Name:

Date:
Ecology Multiple Choice Quiz
1. Which of the following are not considered limiting factors?
a. Food Availability
b. Water Availability
c. Diseases
d. Books
2. Secondary succession can best be defined as
a. No change in the environment whatsoever
b. The development of plant life where no topsoil is present
c. A series of community changes which take place on a previously
colonized, but damaged habitat
d. Succession that depends on the slow weathering of rock
3. An abiotic factor is
a. A living factor in an environment/ecosystem that interact
b. An animal that preys on another animal
c. A nonliving factor in an environment/ecosystem that interact
d. Limiting Factor
4.

, make up food webs, shows the energy flow through each trophic

level, and is never more than 4-5 levels.

a. Food Pyramid
b. Food Chain
c. Food Web
d. A diet plan
5. Aquatic, deserts, forests, grasslands, and tundras are examples of
a. Biomes
b. Environments
c. Communities
d. Biospheres
6. An ecosystem can best be defined as
a. Comprised of all the living species in a specific local environment
b. Comprised of all the non-living elements in a specific local
environment
c. Comprised of all the non-living elements and living species in a
specific local environment
d. A habitat
7. Organisms of different species that live in direct contact. Includes mutualism,
commensalism, and parasitism. This definition best describes

a. Symbiosis
b. Ecology
c. Community
d. Competitive Exclusion
8. Animal behavior is influenced by
a. Genetics and environmental factors
b. The Copenhagen Interpretation
c. Abiotic factors
d. Only other animals
9. Which of the 4 graphs demonstrates a Type I survivorship Curve?

a.

b.

c.

d.
10. Which age structure diagram represents rapid growth?

a.

b.

c.

d.

11. Every population has this, it is the max number a population can increase and
involves limiting factors.
a. Resource Partitioning
b. Carrying Capacity
c. Limiting factors
d. Predators
12. Cell respiration by animals and bacterial decomposers, burning of fossil fuels, and
photosynthesis play a big role in which cycle?
a. The Water Cycle
b. The Nitrogen Cycle
c. The Carbon Cycle
d. the Phosphorous Cycle
13. A herd of elephants is a great example of what dispersion pattern?
a. Clumped pattern
b. Uniform pattern
c. Random pattern
d. None of the above
14. Due to the fact that energy is lost through each trophic level, which of the
following is more efficient at receiving energy from their food?
a. Those who only eat meat
b. Those who are vegetarian
c. Those who consume both meat/non meat
d. Both B and and C
15. Primary productivity refers to
a. The rate at which an ecosystems producers capture and store
energy
b. The rate at which an ecosystems consumers capture and store
energy
c. How efficient producer make energy
d. How much consumers consume the energy made by producers
16. What is the type of organism that feed on small particles of organic matter rather
than on complete organisms?
a. Herbivores
b. Carnivores
c. Omnivores
d. Detritivores
17. The Galapagos Finches evolved different size beaks to avoid competing for food.
This is an example of
a. Character displacement
b. Resource partitioning
c. Evolution
d. All of the above
18. A tic that has attached itself to a deer is an example of?

a. Mutualism
b. Commensalism
c. Parasitism
d. Predation
19. When one species evolves through natural selection in order exploit different
resources in order to survive.
a. Character displacement
b. Resource Partitioning\
c. A new Species is then Created
d. Both B and C
20. Gause's Principle of Competitive Exclusion can best be defined as
a. Two species share an ecological niche, in which they will compete
and one of them will not survive
b. Two species share an ecological niche and they will live mutually
c. Two Species share an ecological niche, in which they will both
compete, and both will die
d. Two species share an ecological niche