Ecology Unit Quiz
Schedule: Available now.Due 10/04/2015 11:59 PM EDT
Question 1 Select one answer. 10 points What is the currently accepted scientific explanation for anthropogenic global climate change?

1.  Heat escapes from engines, forest fires, machinery, power plants, etc.
2.  Human activities raise greenhouse gas levels and strengthen the greenhouse effect.
3.  The hole in the ozone layer lets in too much sunlight, warming the earth.

Question 2 Select one answer. 10 points The greenhouse effect is the recent and ongoing shift toward warmer temperatures and other climate disruptions caused by human alteration of Earth's atmosphere.

1.  True
2.  False

Question 3 Select one answer. 10 points Respiration and photosynthesis are an essential part of which biogeochemical cycle?

1.  Carbon
2.  Phosphorus
3.  Water
4.  Nitrogen

Question 4 Select one answer. 10 points In real ecosystems, most animal predators are secondary consumers that eat only one kind of primary consumer and are eaten by only one kind of tertiary consumer.

1.  True
2.  False

Question 5 Select all that apply. 10 points Which of the following are probably members of a pond's ecological community? Select all that apply.

1.  a population of fish that live in the pond
2.  a population of plants (lily pads) that live in the pond
3.  dissolved oxygen gas in the pond water
4.  a population of birds (great blue herons) that feed on the pond's fish
5.  a population of birds that live in a forest near the pond but do not have any contact with or important influence on the pond's organisms

Question 6 Select one answer. 10 points Approximately how much energy is passed from one trophic level to be stored as growth in the bodies of organisms at the next level?

1.  50%
2.  20%
3.  10%
4.  90%

Question 7 Select one answer. 10 points Which complicated cycle includes several different processes that are carried out by bacteria in the soil and water?

1.  Phosphorus cycle
2.  Nitrogen cycle
3.  Water cycle
4.  Carbon cycle

Question 8 Select one answer. 10 points Which two activities are the main human activities that have led to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)?

1.  Burning fossil fuels and clearing forests
2.  Breathing and decomposition
3.  Livestock production and rice paddy agriculture
4.  Fertilizer use and natural gas extraction

Question 9 Select one answer. 10 points In the diagram below, the toad is at trophic level...

1.  1
2.  4
3.  3
4.  2
5.  5

Question 10 Select one answer. 10 points

What is the per capita birth rate for 2010?

1.  0.4
2.  38
3.  2.6
4.  0.004

Question 11 Select one answer. 10 points A(n) _____________ consists of members of a single species that live in a specific geographic region.

1.  population
2.  ecosystem
3.  family
4.  community

Question 12 Select one answer. 10 points

The following are estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's International Database. They are averages for populations in two different groups of countries in 2012.

• Group A: Total fertility 1.6 births per woman over a lifetime, life expectancy 78 years at birth, and population growth rate 0.3 % per year.
• Group B: total fertility 2.6 births per woman over a lifetime, life expectancy 66 years at birth, and population growth rate 1.3 % per year.

Which group represents the population of less developed countries, including most of Africa, Asia, and Latin America?

1.  Members of Group B are from the less developed (lower income) nations.
2.  Members of Group A are from the less developed (lower income) nations.

Question 13 Select one answer. 10 points Elements important to life are cycled through living things, air, soil, and water, but they do not take form as rocks.

1.  False
2.  True

Question 14 Select one answer. 10 points

What is the per capita death rate for 2010?

1.  0.09
2.  11
3.  88
4.  0.001

Question 15 Select one answer. 10 points In the course of its biogeochemical cycling, lots of things can happen to a nitrogen atom. Which of the options below accurately describes what cannot happen to it?

1.  It will never be mixed into water or become part of the ocean.
2.  It will never become part of the air.
3.  It will never be destroyed or converted to another element.
4.  It will never become incorporated into the protein molecules of a living organism.