Community Ecology

Answers: 1d,2a,3c,4b,5e,6b,7e,8a,9e,10a,11a,12e,13b,14b,15c,16a,17e,18d,19d,20c, 21b,22c,23c,24a Community Ecology a. b. c. d. e. Flounder is a type of fish that looks like the seafloor. This is an example of ______. Müllerian mimicry warning coloration character displacement cryptic coloration Batesian mimicry a. b. c. d. e. Certain species of acacia trees in Central and South America have hollow thorns that house stinging ants; these ants attack anything that touches the tree. The ants feed on nutrients produced by the acacias. This is an example of ______. mutualism parasitism predation competitive exclusion intraspecific competition a. b. c. d. e. The niche of an animal is _____. the number of individuals of the species the environment will support the same as its habitat the way the animal fits into its environment its den or nest its position in the food chain a. b. c. d. e. A species of malaria-carrying mosquito lives in a forest in which two species of monkeys, A and B, coexist. Species A is immune to malaria, but species B is not. The malaria-carrying mosquito is the chief food for a particular kind of bird in the forest. If all these birds were suddenly eliminated by hunters, which of the following would be an immediately observable consequence? increased mortality (death rate) in monkey species A increased mortality in monkey species B increased mortality in the malaria-carrying mosquitoes emergence of malaria-resistant strains in monkey species B emergence of malaria-sensitive strains in monkey species A 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. a. b. c. d. e. Under which of the following circumstances would interspecific competition be most obvious? when resources are most abundant in the presence of a keystone species when organisms have quite different ecological niches among species whose trophic levels are different when a non-native organism with overlapping ecological niche is introduced to a community a. b. c. d. e. Which of the following is the definition of a pathogen? a group of populations living in close enough proximity to interact regularly a disease-causing microorganism a species that kills and eats another species a species that is killed and eaten by another a type of interspecific interaction that benefits both species a. b. c. d. e. When goats were introduced to an island off the California coast, the goats inhabited the same areas and ate the same plants as the native deer. The deer population dwindled and finally disappeared. This is an example of _____. commensalism succession a food chain coevolution competitive exclusion a. b. c. d. e. The flower fly resembles a honeybee, but the flower fly has no stinger. This is an example of _____. Batesian mimicry Müllerian mimicry cryptic coloration interspecific competition none of the above a. b. c. d. e. The poison-arrow frogs Dendrobates of tropical America are all brightly colored and have very similar patterns. Although each species is distasteful to predators and all possess toxic skin secretions, some of the species live quite separate from the others. The adaptive relationship among these species is best termed _____. cryptic coloration parasisitism commensalisms Batesian mimicry Müllerian mimicry 6. 7. 8. 9. Ecosystems 10. a. b. c. d. e. In ecosystems, organisms at the highest trophic levels usually contain less collective biomass than the organisms at lower trophic levels because ______. organisms are inefficient at converting the energy they consume into biomass biomass shrinks as it rises top-level predators use so much energy to catch their food producers (for example, plants) tend to be heavier than consumers (for example, birds) most of the solar energy hitting Earth is relected or re-radiated into space 11. a. b. c. d. e. 12. Photosynthetic organisms are called _____. autotrophs heterotrophs herbivores carnivores consumers Which one of the following is true of the nitrogen cycle? Bacteria are not involved in the process. Plants can take in and use atmospheric nitrogen through their leaves. Some animals can use inorganic forms of nitrogen such as ammonium. When plants and animals die, the nitrogen within their bodies becomes unavailable. e. Nitrite is converted to nitrate (NO3-) by nitrifying bacteria. a. b. c. d. a. b. c. d. e. Most of the solar energy that reaches Earth _____. is used by plants for photosynthesis is not captured for use by living things is continually recycled by ecosystems is trapped by greenhouse gases is used by algae for photosynthesis a. b. c. d. e. By which process is carbon dioxide released from plants back to the atmosphere? photosynthesis respiration ammonification phosphorylation evaporation a. b. c. d. e. The main decomposers in an ecosystem are ____. plants and animals prokaryotes and animals fungi and prokaryotes prokaryotes and plants plants and fungi a. b. c. d. e. In general, the biomass in an ecosystem will be greatest at the trophic level comprising _____. producers herbivores primary consumers tertiary consumers secondary consumers 13. 14. 15. 16. a. b. c. d. e. Which of the following is a key part of the carbon cycle? return of CO2 to the atmosphere by microbial respiration in soils assimilation of atmospheric CO2 by plant photosynthesis return of CO2 to the atmosphere by animal and plant respiration breakdown by decomposers of carbon-containing dead plants and animals all of the above a. b. c. d. e. The rate at which producers convert solar energy to the chemical energy of organic compounds, minus the energy used during respiration, is called _____ biomass standing crop biomagnification net productivity gross primary productivity a. b. c. d. e. The biggest difference between the flow of energy and the flow of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem is that ____. the amount of energy is much greater than the amount of nutrients energy is recycled, but nutrients are not organisms always need nutrients, but they don’t always need energy nutrients are recycled, but energy is not organisms always need energy, but they don’t always need nutrients a. b. c. d. e. In the transition from each trophic level of the food chain to the next trophic level, there is about a _____. 90% gain of energy 2% gain of energy 90% loss of energy 2% loss of energy 5% loss of energy a. b. c. d. e. Bacteria are especially important in making ____ available to plants. water nitrogen carbon phosphorus energy a. b. c. d. e. In an ecosystem, all incoming energy will eventually be ____. transferred from one trophic level to the next transferred to the decomposers dissipated into space as heat used in photosynthesis none of the above 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. a. b. c. d. e. Which of the following is a primary producer? detritivores shrimp poison ivy lions humans a. b. c. d. e. When you eat an apple, you are a _____. primary consumer carnivore primary producer secondary consumer tertiary consumer 23. 24.