Exam 55: Ecosystems and Restoration Ecology

The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created, yet matter is sometimes gained or lost to an ecosystem. What is the reason for this seeming contradiction?

For most terrestrial ecosystems, pyramids of numbers, biomass, and energy are essentially the same-they have a broad base and a narrow top. The primary reason for this pattern is that

The discipline that applies ecological principles to returning degraded ecosystems to a more natural state is known as

Which of the following terms encompasses all of the others?

In terms of nutrient cycling, why does timber harvesting in a temperate forest cause less ecological devastation than timber harvesting in tropical rain forests?

How is it that the open ocean produces the highest net primary productivity of Earth's ecosystems, yet net primary productivity per square metre is relatively low?

Approximately 1% of the solar radiation that strikes a plant is converted into the chemical bond energy of sugars. Why is this amount so low?

In ecosystems, why is the term cycling used to describe material transfer, whereas the term flow is used for energy exchange?

Use the following food web to answer the questions below. Diagram of a food web (arrows represent energy flow and letters represent species) -If the figure above represents a marine food web, the smallest organism might be

Photosynthetic organisms are unique to most ecosystems because they

Which statement best describes what ultimately happens to the chemical energy that is not converted to new biomass in the process of energy transfer between trophic levels in an ecosystem?

How does phosphorus normally enter ecosystems?

What is the goal of restoration ecology?

Which trophic level is most vulnerable to extinction?

How do the Taylor Glacier bacteria produce their energy?

The Hubbard Brook watershed deforestation experiment yielded all of the following results except

Which of the following lists of organisms is ranked in correct order from lowest to highest percent in production efficiency?

Which of the following statements is true?

Consider the food chain grass → grasshopper → mouse → snake → hawk. How much of the chemical energy fixed by photosynthesis of the grass (100%)is available to the hawk?

Which statement most accurately describes how matter and energy are used in ecosystems?