1. Air masses descending on the earth’s surface at 30 degrees north and south latitude produce what major biome?
a. rainforest
b. deciduous forest
c. desert
d. coniferous forest
e. tundra
2. Ecosystem ecologists group organisms into functional categories according to how the organisms obtain energy. These categories are called ________________.
a. trophic levels
b. species
c. exchange pools
d. communities
e. phyla
3. For a small shrub growing on the forest floor, which of the following would represent an abiotic factor in its environment?
a. amount of sunlight
b. leaf-eating insects
c. fungi that infect shrub roots
d. amount of nitrogen in the soil
e. both a and d
4. A field biologist observes that a particular species of insect is always found on a particular species of plant. Which of the following interactions might these two species possibly be engaging in?
a. mutualism
b. herbivory
c. interspecific competition
d. all of these
e. only a or b
5. Which of the following statements is/are true with respect to biodiversity?
a. species diversity is relatively the same from one ecosystem to another.
b. the total number of species living on earth is not known with any certainty.
c. current extinction rates are about the same as they have been over the past 600 million years.
d. human activities have had little effect on present extinction rates.
e. none of the above are true.
6. Species inhabiting fluctuating or unpredictable environments often display characteristics such as early age of sexual maturity and many offspring per reproductive effort. Such species are called _____________.
a. primary producers
b. r-selected species
c. K-selected species
d. consumers
e. symbionts
7. In the population growth equation DN = rN, r represents the _________ of the population.
a. carrying capacity
b. size or density
c. death rate
d. birth rate
e. rate of increase
8. Lichens were once thought to be a single organism. However, scientists have found that it is actually a fungus and an alga living together in a __________________ relationship.
a. predator-prey
b. competitive
c. mutualistic
d. host-parasite
e. commensal
9. In most ecosystems, ecological pyramids are broad at the base and get narrower as higher trophic levels are considered. This pattern reflects that fact that ___________________.
a. energy is recycled in ecosystems
b. nutrients are recycled through ecosystems
c. complexity promotes stability
d. energy transfer between trophic levels is very inefficient
e. nutrients are tied up in reservoirs
10. Which of the following is not a consequence of the deforestation of tropical rainforest?
a. increased soil erosion
b. extinction of species
c. decreased CO2 fixation contributing to global warming
d. desertification
e. all of the above ARE consequences of deforestation
11. In benthic ecosystems known as "hydrothermal vent ecosystems," _____________ make up the primary producer trophic level.
a. phytoplankton
b. chemosynthetic bacteria
c. seeweeds
d. blue-green algae
e. fungi
12. _____________________ often leads to "algal blooms" in freshwater lakes, which, in turn, result in the death of fish due to low oxygen concentrations in the water.
a. Cultural eutrophication
b. Acid rain
c. Global warming
d. Desertification
e. Slash and burn agriculture
13. Species are said to have "__________" value if their existence improves our lives in some nonmaterial way.
a. commodity
b. amenity
c. moral
d. intrinsic
e. face
14. In which of the following biomes would you expect to find BOTH grazing and browsing animals?
a. grasslands
b. savanna
c. tundra
d. shrublands
e. coniferous forest
15. The idea that a single species my determine the species diversity of a community through its interactions with other species is called the _____________ concept.
a. keystone species
b. climax community
c. character displacement
d. symbiosis
e. competitive exclusion
16. The introduction of "exotic" species in ecosystems is a major cause of extinction. Which of the following is NOT an example of an exotic introduction?
a. the tamarisk tree in the southwestern U.S.
b. the mongoose in the Hawaiian Islands
c. the green tree snake in Guam
d. the Nile perch in Lake Victoria
e. all of the above ARE examples of exotic introductions.
17. The phenomenon in which a non-noxious species evolves to look like a noxious species thereby gaining protection from predators is called __________________.
a. mutualism
b. neutralism
c. Batesian mimicry
d. commensalism
e. subsidence
18. Phosphorus is an important nutrient for ecosystems. Phosphorus contained in rock is not directly available for use by organisms and is therefore said to be in the _________________ form.
a. exchange pool
b. reservoir
c. eutrophic
d. oligotrophic
e. abiotic
19. If one looks at the past 10,000 years of world human population growth, it can be seen that doubling times have _______________________.
a. gotten consistently larger
b. stayed relatively constant
c. gotten larger and smaller at different times
d. gotten consistently smaller
e. no relation to population growth rate
20. When the pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock (that’s in the northeastern U.S.), they would have most likely stepped off the Mayflower and into the biome known as _______________.
a. coniferous forest
b. savanna
c. temperate deciduous forest
d. grassland
e. shrubland
21. The pattern of how individuals in a population are spatially distributed with respect to one another is referred to as the _______________ of the population.
a. dispersion
b. biotic potential
c. density
d. natality
e. dominance hierarchy
22. Ecosystems having low species diversity and a relatively simple trophic structure (e.g. food chain) are more stable with respect to disturbance than ecosystems having high diversity and more complex trophic structure. (e.g. food web). TRUE or FALSE?
a. True
b. False
23. In a thermally stratified lake, a layer of warm water near the lake’s surface is separated from a deeper layer of cold water by a zone called the ____________.
a. epilimnion
b. hypolimnion
c. littoral zone
d. thermocline
e. profundal zone
24. Removing water from underground aquifers at rates exceeding the rates at which the aquifers are being recharged is called ________________.
