Ecology Quiz 01

1. Acid deposition causes:

a. Lakes and forests to die. c. Acid indigestion in humans
b. The greenhouse effect to lessen d. Pest to increase decomposition.
2. Photosynthesis and respiration belong to which cycle?
a. Nitrogen cycle c. Phosphorus cycle
b. Carbon cycle d. Hydrologic cycle
3. The part of Earth in which all living things exist is called the:
a. Biome c. Ecosystem
b. Community d. Biosphere
4. The lowest level of environmental complexity that includes living and nonliving factors is the:
a. Biome c. Ecosystem
b. Community d. Biosphere
5. An organism that cannot make its own food is called a(an):
a. Heterotroph c. Autotroph
b. Chemotroph d. Producer
6. Which type of pyramid shows the amount of living tissue at each trophic level in an ecosystem?
a. A numbers pyramid b. An energy pyramid c. A biomass pyramid d. A food pyramid
7. Organisms that are diurnal
a. Hibernate every other year
b. Live two separate lives
c. Are only active during the day
d. Live in two different places throughout the year
8. Several species of warblers can live in the same spruce tree ONLY because they:
a. Have different habitats within the tree
b. Eat different foods within the tree
c. Occupy different niches within the tree
d. Can find different temperatures within the tree
9. The number of organisms that an environment can support over a relatively long period of time is called:
a. Carrying capacity b. Logistic growth c. Exponential growth d. Limiting factor
10. Which would be least likely to be affected by a density-dependent limiting factor?
a. a small, scattered population
b. a population with a high birthrate
c. a large, dense population
d. a population with a high immigration rate
11. All of the members of a particular species that live in one area are called a(an):
a. Biome b. Population c. Community d. Ecosystem
12. What is desertification?
a. A serious world problem when deserts disappear due to increasing rainfall.
b. A rapid increase in the number of desert species over a period of 5-10 years.
c. A rapid decrease in the number of desert species over a period of 5-10 years.
d. A serious world problem when deserts encroach an arable land
13. Honeyguides are African birds that excitedly lead the way to a bee’s nest, and ratels are the honey and bee eating
mammals that open up and scatter the contents of the bee’s nests, allowing both the ratels and the honeyguides to
feed on the contents. The relationship between the Honeyguides and the ratels is:
a. Predation b. Competition c. Commemsnsalism d. Mutualism e. Parasitism
14. An ecosystem contains:
a. Only the biotic components of the environment
b. Only the abiotic components of the environment
c. Only the energy flow components of an environment
d. Both the living organisms and the abiotic components of the environment
e. Only the food relationships found in an environment
15. Energy flow in an ecosystem is not cyclic because energy is:
a. Destroyed as it is used
b. Evenly spread out over many organisms
c. Converted to many kinds of useful energy
d. Increased as you go up the energy pyramid
e. Lost as heat or used
16. Close interaction between organisms of different species over an extended period of time, in which one individual
benefits while the other individual neither benefits nor is harmed by the relationship, is know as:
a. Predation b. Competition c. Commemsnsalism d. Mutualism e. Parasitism
 Figure 1

