Exam 33: Ecology, the Environment, and Us

An area had no previous community and had no existing soil at first, but then living things started occupying the area. This situation would be called ________.

On average, about ________% of the energy in one trophic level is transferred to the next.

A visitor to an American tropical forest will probably never get to see a jaguar, the largest native cat species in the Americas, but will see many plant-eating monkeys. Use your knowledge of energy pyramids to explain the rarity of the predatory cats.

The recent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide has produced ________, according to the textbook and most scientists.

Park officials needed to repair the old mill dam in a state park and so had to drain the pond behind it, killing all the animals and many of the plants in the water. After the pond reformed and many years passed, a certain species of fish established itself in the pond and remained there for more than 400 years. Which most directly describes the role of that type of fish?

Why is it wiser (ecologically and economically) to eat a diet with more plants in it than one with more meat?

Predict the result when a phosphate-containing chemical is released by a factory into a pond.

What are the differences between primary and secondary succession?

Match each definition to the correct term -This form of carbon results from cell respiration.

Ammonium is converted to nitrates (NO3-) by this process.

A plot of water-soaked soil will have less of the form of nitrogen known as ________ than dry soil.

A certain species of flea drinks only the blood of elephants. How would you best describe this flea's trophic level?

The biosphere consists of many ________, each consisting of the organisms in a specific geographic area and their physical environment.

Match each definition to the correct term -These are organisms that consume both live plants and animals to fulfill their metabolic requirements in an ecosystem.

The ________ cycle normally has no atmospheric component.

The total physical, chemical, and biological requirements of a species are said to be its ________.

________ is an important component of many biological molecules, including the genetic material DNA and energy transfer molecules such as ATP.

The sedimentary rock known as ________ stores carbon deposited by the shells of ocean animals.

A small wooded area was cleared for a new building, but then the builders went bankrupt. Over the ensuing years, plants and animals moved back into the plot in a process called ________.

The Humboldt Current, a river of cold water running deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, sweeps eastward toward the South American coast until it hits the coastline, where it is forced upward near the surface. Deep sediments come up along with the cold water. Predict what you would find along that coast.