a. eutrophication
b. subsidence
c. groundwater mining
d. stratification
e. desertification
25. Most of the world’s remaining tropical rainforests are now located in parks and reserves, thereby affording them protection from further loss due to deforestation. TRUE or FALSE?
a. True
b. False
26. Ecologist recognize several kinds of survivorship curves that are generated by following a cohort of organisms from their birth until all have died. The _____________ curve represents organisms in which the probability of dying is relatively constant and does not change with the organism’s age.
a. Type I
b. Type II
c. Type III
d. exponential
e. logistic
27. Gause’s laboratory experiments with populations of Paramecium illustrated the important ecological principle of ____________________.
a. competitive exclusion
b. predator-prey cycles
c. exponential growth
d. carrying capacity
e. mutualism
28. The phenomenon called "global warming" stems from various human activities disrupting the global ____.
a. nitrogen cycle
b. phosphorus cycle
c. energy cycle
d. carbon cycle
e. water cycle
29. Which of the following marine ecosystems has the highest productivity?
a. estuary
b. benthic ecosystems
c. open ocean
d. seashores
e. coral reef
30. Both the giant panda and the spotted owl are considered as "endangered species" because of ________.
a. the introduction of exotic species
b. habitat destruction
c . unregulated hunting
d. global warming
e. desertification
31. Populations have the potential to increase in size if the population is below it’s _______________.
a. biotic potential
b. DN
c. r
d. carrying capacity
e. rate of increase
32. In response to increased numbers of their prey, predators may respond by eating more prey per unit time. This is called the predator’s _______________ response.
a. functional
b. numerical
c. type II
d. logistic
e. K-selected
33. Rabbits and bison are both "grazers" and would therefore be classified as ________in terms of ecosystem structure.
a. primary producers
b. decomposers
c. secondary consumers
d. primary consumers
e. tertiary consumers
34. Freshwater ecosystems have very low rates of water flow (e.g. lakes, ponds) are called ______ecosystems.
a. lotic
b. benthic
c. pelagic
d. lentic
e. littoral
35. Reproductive failures due to "egg-shell thinning" in populations of various bird species have been linked to _______________.
a. air pollution
b. acid rain
c. biological magnification of DDT
d. increases in global CO2
e. radioactive wastes
36. The largest mass extinction of vertebrate animals in modern times took place in _______________.
a. the deserts of the American Southwest
b. the rainforests of New Guinea
c. Southern California
d. Australia’s Great Barrier reef
e. none of the above
37. An ecologist at SDSU studies the interactions between various species of mammals at a 4-acre study site in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Thus, this person is studying ecology at the ___________ level.
a. individual
b. population
c. community
d. trophic
e. ecosystem
38. Which of the following can be said about he movement of individuals out of a population (emigration)?
a. it affects population density in the same way as natality.
b. it affects population density in the same way as mortality.
c. it results from the presence of diseases and parasites in the population.
d. it often results from intraspecific competition.
e. both b and d.
39. The interaction between a parasite and its host can be classified as a special case of ________________.
a. predation
b. competition
c. mutualism
d. commensalism
e. neutralism
40. In class, the Irish Potato Famine of 1848 was used to illustrate what ecological principle?
a. the inefficiency of energy transfer in ecosystems.
b. the competitive exclusion principle
c. the instability of agricultural ecosystems (monocultures).
d. the limitations of population growth by limited resources in the environment.
e. none of the above.
41. Regional terrestrial ecosystems having similar communities are sometimes called ______________.
a. pioneer communities
b. thermoclines
c. taigas
d. biomes
e. biospheres
42. The characteristics of ecosystems in and along the Colorado River where it runs through the Grand Canyon have been significantly altered by ______________________.
a. pesticides
b. dam-building upstream
c. acid rain
d. air pollution
e. subsidence
43. Given enough time, it is believed that species that have become extinct will "re-evolve" and will appear on the earth again. TRUE or FALSE?
a. True
b. False
44. When "more developed countries" (MDC’s) are compared to "less developed countries" (LDC’s), they can be seen to differ with respect to their _________________.
a. age structures
b. contributions to world population growth
c. degree of industrialization
d. all of the above
e. none of the above.
45. Assume a volcanic eruption covers a large area on a tropical island with lava. Gradually, the lava begins to decompose into soil and plants begin to colonize the area. Over time, the plant community gradually changes until it reaches a point where it is the same community as was present before the eruption. Which of the following terms most accurately describes this scenario?
a. trophication
b. secondary succession
c. primary succession
d. stratification
e. speciation
46. Changes in the coloration of the peppered moth (Biston betularia) was used in class as an example of how the evolution of species can be directed by the interaction known as ___________.
a. competition
b. disease
c. commensalism
d. mutualism
e. predation
47. Ecological theory predicts that, other things being equal, islands that are ______ will have higher species diversity than islands that are ________________.
a. far from the mainland; near to the mainland
b. small; large
c. temperate; tropical
d. near to the mainland; far from the mainland
e. newly formed; older in geologic age
48. The current world’s human population is approximately _____________ people.
a. 500 million
b. 1 billion
c. 3 billion
d. 6 billion
e. 10 billion
49. Ecosystems called __________ contain firs, spruces and pines and are usually found in cool, wet climates.
a. deciduous forests
b. coniferous forests
c. tropical rainforests
d. savannas
e. shrublands
50. Competing species sometimes show increased morphological differences in areas where they are found together compared to areas where they occur by themselves. This phenomenon is called _____________.
a. character displacement
b. competitive exclusion
c. symbiosis
d. functional response
e. biodiversification