Ecology
Multiple Choice Practice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
____ 1. Grass is eaten by a prairie dog. The prairie dog is eaten by a coyote. This is an
example of
a. an abiotic element.
b. an omnivore. c. a herbivore.
d. a food chain.
____ 2. A bird eats a worm. Who is the predator?
a. the worm
c. both the bird and the worm
b. the bird
d. neither the bird nor the worm
____ 3. What do several different populations living together make?
a. a biosphere
b. an organism
c. a community
d. an ecosystem
____ 4. Which is an example of an abiotic element changing an area?
a. introducing a new type of grass
b. water flooding the area
c. two species of birds competing
d. algae growing on crabgrass
____ 5. Grass that gains energy from the sun is an example of a
a. consumer.
b. parasite.
c. decomposer.
d. producer.
____ 6. In a food web arrows point in just one direction because they show
a. how energy goes to the animal that is "eaten".
c. how energy goes to the animal that is "eating".
b. which animals are related.
d. which animal is bigger
____ 7. Two members of the same species fight over who gets a certain food. Members of
different species try to take over a certain nesting area. These are both examples of
a. community.
b. competition.
c. mutualism.
d. commensalism.
____ 8. If scientists are studying the egrets, herons, marsh crabs, and cordgrass, but not the
water or rocks in a salt marsh, what level of organization would they be studying?
a. individual organism
b. population
c. community
d. ecosystem
____ 9. Coyotes prey on prairie dogs. In order for the prairie dog population to survive, how
many prairie dogs are needed compared to coyotes?
a. fewer prairie dogs than coyotes
b. many more prairie dogs than coyotes
c. about the same number of prairie dogs as coyotes
d. there is no relationship between the number of prairie dogs and coyotes
____10. When there is a lot of pollution, rain can be acidic, harming plants and animals. What
is this an example of?
a. competition between a population and a community
b. a mutualistic type of symbiosis
c. an abiotic factor affecting an ecosystem
d. an individual affecting a community
____11. What effect does biodiversity have on a community?
a. It makes destruction by insects impossible.
b. It makes primary succession more likely.
c. It enables species to survive in a desert.
d. It enables the community to withstand changes.
____12. The speed of water in a freshwater ecosystem is a(n)
a. biotic factor
b. abiotic factor
c. both a biotic and abiotic factor
d. neither a biotic or abiotic factor
____13. What word describes the mammals, fish, birds, and plants that live in an environment?
a. abiotic
b. the population
c. the biosphere
d. biotic
____14. A community is several species of animals interacting, while a population is
a. members of one species in an area.
c. the nonliving elements of a habitat.
b. the biotic and abiotic elements of an area.
d. a single organism.
____15. The five levels of organization in the environment, from first to fifth level are
a. organism, population, biosphere, ecosystem, community.
b. organism, population, biotic elements, abiotic elements, community.
c. organism, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere.
d. organism, population, biosphere, abiotic elements, ecology.
____16. Which of the following is abiotic?
a. weather
b. an alligator
c. grass
d. water
____17. Organisms that can make their own food from sunlight are called
a. decomposers.
b. consumers.
c. producers.
d. carnivores.
____18. Grass is eaten by a prairie dog. The autotroph is the
a. grass.
b. prairie dog.
c. both grass and prairie dog.
d. sun.
____19. One food web arrow goes from a prairie dog to a coyote, showing that
a. the coyote is bigger.
c. the prairie dog eats the coyote.
b. the coyote eats the prairie dog.
d. the prairie dog is a producer.
____20. Bears eat fruits such as berries and animals such as fish. They hibernate in the winter.
They give birth to live young. Which of these terms applies to bears?
a. They are decomposers.
c. They have a mutualistic relationship with berries.
b. They are at the bottom of the energy pyramid.
d. They are consumers.
