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.
The growth rate of the population slows down.
Niche differentiation.
Which of the following is not a component of the phosphorus cycle?
Phosphate is incorporated into sedimentary rocks
Atmospheric phosphate
Phosphate is absorbed from the soil by plants
Phosphate bound to soil
Within the biogeochemical cycle, where do consumers get most of their elements from, not including oxygen and hydrogen?
The air in the atmosphere
Other organisms
The pool of unavailable organic compounds
The soil
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?
7%
0.7%
1%
10%
Which term is used to describe how plants spread their seeds?
Dispersal
Migration
Colonization
Biogeography
Which of the following is true about amensalism?
Amensalism can happen when a bigger, more established organism out competes a smaller organism for resources.
Intraspecific competition usually gives rise to which of the following dispersion patterns?
Clumped
Random
Uniform
Either uniform or clumped
What is a niche?
A role thats played by a particular species in an ecosystem
The area where a predator hunts.
The type of prey that a predator hunts.
A area thats suitable for a particular organism to live in
What is an ecosystem?
Production of a large number of small offspring, each of which receives little parental investment.
What is niche differentiation?
When more than one species with almost the same fundamental niche adapt to become specialists in different aspects of the fundamental niche.
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 nests in an area
Counting the number of organisms in an area
Which specific field of science gave rise to the theoretical idea of island biogeography and its counterpart, island biodiversity?
Ecology
Zoology
Biology
Paleontology
A chaparral plant that is usually only seen in the first couple of years after a fire is also called what?
A smoke germinator
Ash vegetation
A fire-follower
A fire germinator
What is a population?
The individual organisms belonging to the same species.
All of the communities within a geographical area.
All of the ecosystems on the planet combined.
All of the individual organisms of all the different species
What is coevolution?
Coevolution occurs when the fitness of two different species is tightly linked and these two species evolve in response to evolutionary changes in each other.
Which type of factors has the biggest impact on an organism's life history?
Environmental factors
Factors related to the predators of that species
Factors unique to the organism's survival and fitness
Physiological factors
The chaparral biome is characterized by what?
Dense, rich soil and a very long growing season
Sparse evergreen shrubs; cold, dry winters; and mild, wet
Large perennial plants that can only grow in the dry summer
Dense evergreen shrubs mild, wet winters; and hot dry summer
Which of the following is a density-independent factor that does not become more limiting as the population increases?
Reproductive rate
Water
Flash flood from a thunderstorm
Available habitat
According to this graph, at which elevation is the population density of Species A the highest?
6,000 ft
4,000 ft
5,000 ft
3,000 ft
Which of the following events is likely to precede primary succession?
A tsunami
A volcanic eruption that creates a new island
A wildfire
Deforestation
The lowest, most basic level at which ecology is studied is:
the population level
the organismal level
the cellular level
the biosphere
What is a modern human intervention in the phosphorus cycle?
Capturing atmospheric phosphate for use as a fertilizer
Replacing phosphate with magnesium
Planting crops that release a lot of phosphate
Mining phosphate for use as a fertilizer
The prickly pear cactus is a producer. Which of the following organisms is a primary consumer of a prickly pear cactus?
Rattlesnake
Red-tailed Hawk
Vulture
Harris's Antelope Squirrel
What does the term colonization mean in terms of organisms?
When a species starts to populate a habitat where the species was not already present
How many trophic levels does an omnivore feed on within an ecosystem?
Omnivores feed at all trophic levels.
3
None, because the various trophic levels do not apply
2
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?
Mutualistic
Amensalistic
Serendipitous
Parasitic
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 host
The vector
What type of mimicry occurs when a harmless animal mimics a dangerous or unpalatable animal?
Chemical mimicry
Mullerian mimicry
Coloration mimicry
Batesian mimicry