ECOSYSTEMS REVIEW: WHAT ARE THEY AND HOW DO THEY WORK?
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Tropical rain forests cover about 2% of the Earth’s land surface, and
a. contain about 2% of the Earth’s total biodiversity
b. contain less than 10% of the Earth’s total biodiversity
c. contain no more than one-fourth of the Earth’s total biodiversity
d. contain up to one-half of the Earth’s total biodiversity
e. Contain up to 90% of the Earth’s total biodiversity
2. The tropical rain forests
a. maybe be severely degraded or disappear within your lifetime.
b. are destroyed by humans cutting down trees and growing crops.
c. are destroyed by grazing cattle and human settlements.
d. Are a biome that is at high risk due to ongoing degradation
e. are damaged by humans cutting down trees, growing crops and grazing cattle, by building
settlements, and degradation is increasing and they may be severely damaged or disappear
within your lifetime,
3. Which of the following choices best describes how an ecologist would typically study an ecosystem?
The ecologist would study
a. only a single animal or plant
b. an animal or plant, plus other organisms with which it interacts
c. an animal or plant, the organisms it interacts with, and its water supply
d. an animal or plant, plus all the biotic and abiotic aspects of the ecosystem in which it lives
e. the water supply and other non-living aspects of an ecosystem
4. Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a. Energy cycles, nutrients flow.
b. Nutrients cycle, energy flows.
c. Nutrients flow, energy flows.
d. Nutrients cycle, energy cycles.
e. Nutrients flow and cycle.
5. As energy flows in ecosystems, it can be said to
a. cycle, as in a round trip
b. flow from high-quality to low-quality energy in a one-way fashion
c. either flow one way or cycle, depending on the type of energy involved
d. flow in a two-directional fashion
e. energy does not flow or cycle
6. Ecologists study interactions within and among which five levels of organization?
a. cell, organism, atom, ecosystem, and molecule
b. atom, molecule, cell, organism, and population
c. molecule, cell, atom, community, and biosphere
d. organism, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere
e. atom, organism, cell, biosphere, and population
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7. Which one of the following contains all of the others?
a. Atom
b. Community
c. Cell
d. Population
e. Molecule
8. Ecology is the study of how:
a. Atoms make up the environment.
b. Humans affect the environment.
c. Organisms interact with each other and their nonliving environment.
d. Energy runs the environment.
e. Evolution affects nature.
9. A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place is a(n)
a. Species
b. Population
c. Community
d. Organism
e. Biome
10. A community of different species interacting with one another and the physical and chemical factors of
their nonliving environment is called a(n)
a. Species
b. Ecosystem
c. Population
d. Lithosphere
e. Community
11. Pronghorn antelope is the only North American antelope. It lives in the high desert of the Great Basin
in the U.S. Which of the following items are abiotic factors that an antelope has to contend with?
a. the density of the local population of coyotes
b. extreme maximum and minimum temperatures in the desert
c. competition with wild horses for sparse vegetation for forage
d. lack of available water
e. lack of available water and extreme maximum and minimum temperatures in the desert
12. Bacteria and fungi are typically categorized as which of the following ecosystem components?
a. Autotrophs
b. Producers
c. primary consumers
d. tertiary consumers
e. Decomposers
13. Of the total energy that falls on their leaves, what percent do producers on average convert to chemical
energy through the process of photosynthesis?
a. 0%
b. 1%
c. 10%
d. 25%
e. 50%
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14. Which of the following best represents the process of photosynthesis?
a. Carbon dioxide + Glucose + Solar energy  Water + Oxygen
b. Carbon dioxide + Water + Solar energy  Glucose + Oxygen
c. Oxygen + Glucose + Solar energy  Carbon dioxide + Water
d. Oxygen + Glucose  Solar energy + Carbon dioxide + Water
e. Carbon dioxide + Water  Solar energy + Glucose + Oxygen
15. A grizzly bear eating blueberries is best categorized as which of the following?
a. Producer
b. primary consumer
c. tertiary consumer
d. Detritivore
e. Decomposer
16. Which ecosystem component plays a key role in the recycling of nutrients in the biosphere?
a. Producers
b. primary consumers
c. Herbivores
d. tertiary consumers
e. Decomposers
17. Phytoplankton in the ocean
a. provide much of the planet’s oxygen
b. provide much of the planet’s carbon dioxide
c. remove much of the planet’s carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
d. remove much of the planet’s oxygen
e. provide much of the planet’s oxygen and remove much of the carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere
18. What do giraffes and caterpillars have in common?
a. They are both autotrophs.
b. They are both herbivores
c. They are both secondary consumers and herbivores.
d. They are both detritivores
e. Giraffes and caterpillars do not have anything in common.
