Biological Communities and Species Interactions
1. An indicator species such as eastern white pine (pp. 70-71)
A. can tell us something about what climate changes are ahead.
B. is indicative of a highly degraded ecosystem.
C. might show whether environmental changes have reached a threshold level.
D. requires a very dry climate.
E. none of the above.
2. Adaptation and evolution operate at the (p. 72)
A. population level.
B. organismic level.
C. sub-cellular level.
D. individual level.
E. none of the above.
3. In the classic case of natural selection in the European peppered moth, natural selection occurred when (p. 72)
A. all the moths present before the Industrial Revolution died as a result of sulfur dioxide poisoning.
B. as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the light winged moths were easily spotted and eaten from the trunks of the now darkly colored tree trunks.
C. the dark winged moths increased their breeding capabilities as a result of their ability to absorb heat.
D. none of the above.
E. all of the above.
4. The characteristics of the different breeds of dogs arose (p. 72)
A. from random genetic mutations.
B. through adaptation.
C. as a result of selective breeding.
D. because of geographic isolation.
E. none of the above.
5. An ecological niche refers to (p. 73)
A. a set of environmental conditions in which an organism lives.
B. the presence of an indicator species in the ecosystem.
C. the variety of genetic mutations in a particular population.
D. the role a species plays in a community.
E. all of the above.
6. The law of competitive exclusion states that (p. 74)
A. no species will be excluded from an ecosystem for very long.
B. no two species will compete for exactly the same resources in an ecosystem for very long.
C. no two species will survive competition with each other for long.
D. species that occupy wide niches are going to beat out species adapted to smaller niches.
E. none of the above.
7. All of the following are true of resource partitioning EXCEPT (p. 74)
A. it can produce high levels of specialization within a species.
B. it can produce separate species from subpopulations of the same species.
C. one effect is that it minimizes competition between species.
D. it requires an ever increasing amount of resources to operate.
E. it often increases niche specialization.
8. All of the following are major factors in how species evolve and adapt EXCEPT (pp. 75-80)
A. predation.
B. competition for scarce resources.
C. population explosions.
D. symbiosis.
E. mutualism.
9. A keystone species (p. 76)
A. is most likely a tertiary consumer.
B. often is the first in an ecosystem to go extinct.
C. has an impact on an ecosystem greater than its abundance might indicate.
D. is particularly abundant in an ecosystem.
E. none of the above.
10. If you were a gardener looking at weeds beginning to outgrow your young, tender vegetables, you would be witnessing (p. 78)
A. mutualism.
B. symbiosis.
C. territoriality.
D. interspecific competition.
E. none of the above.
11. Which of the following is NOT an example of symbiosis: (p. 80)
A. commensalism
B. mutualism
C. cattle egrets who pick up insects as cattle graze the fields
D. lichens, a combination of algae and fungus
E. mimicry
12. Which of the following ecosystems produces the most biomass? (p. 83)
A. desert
B. open ocean
C. a grassland
D. coastal zone
E. estuaries and coral reefs
13. In ecological terms, complexity refers to (p. 83)
A. the primary productivity of the ecosystem.
B. the number of trophic levels and the species at each trophic level.
C. the number of species in the entire ecosystem.
D. the distribution of species.
E. none of the above.
14. Which of the following is not a kind of stability or resiliency in the ecosystem: (p. 84)
A. patchiness
B. constancy
C. inertia
D. renewal
E. distribution
15. A grove of wind-sheared evergreens that break the wind for each other illustrates the following about community structure: (p. 85)
A. random distribution
B. edge effects
C. resilience
D. clustering
E. none of the above
16. Boundaries between adjacent communities are called (p. 86)
A. succession.
B. ecotones.
C. habitat patches.
D. pioneer communities.
E. none of the above.
17. Conservation biologists are concerned about edge effects because (p. 86)
A. they are generally detrimental to biodiversity.
B. they are entry points for pollution.
C. they often favor plants and animals that are adapted to disturbance.
D. they mean that populations will often not be able to adapt to change.
E. A and C.
F. B and D.
18. Which of the following best describes what is occurring in the following scenario: a logging operation clear cuts a forest and new plants start to grow. (pp. 87-88)
A. primary succession
B. secondary succession
C. climax community
D. equilibrium community
E. none of the above
19. Climax communities (p. 88)
A. change rapidly from one moment to the next.
B. change very slowly so as to appear to be the same over long periods of time.
C. require pioneer species on a regular basis to survive.
D. are usually low in species diversity and community stability.
E. none of the above.
20. One major characteristic of genetically engineered organisms that are introduced into an new environment is that (p. 89)
A. they often are beneficial to the ecosystems they get established in.
B. they often increase species diversity of the ecosystems they get established in.
C. they often require fire to reseed themselves.
D. we often do not know how they will respond to natural selective forces.
E. none of the above.