campbell 11 55 Flashcards

If the sun were to suddenly stop providing energy to Earth, most ecosystems would eventually vanish. Which of the following ecosystems would likely survive the longest after this hypothetical disaster?

A) pelagic ocean

B) tundra

C) deep benthic ocean

D) a desert spring

Which of the following terms encompasses all of the others?

A) heterotrophs

B) herbivores

C) carnivores

D) primary consumers

To recycle nutrients, an ecosystem must have, at a minimum, ________.

A) producers

B) producers and decomposers

C) producers, primary consumers, and decomposers

D) producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and decomposers

Use the following figure to answer the question.

In the figure, what could the jagged arrow leaving microorganisms and other detritivores represent?

A) organic compounds broken down by bacteria

B) energy consumed by bacteria

C) energy lost from a worm during cellular respiration

D) CO2 and heat loss from decomposing materials due to the effects of solar radiation and precipitation

Use the following figure to answer the question.

In the ecosystem figure, which unit of the food web has the potential to lose the most energy as heat?

A) secondary and tertiary consumers

B) primary consumers

C) primary producers

D) microorganisms and other detritivores

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species)

Examine this food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem. Which species is most likely a decomposer on this food web?

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) E

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species)

Examine this food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem. Species C is toxic to predators. Which species is most likely to benefit from being a mimic of C?

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) E

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species)

Examine this food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem. Which pair of species could be omnivores?

A) A and D

B) B and C

C) C and D

D) C and E

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Diagram of a food web (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species)

If the figure represents a marine food web, zooplankton are most likely ________.

A) A

B) B

C) C

D) E

Which of the following organisms is correctly paired with its trophic level?

A) cyanobacterium—primary consumer

B) grasshopper—secondary consumer

C) phytoplankton—primary producer

D) fungus—primary consumer

Which of the following has the greatest effect on the rate of chemical cycling within an ecosystem?

A) the ecosystem's rate of primary production

B) the secondary production efficiency of the ecosystem's consumers

C) the rate of decomposition in the ecosystem

D) the trophic efficiency of the ecosystem

Matter may be gained by, or lost from, ecosystems. How does this occur?

A) Chemoautotrophic organisms can convert matter to energy.

B) Matter can move from one ecosystem to another.

C) Photosynthetic organisms convert solar energy to sugars.

D) Heterotrophs convert heat to energy.

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Which habitat types in the figure cover the largest area?

A) tropical wet forest

B) rock, sand, ice

C) algal beds and reefs

D) wetlands plus the ocean neritic zone

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Which habitat type in the figure makes available the most new tissue to consumers?

A) tropical wet forest

B) open ocean

C) algal beds and reefs

D) wetlands

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Which category in the figure makes available the highest productivity per square meter?

A) tropical wet forest

B) open ocean

C) algal beds and reefs

D) wetlands

Considering its total area covered, which ecosystem type represented in the figure has a very low level of economic impact on Earth's ecosystem?

A) tropical wet forest

B) rock, sand, and ice

C) tropical seasonal forest

D) ocean neritic zone

Why is terrestrial productivity higher in equatorial climates?

A) Productivity increases with temperature.

B) Productivity increases with water availability.

C) Productivity increases with available sunlight.

D) The answer is most likely a combination of the other responses.

After looking at the experiment in the figure, what can be

concluded about productivity in marine ecosystems?

A) Nothing can be said based on this information.

B) Marine organisms break down iron for energy and thus for productivity.

C) Iron can be a limiting nutrient in productivity.

D) Productivity increases when chlorophyll a is added.

Use the following figure to answer the question.

What treatment results that were presumably part of the experimental design are not fully depicted in the graph?

A) Chlorophyll a concentration at 30 m depth within the treatment area

B) Chlorophyll a concentration at the surface within the treatment area

C) An indicator of net primary production in the treatment area at the surface and at 30 m deep

D) An indicator of net primary production outside the treatment area at depth and at 30 m deep

After looking at the results in the figure, what can be concluded about productivity in the experimental ecosystem?

