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1 | | An organism’s absence from a particular environment can be caused by |
| | A) | a single critical factor that exceeds the organism’s tolerance limits. |
| | B) | absence of an essential resource. |
| | C) | a combination of different factors working in concert. |
| | D) | more than one of the above. |
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2 | | Natural selection involves all of these EXCEPT |
| | A) | there is variation in traits within a population. |
| | B) | those individuals with more beneficial traits have a greater chance of surviving than other individuals. |
| | C) | individuals with a greater chance of surviving have a greater chance of having offspring than others. |
| | D) | all individuals in a population have the same likelihood of dying over a given period of time. |
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3 | | Factors capable of driving natural selection include |
| | A) | competition with other members of the species. |
| | B) | disease-causing organisms. |
| | C) | extreme temperatures. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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4 | | Selection works on ______ and evolution works on ______. |
| | A) | plants, animals |
| | B) | individuals, individuals |
| | C) | individuals, populations |
| | D) | populations, individuals |
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5 | | An organism’s ______ includes its ______. |
| | A) | ecological niche, habitat |
| | B) | habitat, ecological niche |
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6 | | Which of the following would be included in a species ecological niche? |
| | A) | what it eats |
| | B) | what eats it |
| | C) | how it escapes predators |
| | D) | all of the above are parts of the niche |
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7 | | Attributes of a broad niche could include an organism having |
| | A) | a wide range of foods eaten. |
| | B) | activity periods extending over much of the day and evening. |
| | C) | tolerance of a wide range of temperatures. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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8 | | If two species with extremely similar niches came to occupy the same geographical area, which of the following would be expected to occur? |
| | A) | as time passes their niche requirements would tend to become more similar. |
| | B) | one species might become more specialized in some aspects of its niche than the other. |
| | C) | as time passes the species would tend toward greater cooperation and sharing. |
| | D) | more than one of the above would be expected to occur. |
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9 | | Which of the following would NOT be an act of predation? |
| | A) | a moose nibbling on aspen shoots |
| | B) | a crow feeding on a road-kill rabbit |
| | C) | a black bear eating blueberries |
| | D) | disease-causing bacteria invading human lung tissue |
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10 | | Mimicry |
| | A) | arises as an organism tries to copy a trait of a more successful species. |
| | B) | could not have arisen absent variation in an ancestral population. |
| | C) | allows two species to occupy the same niche at the same time. |
| | D) | is associated with each of the above. |
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11 | | Co-evolution is illustrated by |
| | A) | an insect species becoming immune to a toxic substance produced by rhubarb to foil herbivory. |
| | B) | development of greater speed by gazelles in response to prior development of greater speed by leopards, a gazelle predator. |
| | C) | development of greater root depth in a plant species in response to increased competition for water with another species. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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12 | | A keystone species is one that |
| | A) | has a broad impact, directly or indirectly influencing the success of a significant number of other species in a ecosystem. |
| | B) | is the most numerous in an ecosystem. |
| | C) | serves as the top predator in a food chain. |
| | D) | produces the greatest amount of biomass in a system. |
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13 | | Red winged blackbirds chase away other red wings from the area around their nests. This behavior is called ______ and is an example of _____ competition. |
| | A) | co-evolution, intraspecific |
| | B) | territoriality, intraspecific |
| | C) | commensalism, intraspecific |
| | D) | territoriality, interspecific |
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14 | | Symbiosis is defined as |
| | A) | a situation where one species depends on another for food. |
| | B) | any direct interaction between two or more species. |
| | C) | members of two or more species living intimately together. |
| | D) | a mutualistic relationship between individuals of different species wherein each species derives benefit. |
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15 | | An example of primary productivity would be |
| | A) | a wild raspberry plant growing 30 grams of new leaf mass during a day of photosynthesis. |
| | B) | a young oriole growing 10 more grams of muscle during a feeding trip to a raspberry bush. |
| | C) | a young hawk growing 10 more grams of body mass by killing and eating a young oriole. |
| | D) | more than one of the above. |
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16 | | The measure of the diversity of an ecosystem includes |
| | A) | the number of different species present. |
| | B) | the number of different ecological niches occupied. |
| | C) | the degree of variation in traits within the various populations in an area. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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17 | | The complexity of a community is a function of |
| | A) | the diversity of the trophic structure. |
| | B) | the species diversity within the various trophic levels. |
| | C) | the number of trophic levels present. |
| | D) | more than one of the above. |
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18 | | The stability of a community refers to all of these EXCEPT |
| | A) | life spans of individuals. |
| | B) | ability of the system to re-establish itself following disturbance. |
| | C) | ability to weather perturbations without being changed. |
| | D) | absence of fluctuations in functions and/or species present over substantial periods of time. |
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19 | | Primary productivity is the direct result of |
| | A) | photosynthesis. |
| | B) | respiration. |
| | C) | grazers feeding on plants. |
| | D) | net primary productivity. |
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20 | | An ecotone is |
| | A) | the space occupied by primary producers. |
| | B) | the edge where one ecosystem meets another. |
| | C) | a method by which primary production of an ecosystem is determined. |
| | D) | a threshold level of diversity in a community. |
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21 | | In ecology tolerance limits refer to the maximum amount of hassling an individual organism will take before it strikes back. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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22 | | An environmental indicator is a species or condition whose presence or absence from an area reveals some environmental reality. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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23 | | Organisms commonly develop new traits because they need them. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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24 | | A species' niche includes its behavior patterns. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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25 | | The process by which organisms gradually change the soil, degree of shade, available moisture, and other factors producing changes in species membership of a community is called succession. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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26 | | The process by which unrelated organisms come to resemble each other over many generations is called convergent evolution. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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27 | | Development of an ecological community on a site previously devoid of life is called secondary succession. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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28 | | The ecological community that may develop on a site that resists further change is called a climax community. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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29 | | Some communities are prevented from reaching a true climax stage by periodic disruption by events such as fire. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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30 | | Presence of an environmental indicator species in an area predicts the presence of some less obvious characteristic of the site. |
| | A) | True |
| | B) | False |
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