19. Which of the following groups can be called autotrophs?
a. ants, termites and butterflies
b. wolves, coyotes and foxes
c. rabbits, moles and robins
d. daisies, roses and grass
e. mushrooms and fungi
20. Earthworms, some insects, and vultures are all examples of
a. primary producers
b. detritus feeders
c. Decomposers
d. Scavengers
e. secondary consumers
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A grassy meadow high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is known to support a variety of organisms.
During the summers when grass is thick and lush, and wildflowers abound, butterflies take advantage
of the abundant nectar source. Bears graze on the berries in shrubs at the edge of the meadow. Deer
also forage at the edge of the meadow. In the early mornings, coyote are known to prey on the squirrel
and mouse population that burrow into the meadow soil. A variety of birds prey on the butterflies and
other insects such as bees and wasps.
21. The coyotes would be classified as
a. Producers
b. primary consumers
c. secondary consumers
d. Decomposers
e. tertiary consumers
22. The coyotes typically forage on mice and squirrels. However, as members of the canine family,
Canidae, they are known to be able to eat berries and parts of plants as well as small animals. Thus,
they would be classified as
a. Herbivores
b. Carnivores
c. Omnivores
d. Detritivores
e. Producers
23. If the biomass of flowers that support the butterflies was known to contain 100,000 units of energy,
and certain bird species were eating the butterflies that foraged on the flowers, what amount of energy,
on average, could be expected to be transferred to the birds?
a. 50,000
b. 10,000
c. 1,000
d. 100
e. 10
24. A sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of nutrients or energy for the next, is called
a(n)
a. food web
b. food chain
c. Ecosystem
d. Community
e. food chain and food web (they are interchangeable)
25. Complex arrangements of feeding patterns in ecosystems are best described as
a. food webs
b. food chains
c. trophic levels
d. pyramids of energy
e. trophic chains
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CHAPTER REVIEW—BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. For every shark that injures or kills a person every year
a. people kill one shark to even the score
b. people kill about 50,000 sharks, but mainly to be used as food
c. people kill at least 1 million sharks
d. people kill sharks in a ratio of 5:1 for humans deaths
e. people do not kill sharks because we cannot catch them
2. Which of the following are reasons why sharks should be considered important to humans?
a. They eat sea urchins, thus protecting kelp forests.
b. They are an important source of food
c. They are a keystone species, indirectly protecting populations of oysters and scallops.
d. They prey on cod, keeping the cod population very low in the North Atlantic.
e. Because shark fins are known to cure certain types of cancer
3. Biomes are
a. Large populations of an animal species interacting with abiotic factors
b. large terrestrial regions of the earth with distinct climate (precipitation and temperature)
and certain species adapted to them
c. groups of populations living in harmony in a given ecosystem
d. all the biological portions of the planet
e. types of forests that are extensive and widespread on a continent
4. The variety of genes within a species or population is called the
a. species diversity
b. genetic diversity
c. functional diversity
d. ecological diversity
e. molecular diversity
5. Deserts, tropical forests, prairie grasslands, and coniferous forests are all examples of
a. different species
b. ecosystems with the highest biodiversity
c. ecosystems with low genetic biodiversity
d. Biomes
e. Populations
6. Which of the following is true with regard to mutations?
a. Mutations are always harmful.
b. Mutations always provide for beneficial changes in an organism's genetic makeup.
c. Mutations are chosen by the organism to improve their survival.
d. Natural selection determines the types of mutations that survive in a population.
e. Mutations are caused only by harmful chemicals.
7. A change in the genetic composition of a population from generation to generation is called
a. Emigration
b. Mutation
c. microevolution
d. macroevolution
e. Artificial selection
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8. An adaptation is
a. any heritable trait
b. any heritable trait that improves organisms’ chances for survival
c. any heritable trait that improves organisms’ chances for survival and reproduction
d. any heritable trait that improves organisms’ chances for survival and reproduction at
higher rates than other individuals in a population
e. any inheritable trait that improves organisms’ chance for survival and reproduction at
lower rates than other individuals in a population
In a population of wild bees, a mutation resulted in slightly larger wingspan in some of the bees. This
larger wingspan made the bees more efficient in their flights to flowers to collect nectar. Thus, these
bees became more successful. This trait was passed on to offspring, and eventually the larger
wingspan variety of bee replaced their smaller-winged relatives completely.