A) Productivity is higher at depth than at the surface, but only initially.

B) Productivity is higher at the surface than at depth; however, an additional experiment could further test the effect of depth by introducing FeSO4 at 30 m deep and measuring the chlorophyll a response.

C) Productivity is higher at the surface than at depth, and would be predicted to increase sharply after day 12.

D) Productivity at a depth of 30 m is low only because of a lack of sunlight, not a lack of iron sulfate.

During a year, plants never use 100% of the incoming solar radiation for photosynthesis. What is a reasonable explanation for this?

A) Plants cannot photosynthesize as well in warm temperatures as in cold temperatures.

B) Plants do not intercept all incoming light, as some light will strike water, bare soil, or rock.

C) The pigments that drive photosynthesis absorb all of the wavelengths of light that are available; however, some of the light is subsequently reflected.

D) At least 75% of all incoming light is reflected, absorbed, or scattered back by clouds in the atmosphere.

You own 300 acres of patchy temperate forest mixed with grassy meadows. Which one of the following actions would increase the net primary productivity of the area the most?

A) adding fertilizer to the entire area

B) introducing 100 rabbits into the area

C) planting 500 new trees

D) relocating all of the deer found in the area

Suppose you are studying the nitrogen cycling between vegetation, sediments, and water in a pond ecosystem over the course of a month. While you are collecting data, a flock of 100 Canada geese lands and spends the night during a fall migration. What could you do to eliminate error in your study as a result of this event?

A) Find out how much nitrogen is consumed in plant material by a Canada goose over about a 12-hour period, multiply this number by 100, and add that amount to the total nitrogen in the ecosystem.

B) Find out how much nitrogen is eliminated by a Canada goose over about a 12-hour period, multiply this number by 100, and subtract that amount from the total nitrogen in the ecosystem.

C) Find out how much nitrogen is consumed from vegetation and eliminated by a Canada goose over about a 12-hour period and multiply this number by 100; enter this +/- value into the nitrogen budget of the ecosystem.

D) Put a net over the pond so that no more migrating flocks can land on the pond and alter the nitrogen balance of the
pond.

Many of the organisms in the ocean are nutrient-limited. If you wanted to investigate this phenomenon, one reasonable approach would be to ________.

A) observe Antarctic Ocean productivity from year to year to see if it changes

B) experimentally enrich some areas of the ocean and compare their productivity to that of untreated areas

C) compare nutrient concentrations between the photic zone and the benthic zone in various marine locations

D) contrast nutrient uptake by autotrophs in marine locations that are different temperatures

If you applied a fungicide to a cornfield, what would you expect to happen to the rate of decomposition and net ecosystem production (NEP)?

A) Both decomposition rate and NEP would decrease.

B) Both decomposition rate and NEP would increase.

C) Decomposition rate would increase and NEP would decrease.

D) Decomposition rate would decrease and NEP would increase.

Which of the following is an accurate statement regarding mineral nutrients in soils and their implication for primary productivity?

A) Globally, phosphorous availability is most limiting to primary productivity.

B) Adding a nonlimiting nutrient will stimulate primary productivity.

C) Phosphorous is sometimes unavailable to producers due to leaching.

D) Alkaline soils are more productive than acidic
soils.

What advantage would there be for an ecosystem ecologist to measure net ecosystem production (NEP) instead of net primary production (NPP)?

A) NPP cannot be expressed in energy/unit of area/unit of time.

B) NEP can be expressed in terms of carbon fixed by photosynthesis for an entire ecosystem, minus respiration by producers, allowing the measurement of net CO2 flux.

C) NEP represents the amount of energy from light converted to chemical energy, minus the energy used by all organisms for cellular respiration, which could indicate whether or not carbon is being stored.

D) NPP shows the rate at which the standing crop is utilized by consumers.

How is net ecosystem production (NEP) typically estimated in ecosystems?

A) by detecting the amount of heat energy released by the ecosystem

B) by measuring gas exchange from vegetation as

well as estimates of respiration by all other organisms

C) by measuring the rate of decomposition by detritivores

D) by calculating the annual total of incoming solar radiation per unit of area

Which of the following ecosystems would likely have the largest net primary productivity per hectare and why?

