotic zone
Suppose the number of bird species is determined mainly by the number of vertical strata found in the environment. If so, in which of the following biomes would you find the greatest number of bird species?
tropical rain forest
Tropical grasslands with scattered trees are also known as
savannas
Phytoplankton is most frequently found in which of the following zones?
photic
The main reason polar regions are cooler than the equator is because
sunlight strikes the poles at an lower angle
Turnover of water in temperate lakes during the spring and fall is made possible by which of the following?
the density of water changes as seasonal temperatures change
Which of the following is true with respect to oligotrophic lakes and eutrophic lakes?
eutrophic lakes are richer in nutrients
Which of the following causes Earth's seasons?
the tilt of the Earth's axis
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