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?
Amensalistic
Parasitic
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 parasite
The symbiont
The vector
The host
What usually happens in a natural population as it approaches its carrying capacity?
The population drops dramatically.
The population will migrate to an area with more resources.
Niche differentiation.
The growth rate of the population slows down.
Intraspecific competition usually gives rise to which of the following dispersion patterns?
Either uniform or clumped
Uniform
Clumped
Random
The chaparral biome is characterized by what?
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
Large perennial plants that can only grow in the dry summer
Which of the following events is likely to precede primary succession?
Deforestation
A wildfire
A volcanic eruption that creates a new island
A tsunami
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%
0.7%
7%
1%
The lowest, most basic level at which ecology is studied is:
the organismal level
the cellular level
the population level
the biosphere
What is a population?
All of the individual organisms of all the different species
All of the ecosystems on the planet combined.
The individual organisms belonging to the same species.
All of the communities within a geographical area.
Which type of factors has the biggest impact on an organism's life history?
Factors unique to the organism's survival and fitness
Factors related to the predators of that species
Physiological factors
Environmental factors
Which of the following is an indirect indicator that biologists can use to estimate a population's density?
The number of previously tagged animals they trap
All of the answers are correct.
Counting the number of organisms in an area
Counting the number of nests in an area
Which of the following is not a component of the phosphorus cycle?
Phosphate is incorporated into sedimentary rocks
Phosphate is absorbed from the soil by plants
Atmospheric phosphate
Phosphate bound to soil
Within the biogeochemical cycle, where do consumers get most of their elements from, not including oxygen and hydrogen?
Other organisms
The pool of unavailable organic compounds
The soil
The air in the atmosphere
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?
Paleontology
Zoology
Biology
Ecology