A) open ocean, because of the total biomass of photosynthetic autotrophs

B) grassland, because of rapid growth, the small standing crop biomass that results from consumption by herbivores, and rapid decomposition

C) tundra, because of the incredibly rapid period of growth during the summer season

D) deep ocean, due to the high activity of chemoautotrophs at deep sea vents

Why is it that satellites, using wavelength reflectance technology, detect variable levels of productivity across Earth's oceans, rather than an increase toward the equator?

A) Temperatures at the equator often exceed those which are optimal for primary production.

B) Light at the equator is too constant and direct.

C) NPP in Earth's open oceans could differ due to variability in depth, the presence of coral reefs, or by ocean currents.

D) Satellites detect differences by measuring the amount of water vapor emitted by transpiring producers, and this is a variable measurement in the oceans.

Which one of the following correctly ranks these organisms in order from lowest to highest percent in production efficiency?

A)mammals, fish, insects

B) insects, fish, mammals

C) fish, insects, mammals

D) mammals, insects, fish

Owls eat rats, mice, shrews, and small birds. Assume that, over a period of time, an owl consumes 5,000 J of animal material. The owl loses 2,300 J in feces and owl pellets and uses 2,500 J for cellular respiration. What is the production efficiency of this owl?

A) 8%

B) 7.4%

C) 2%

D) 40%

Use the following figure to answer the question.

After looking at the figure, what can be said about productivity in this ecosystem?

A) Nothing can be said based on this information.

B) Between 80% and 90% of the energy is lost between most trophic levels.

C) Between 10% and 20% of the energy is lost between most trophic levels.

D) Productivity increases with each trophic level.

How does inefficient transfer of energy among trophic levels result in the typically high endangerment status of many top-level predators?

A) Top-level predators are destined to have small populations that are sparsely distributed.

B) Predators have relatively large population sizes.

C) Predators are more disease-prone than animals at lower trophic levels.

D) Top-level predators are more likely to be stricken with parasites.

Why does a vegetarian leave a smaller ecological footprint than an omnivore?

A) Fewer animals are slaughtered for human consumption.

B) There is an excess of plant biomass in all terrestrial ecosystems.

C) Vegetarians need to ingest less chemical energy than omnivores.

D) Eating meat is an inefficient way of acquiring photosynthetic productivity.

For most terrestrial ecosystems, pyramids composed of species abundances, biomass, and energy are similar in that they have a broad base and a narrow top. The primary reason for this pattern is that ________.

A) secondary consumers and top carnivores require less energy than producers

B) at each step, energy is lost from the system

C) biomagnification of toxic materials limits the secondary consumers and top carnivores

D) top carnivores and secondary consumers have a more general diet than primary producers

Which of the following is primarily responsible for limiting the number of trophic levels in most ecosystems?

A) Many primary and higher-order consumers are opportunistic feeders.

B) Decomposers compete with higher-order consumers for nutrients and energy.

C) Nutrient cycling rates tend to be limited by decomposition.

D) Energy transfer between trophic levels is usually less than 20 percent efficient.

Which trophic level is most vulnerable to extinction?

A) producer level

B) primary consumer level

C) secondary consumer level

D) tertiary consumer level

Which statement best describes what ultimately happens to the chemical energy that is consumed but not used to produce new biomass in the process of energy transfer between trophic levels in an ecosystem?

A) It is undigested and winds up in the feces and is not passed on to higher trophic levels.

B) It is used by organisms to maintain their life processes through the reactions of cellular respiration.

C) Heat produced by cellular respiration is used by heterotrophs for thermoregulation.

D) It is eliminated as feces or is dissipated into space as heat as a result of cellular respiration consistent with the second law of thermodynamics.