____21. Suppose there were a bird that always sat on a horse's back and ate the insects that
would bite the horse. What would this be an example of?
a. mutualism
b. parasitism
c. competition
d. commensalism
____22. When a parasitic worm invades an animal, who is the host?
a. the producer
b. the animal
c. the decomposer d. the worm
____23. Young wasps are eating the tomato hornworm that is their host. What is this an
example of?
a. commensalism
b. mutualism
c. parasitism
d. competition
____24. Rocks, temperature, and water are what part of the environment?
a. biotic
b. abiotic
c. population
d. living
____25. When there is a lot of pollution, rain can be acidic, harming plants and animals. What
is this an example of?
a. competition between a population and a community
b. a mutualistic type of symbiosis
c. an abiotic factor affecting an ecosystem
d. an individual affecting a community
____26. What do several different populations living together make?
a. a biosphere
b. an organism
c. a community
d. an ecosystem
____27. Which is an example of an abiotic element changing an area?
a. introducing a new type of grass
c. two species of birds competing
b. water flooding the area
d. algae growing on crabgrass
____28. Grass that gains energy from the sun is an example of a
a. consumer.
b. parasite.
c. decomposer.
d. producer.
____29. A diagram with arrows showing energy flow from grass, to a rabbit, to a fox is
a. an energy pyramid.
b. a food web.
c. a food chain.
d. a population chart.
____30. What is essential to every ecosystem for recycling organic matter/nutrients?
a. decomposers
b. autotrophs
c. omnivores
d. carnivores
____31. After one species disappears, the other species in the ecosystem
a. benefit.
c. die.
b. are thrown out of balance.
d. are unaffected.
____32. Two members of the same species fight over who gets a certain food. Members of
different species try to take over a certain nesting area. These are both examples of
a. community.
b. competition.
c. mutualism.
d. commensalism.
____33. An environmental study reporting on the way temperature, water quality, and minerals
affect the animals in a salt marsh would be considering which level of organization?
a. individual organism
b. population
c. community
d. ecosystem
____34. The plants a ladybug lives on, the aphids the ladybug eats, and the birds that would eat
the ladybug are all
a. biotic elements of an ecosystem.
c. producers.
b. predators.
d. abiotic elements of an ecosystem.
____35. Herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores are all
a. decomposers.
b. autotrophs.
c. predators.
d. heterotrophs
____36. Animals that eat a variety of meats, fruits, and vegetables are
a. producers.
b. carnivores.
c. omnivores.
d. herbivores.
____37. What level of organization comes after population?
a. biosphere
b. organism
c. community
d. ecosystem
____38. What word describes a community of organisms and their environment?
a. individuals
b. ecosystem
c. population
d. community
____39. What living things make food from sunlight?
a. consumers
b. parasites
c. decomposers
d. producers
____40. What is an animal that catches and eats another animal called?
a. prey
b. predator
c. producer
d. herbivore
____41. In which relationship do living things help each other?
a. parasitism
b. mutualism
c. organism
d. predator
____42. The arrows on the food web show that
a. prairie dogs eat grass.
c. squirrels eat grasshoppers.
b. deer eat prairie dogs.
d. squirrels eat coyotes.
____44. Three organisms on the food web have arrows pointing away from them and no
arrows pointing toward them. They are
a. omnivores.
b. herbivores.
c. decomposers.
d. producers.
____45. Three organisms on the food web have arrows pointing toward them but no arrows
pointing away from them. This is because
a. they make their own food.
c. nothing shown eats them.
b. they give energy to others.
d. they need no energy.
____46. What does the arrow between the grasshopper and the coyote represent?
a. energy flowing from producers to consumers
b. energy flowing from consumers to producers
c. energy flowing from the coyote to the grasshopper
d. energy flowing from the grasshopper to the coyote
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Ecology
Answer Section
MULTIPLE
CHOICE
1. d
21. a
41. b
2. b
22. b
42. a
3. c
23. c
43. d
4. b
24. b
44. c
5. d
25. c
45. d
6. c
26. c
7. b
27. b
8. c
28. d
9. b
29. c
10. c
30. a
11. d
31. b
12. b
32. b
13. d
33. c
14. a
34. a
15. c
35. d
16. a
36. c
17. c
37. c
18. a
38. b
19. b
39. d
20. d
40. b