9. Since the mutation produced a specific wing trait that was passed on, the mutation must have occurred
a. in wing cells
b. in reproductive cells
c. as a result of exposure to a chemical agent
d. as a result of UV light
e. because of the type of pollen the bee collected
10. The larger wingspan could be called
a. an adaptive trait (adaptation)
b. genetic variability
c. a heritable trait
d. an adaptive trait and a genetic variability
e. a heritable trait, an adaptive trait and a genetic variability
11. It could be said that _____ favored the bee with the larger wingspan, and so the _____ evolved.
a. adaptation, bee
b. evolution, population
c. mutation, bee
d. natural selection, population
e. mutation, population
12. Which of the following characteristics must be true in order for a trait to be impacted by the forces of
natural selection and then play a role in the process of biological evolution?
a. The trait must be the result of environmental conditions.
b. The trait must be genetically based.
c. The trait must impact the social rank of its possessor.
d. The trait must be a physical characteristic of the organism.
e. The trait must be a behavioral characteristic of the organism.
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13. Which of the following is true of a trait that creates a specific advantage for some organisms in the
struggle to survive?
a. It enables individuals with the trait to leave more offspring than other members of the
population leave.
b. It results in greater genetic diversity in the offspring of those organisms that possess it
than in those that do not possess the trait.
c. It causes the ratio of male and female offspring produced to be equal.
d. It results in offspring that are genetically different than the parents.
e. It results in non-heritable traits being passed from parent to offspring.
14. Genetic resistance to antibiotic drugs is an important example of
a. an adaptive trait in humans
b. natural selection
c. a beneficial mutation
d. a harmful mutation
e. Evolution
15. How has the geological process of plate tectonics influenced the process of evolution over geologic
time?
a. The changing location of the plates across the Earth's surface exposes organisms to
differing concentrations of mutagens, thus increasing or decreasing the rate of evolution.
b. The rate of evolutionary change is directly proportional to the speed with which the Earth's
tectonic plates are moving.
c. The changing location of the plates across the Earth's surface results in changing climatic
environmental conditions for various communities and populations of organisms. This has
driven evolutionary change.
d. The movement of the Earth's geologic plates is the source of energy that ultimately drives
the process of evolution.
e. The movement of the Earth's geologic plates further away from the equator resulted in an
increase in the gravitational forces on the planet. This allowed for the initial accumulation
of the gases that form the Earth's atmosphere.
16. Which of the following statements is false?
a. In the process called speciation, one species splits into two or more different species.
b. Geographic and reproductive isolation occur in sequence.
c. Sooner or later all species become extinct.
d. By definition, the fittest animals are the largest and strongest animals.
e. Difference environmental conditions lead to different selective pressures.
17. The process by which members of isolated populations become so different in genetic makeup that
they cannot produce live, fertile offspring if they are rejoined is best described as
a. Sympatric evolution
b. reproductive isolation
c. evolutionary isolation
d. endemic isolation
e. niche isolation
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18. Which of the following is not true of the process of biological extinction?
a. The extinction of an organism can be reversed if enough government funding is provided.
b. There has always been a certain low-level amount of ongoing background extinction
occurring.
c. Completely natural processes can cause population extinctions.
d. Human activities have resulted in population extinctions.
e. a, b and c are all correct, but not d
19. Geographic isolation may result from
a. a volcanic eruption
b. an earthquake
c. a mountain range
d. all of these answers
e. none of these answers
20. Which of the following is not true with regards to the concept of niches?
a. A niche is the place where an organism lives.
b. A niche is the general method by which an organism attains its energy.
c. A species that is able to survive in a great range of environmental conditions and utilize a
wide variety of food resources is a generalist species.
d. The giant panda feeds almost exclusively on various types of bamboo. This being the case,
these organisms are said to have a narrow specialized niche.
e. In a rapidly-changing environment it is a great benefit to have a wide niche.
21. An organism's niche is analogous to its
a. Address
b. Occupation
c. food source
d. trash dump
e. all of these answers
22. Which of the following best describes an organism's habitat?
a. the nutrient relationships with other species
b. the location where a species lives
c. the types of resource requirements
d. the range of tolerance to different physical and chemical conditions
e. the types of competitors
23. An intertidal species of seastar helps to maintain the diversity of the intertidal region by controlling the
mussel population. Without the seastar, the mussel population would crowd out other species and take
over their territory. The seastar could be called a(n)
a. indicator species
b. keystone species
c. foundation species
d. aggressive species
e. repressor species
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