Consider the food chain of grass → grasshopper → mouse → snake → hawk. About how much of the chemical energy fixed by photosynthesis of the grass (100 percent) is available to the hawk?
A) 0.01%

B) 0.1%

C) 1%

D) 10%

If the flow of energy in an arctic ecosystem goes through a simple food chain, perhaps involving humans, starting from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish to seals to polar bears, then which of the following could be accurate?

A) Polar bears can provide more food for humans than seals can.

B) The total biomass of the fish is lower than that of the seals.

C) Seal populations are larger than fish populations.

D) Fish can potentially provide more food for humans than seal meat.

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Diagram of a food web (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species)

If the figure represents a terrestrial food web, the combined biomass of C + D would probably be ________.

A) greater than the biomass of A

B) greater than the biomass of B

C) less than the biomass of A + B

D) less than the biomass of E

A porcupine eats 3,000 J of plant material. Of this, 2,100 J is indigestible and is eliminated as feces, 800 J are used in cellular respiration, and 100 J are used for growth and reproduction. What is the approximate production efficiency of this animal?

A) 0.03%

B) 3%

C) 11%

D) 33%

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Based on the figure, which of the following are plausible reasons for the results?

I) Nutrients in the control watershed are being lost due to evapotranspiration from leaves.

II) Nutrients dissolve in the water running through the watershed.

III) Nutrients are attached to small particles of sand or clay that leave the watershed.

IV) Intact vegetation includes plant roots that held soil particles and prevented nutrient loss.

A) only I and III

B) only II and IV

C) I, II, III, and IV

D) only II, III, and IV

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Consider the global water cycle depicted in the figure. Where is the greatest flux of water from one reserve to another?

A) from precipitation to the ocean

B) from the ocean to the atmosphere

C) from runoff in streams and the water table to the ocean

D) from evaporation and transpiration of terrestrial vegetation to the atmosphere

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Consider the global nitrogen cycle depicted in the figure. What is the limiting portion of the cycle for plants?

A) industrial nitrogen fixation

B) nitrogen lost to the atmosphere

C) internal nitrogen cycling in the oceans

D) nitrogen fixation by bacteria

Use the following figure to answer the question.

Consider the global nitrogen cycle depicted in the figure. How are humans altering this cycle?

A) industrial nitrogen fixation

B) nitrogen lost to the atmosphere

C) reduction of nitrogen available to terrestrial ecosystems

D) reduction of nitrogen fixation by bacteria

Which of the following locations are major reservoirs for carbon in the carbon cycle?

A) the ocean, atmosphere, and fossilized and live plant and animal biomass

B) the atmosphere

C) fossilized plant and animal remains (coal, oil, and natural gas)

D) sediments and sedimentary rocks

Which of the following statements is correct about biogeochemical cycling?

A) Phosphorus is the limiting nutrient that most widely affects biomass production.

B) The phosphorus cycle involves the weathering of rocks.

C) The carbon cycle has maintained a constant atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide for the past million years.

D) The nitrogen cycle involves movement of diatomic nitrogen between the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem.

Use the following figure to answer the question.

On the diagram of the nitrogen cycle, which number represents nitrite (NO2)?

A) 1

B) 2

C) 3

D) 4

Use the following figure to answer the question.

On the diagram of the nitrogen cycle, which number represents the ammonium ion (NH4+)? A) 1

B) 2

C) 3

D) 4

Nitrifying bacteria participate in the nitrogen cycle mainly by ________.

A) converting nitrogen gas to ammonia

B) releasing ammonium from organic compounds, thus returning it to the soil

C) converting ammonium to nitrate, which plants absorb

D) incorporating nitrogen into amino acids and organic compounds

The Hubbard Brook watershed deforestation experiment revealed that ________.

I) deforestation increased water runoff

II) nitrate concentration in waters draining the deforested area became dangerously high

III) calcium levels remained high in the soil of deforested areas

A) only I

B) only II

C) only III

D) only I and II

Why do logged tropical rain forest soils typically have nutrient-poor soils?

A) Tropical bedrock contains little phosphorous.

B) Logging results in soil temperatures that are lethal to nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

C) Most of the nutrients in the ecosystem are removed in the harvested timber.