17. The algae at the beginning of the food chain in Figure 1 are:
a. Consumers b. Decomposers c. Producers d. Heterotrophs
18. An organism that uses energy to produce its own food supply from inorganic compounds is called a(an):
a. Heterotroph b. Consumer c. Detritivore d. Autotroph
19. The greenhouse effect is:
a. The result of an excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
b. A natural phenomenon that maintains Earth’s temperature range
c. The result of the differences in the angle of the sun’s rays
d. An unnatural phenomenon that causes heat energy to be radiated back into the atmosphere
20. Most of a desert consists of:
a. Sand b. gravels (pebbles and cobbles) c. exposed bedrock outcrops d. vegetation
21. Which of the following cause the decay of nonliving organisms by absorbing nutrients from them?
a. producers b. parasites c. decomposers d. consumers
22. Producers refer to the green plants that make food. Fungi and bacteria which feed on dead plants and animals are
known as _________
a. consumers b. decomposers c. microorganisms d. macroorganisms
23. Which of the following statements is true about a food web?
a. Lettuce makes its own food; rabbits eat lettuce, foxes eat rabbits. This is an example of a food web.
b. Food web is dependent on primary consumers alone
c. Anything that happens to one member of a food web will affect all the other members
d. All the members of the food web are independent from one another
24. Consumers can be classified as primary, secondary and tertiary according to the type of food they eat. Primary
consumers feed directly on green plants. They are also known as __________
a. carnivores b. omnivores c. scavenger d. herbivores
25. Any animal that feeds on bird, rabbit, mouse or any other secondary consumer is called __________
a. scavenger b. decomposer c. tertiary consumer d. primary consumer
26. Organisms that are capable of producing their own food are called
a. Autotrophs b. Heterotrophs c. Consumers d. Herbivores
27. The more complex the pattern of relationship of organisms in a food web, the safer for the biotic community. Why is
this so?
a. because the individual organisms in a food web will eventually die and will be acted on by decomposers
b. because when one prey disappears, the predator will still have other sources of food
c. because a food web generally starts with plants
d. because a food web actually consists of interacting food chains
28. Which of the following organisms is incorrectly paired with its trophic level?
a. cyanobacteria – primary producer c. fungi – detritivore
b. grasshopper – primary producer d. eagle – tertiary consumer
29. The role of decomposers in the nitrogen cycle is to
a. fix N2 into ammonia
b. release ammonia from organic compounds, thus returning it to the soil
c. denitrify ammonia, thus returning N2 to the atmosphere
d. convert ammonia into nitrate, which can then be absorbed by the plants
30. Extinction is a natural phenomenon. It is estimated that 99% of all species that ever lived are now extinct. Why,
then, do we say that we are now in a biodiversity crisis?
a. Humans feel ethically responsible for protecting endangered species
b. Scientist have finally identified most of the species on Earth and are thus able to quantify the number of
species becoming extinct
c. The current rate of extinction is as much as 1,000 times higher than at any time in the last 100,000 years.
d. Humans have greater medical needs than at any previous time in history, and many potential medicinal
compounds are being lost as plant species become extinct
31. These are all living organisms inhabiting the Earth
a. Abiotic factors b. Biotic factors c. Limiting factors d. Indeterminate factors
32. The nonliving parts of the environment(i.e. temperature, soil, light, moisture, air currents)
a. Abiotic factors b. Biotic factors c. Limiting factors d. Indeterminate factors
33. Any unicellular or multicellular form exhibiting all of the characteristics of life and forms the lowest level of
ecological organization is __________
a. Ecosystem b. Community c. Population d. Organism
For numbers 34-37, consider the following food web:
?
snake

eagle
bird
frog

caterpilla rat

grasshopper
grass
34. Which of the following can be considered a food chain from the given food web?
a. grass rat bird ? d. grass rat  snake eagle
b. grasshopper frog snake  eagle e. grasshopper  frog  eagle
c. grass caterpillar bird  ?
35. Which of the following may be contained in the third level of an ecological pyramid?
a. Grass b. bird c. grasshopper d. snake e. caterpillar
36. If the grasshopper in the considered food web became extinct, which of the following will surely perish next?
a. Rat b. frog c. eagle d. bird e. ?
37. What must be ? in the above food web?
a. producer b. carnivore c. omnivore d. decomposer e. herbivore
38. The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments, focusing on energy transfer is called
__________
a. Biology b. Botany c. Ecology d. Ecosystem
39. A group of organisms of one species living in the same place at the same time that interbreed
a. Ecosystem b. Community c. Population d. Organism
40. Several interacting populations that inhabit a common environment and are interdependent
a. Ecosystem b. Community c. Population d. Organism
41. This refers to populations in a community and the abiotic factors with which they interact(ex. marin, terrestrial)
a. Habitat b. Ecosystem c. Biosphere d. Population
42. It is the life supporting portions of Earth composed of air, land, fresh water, and salt water. It is also the highest level
of ecological organization.
a. Habitat b. Ecosystem c. Biosphere d. Population
43. The place in which an organism lives out its life is called __________.
a. Niche b. Habitat c. Environment d. Ecosystem
44. Consumers that eat both plants and animals
a. herbivores b. carnivores c. omnivores d. detritivores
45. These organisms breakdown the complex compounds of dead and decaying plants and animals into simpler
molecules that can be absorbed
a. detritivores b. decomposers c. herbivores d. omnivores
46. During a long period when there is no rainfall, a mountain lion may temporarily leave its usual hunting territory to
drink from a farm pond. This behavior is probably due to
a. Its need to find different foods to eat c. Its need to find a new habitat
b. The change in an abiotic factor in its environment d. The change in a biotic factor in its environment
47. Why is acid rain, or acid deposition, considered to be harmful?
a. Moisture in the air becomes acidified and then falls on plants and the soil below, harming them.
b. Acid rain leeches essential nutrients out of the soil (e.g. potassium and calcium) and kills decomposers in the
soil
c. Dead, or weakened, plants make soil much more susceptible to erosion
d. All of the above
48. Which may be a secondary or tertiary consumer?
a. Decomposer b. Herbivore c. Detritovore d. Autotroph e. Carnivore
49. Process by which atmospheric nitrogen gas is changed to forms that plants can use:
a. Biogeochemical Fixation d. Carbon Fixation
b. Hydrologic Fixation e. Phosphorus Fixation
c. Nitrogen Fixation
50. What is one way plants have adapted to the scarcity of water and heat?
a. Growing small leaves c. Crovasculating water from the stems of nearby plants
b. Keeping their leaves during the dry period d. Opening their stomata, or pores, during the day