When a bee gathers nectar from a certain type of flower to make honey and in the process pollinates the flower, what kind of relationship exists between the bee and the flower?
Parasitic
Amensalistic
Serendipitous
Mutualistic
If a mosquito feeds on a bird that is infected with the West Nile Virus and then feeds on a human being who then contracts the virus, what role is the mosquito playing in the infection of the person?
The vector
The parasite
The symbiont
The host
What usually happens in a natural population as it approaches its carrying capacity?
The growth rate of the population slows down.
Niche differentiation.
The population drops dramatically.
The population will migrate to an area with more resources.
Intraspecific competition usually gives rise to which of the following dispersion patterns?
Random
Uniform
Clumped
Either uniform or clumped
The chaparral biome is characterized by what?
Large perennial plants that can only grow in the dry summer
Sparse evergreen shrubs; cold, dry winters; and mild, wet
Dense evergreen shrubs mild, wet winters; and hot dry summer
Dense, rich soil and a very long growing season
Which of the following events is likely to precede primary succession?
Deforestation
A tsunami
A wildfire
A volcanic eruption that creates a new island
The prickly pear cactus is a producer. Which of the following organisms is a primary consumer of a prickly pear cactus?
Harris's Antelope Squirrel
Rattlesnake
Red-tailed Hawk
Vulture
In a typical ecosystem, what percentage of the energy produced by the autotrophs then consumed by the primary consumers will be passed along to the secondary consumers?
10%
7%
0.7%
1%
The lowest, most basic level at which ecology is studied is:
the organismal level
the biosphere
the population level
the cellular level
What is a population?
All of the ecosystems on the planet combined.
The individual organisms belonging to the same species.
All of the individual organisms of all the different species
All of the communities within a geographical area.
Which type of factors has the biggest impact on an organism's life history?
Physiological factors
Environmental factors
Factors related to the predators of that species
Factors unique to the organism's survival and fitness
Which of the following is an indirect indicator that biologists can use to estimate a population's density?
Counting the number of organisms in an area
The number of previously tagged animals they trap
All of the answers are correct.
Counting the number of nests in an area
Which of the following is not a component of the phosphorus cycle?
Phosphate bound to soil
Phosphate is absorbed from the soil by plants
Atmospheric phosphate
Phosphate is incorporated into sedimentary rocks
Within the biogeochemical cycle, where do consumers get most of their elements from, not including oxygen and hydrogen?
The pool of unavailable organic compounds
The air in the atmosphere
The soil
Other organisms
Which term is used to describe how plants spread their seeds?
Migration
Biogeography
Colonization
Dispersal
Which specific field of science gave rise to the theoretical idea of island biogeography and its counterpart, island biodiversity?
Zoology
Ecology
Biology
Paleontology