D) The cation exchange capacity of the soil is reversed as a result of logging.

How can biodiversity affect the way we decontaminate industrial sites?

I) Bacteria have been found to be able to detoxify certain chemicals; perhaps there are more.

II) Trees produce sawdust, which can be used to soak up chemicals.

III) Species evolving in contaminated areas could adapt and detoxify the area.

A) only I

B) only II

C) only III

D) only II and III

The first step in ecosystem restoration is to ________.

A) restore the physical structure

B) restore native species that have been extirpated due to disturbance

C) remove competitive invasive species

D) remove toxic pollutants

The goal of restoration ecology is to ________.

A) replace a ruined ecosystem with a more suitable ecosystem for that area

B) return degraded ecosystems to a more natural state

C) manage competition among species in human-altered ecosystems

D) prevent further degradation by protecting an area with park status

The discipline that applies ecological principles to returning degraded ecosystems to a more natural state is known as ________.

A) landscape ecology

B) conservation ecology

C) restoration ecology

D) resource conservation

Which of the following would be considered an example of bioremediation?

A) adding nitrogen-fixing microorganisms to a degraded ecosystem to increase nitrogen availability

B) using a bulldozer to regrade a strip mine

C) dredging a river bottom to remove contaminated sediments

D) adding fertilizer to soil poor in nutrients to increase plant growth

Acid precipitation lowered the pH of soil in a terrestrial ecosystem that supported a diverse community of plants and animals. The decrease in pH eliminated all nitrogen-fixing bacteria populations in the area. Which prediction most accurately reflects the impact this will have on the community?

A) Since phosphorus can replace nitrogen as an essential nutrient, the impact will be minimal.

B) Plants can obtain the nitrogen necessary for growth from the atmosphere, but bacterial communities will be negatively impacted.

C) Primary producers will suffer from nitrogen deficiency and the entire community will experience a decrease in carrying capacity.

D) The decrease in pH actually increases the availability of soil nutrients, so other nutrients that were less available cause an increase in primary production and an increase in biomass at other trophic levels.

Which of the following organisms is incorrectly paired with its trophic level?

A) cyanobacterium—primary producer

B) grasshopper—primary consumer

C) zooplankton—primary producer

D) fungus—detritivore

Which of these ecosystems has the lowest net primary production per square meter?

A) a salt marsh

B) an open ocean

C) a coral reef

D) a tropical rain forest

The discipline that applies ecological principles to returning degraded ecosystems to a more natural state is known as

A) restoration ecology.

B) thermodynamics.

C) eutrophication.

D) biogeochemistry.

Nitrifying bacteria participate in the nitrogen cycle mainly by

A) converting nitrogen gas to ammonia.

B) releasing ammonium from organic compounds, thus returning it to the soil.

C) converting ammonium to nitrate, which plants absorb.

D) incorporating nitrogen into amino acids and organic compounds.

Which of the following has the greatest effect on the rate of chemical cycling in an ecosystem?

A) the rate of decomposition in the ecosystem

B) the production efficiency of the ecosystem's consumers

C) the trophic efficiency of the ecosystem

D) the location of the nutrient reservoirs in the ecosystem

The Hubbard Brook watershed deforestation experiment yielded all of the following results except which of the following?

A) Most minerals were recycled within a forest ecosystem.

B) Calcium levels remained high in the soil of deforested areas.

C) Deforestation increased water runoff.

D) The nitrate concentration in waters draining the deforested area became dangerously high.

Which of the following would be considered an example of bioremediation?

A) adding nitrogen-fixing microorganisms to a degraded ecosystem to increase nitrogen availability

B) using a bulldozer to regrade a strip mine

C) reconfiguring the channel of a river

D) adding seeds of a chromium-accumulating plant to soil contaminated by chromium

If you applied a fungicide to a cornfield, what would you expect to happen to the rate of decomposition and net ecosystem production (NEP)?

A) Both decomposition rate and NEP would decrease.

B) Neither would change.

C) Decomposition rate would increase and NEP would decrease.

D) Decomposition rate would decrease and NEP would increase.