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Life, 4/e

Ricki Lewis, University of New York at Albany
Mariëlle Hoefnagels, University of Oklahoma
Douglas Gaffin, University of Oklahoma
Bruce Parker, Utah Valley State College

Communities and Ecosystems

Chapter Quiz


1	True or false. Biodiversity is more or less the same over the planet.
		A)	True
		B)	False


2	All the resources a species could potentially use describe the range of its ____________.
		A)	habitat
		B)	ecological niche
		C)	fundamental niche
		D)	realized niche


3	____________ is the physical place where a species lives.
		A)	Habitat
		B)	Ecological niche
		C)	Fundamental niche
		D)	Realized niche


4	______________ competition may restrict the availability of resources to similar species.
		A)	Contest
		B)	Scramble
		C)	Interspecific
		D)	Intraspecific


5	Which of the following are mechanisms that help prey avoid being eaten by predators?
		A)	warning coloration
		B)	camouflage
		C)	mimicry
		D)	All of these are correct.


6	True or false. Resource partitioning allows several similar competing species to coexist in a habitat.
		A)	True
		B)	False


7	What type of organism produces acids that degrade rocks and minerals?
		A)	mosses
		B)	fungi
		C)	lichens
		D)	algae


8	What process in primary succession allows rooted plants to invade?
		A)	degradation of rock by lichens
		B)	photosynthesis by algae
		C)	formation of both soil mineral and organic matter
		D)	None of these is correct.


9	True or false. Secondary succession requires the formation of soil in order for the establishment of plant species.
		A)	True
		B)	False


10	Can primary and secondary succession occur simultaneously in a large area that has faced a major disturbance?
		A)	Yes
		B)	No


11	Carnivores that eat herbivores in a food chain are the _________________.
		A)	primary consumers
		B)	secondary consumers
		C)	tertiary consumers
		D)	scavengers


12	Interconnecting food chains form complex ______________.
		A)	food webs
		B)	dominance relationships
		C)	ecosystems
		D)	None of these is correct.


13	A species whose feeding activities seem to hold together the entire food web is called the ______________.
		A)	dominant species
		B)	decomposer
		C)	keystone species
		D)	primary predator


14	True or false. The total amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy in a given time period in a region is net primary production.
		A)	True
		B)	False


15	What is the difference between gross and net primary production?
		A)	the amount of energy lost through respiration
		B)	the amount of biomass
		C)	the amount of inorganic material remaining
		D)	the amount of energy lost back to space


16	A pyramid of numbers shows _____________.
		A)	the number of links in a food web
		B)	the number of organisms at each trophic level
		C)	the number of types of species in a community
		D)	All of these are correct.


17	True or false. In some aquatic ecosystems, the pyramid of biomass is inverted.
		A)	True
		B)	False


18	How is groundwater linked to the remainder of the water cycle?
		A)	evaporation
		B)	deep-rooted plants
		C)	transpiration
		D)	wells and springs reaching the surface


19	Carbon is initially incorporated into the food chain by ______________.
		A)	plants taking up CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis
		B)	burning of fossil fuels
		C)	bacterial decomposition
		D)	All of these are correct.


20	What type of organisms convert nitrates and nitrites into nitrogen gas?
		A)	nitrogen-fixing
		B)	denitrifying
		C)	nitrifying
		D)	ammonifying


21	How is phosphorus returned to the soil from organic phosphorus?
		A)	leaching
		B)	decomposition
		C)	volatilization
		D)	as fertilizer


22	The term used to describe the successive increase in the amount of pesticide or other pollutant in the tissues of organisms in successive trophic levels is _____________.
		A)	bioaccumulation
		B)	biomagnification
		C)	concentration
		D)	All of these are correct.


23	The richest ecosystem(s) on earth may well be _____________.
		A)	vernal pools
		B)	fjords
		C)	the Niagara Escarpment
		D)	the sea surface

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