Biology 100 Final Ch.37 – Flashcards

Which of these research topics would be considered an example of community ecology?

A community is composed of...

Ant-plants host ant colonies. When the ant colony is the species Petalomyrmex phylax, the presence of the ants protects the ant-plants from predation by herbivores. However, the ant species Cataulacus mckeyi takes advantage of the nesting place and nectar the plants provide without affording any protection to the plant. The interspecies interaction between the ant-plants and P. phylax is an example of _____ whereas the interaction between the ant-plants and C. mckeyi is an example of _____.

An owl and a hawk both eat mice. Which of these describes the relationship between a hawk and an owl?

When two different populations in a community benefit from their relationship with each other, the result is called...

The sum total of a population's use of the biotic and abiotic resources of its habitat constitutes its

In an ecosystem, you would expect to find interspecific competition between

If an overlap develops between the ranges of two closely related species, and if the species occupy the same niche in the zone of overlap, what will probably happen in the zone of overlap?

What is this an example of: Some biologists have observed Egyptian plover birds land on the open mouth of a Nile crocodile without being eaten and remove leeches stuck firmly to the crocodile's gums.

What is this an example of: Sea anemones coating the shallow-water coral reefs in Australia feed on fish and shrimp that wander too close to their tentacles.

Camouflage typically evolves as a result of

One mechanism that prey populations evolve to avoid predation is...

Some herbivore-plant interactions evolved through a series of reciprocal evolutionary adaptations in both species. The process is called...

What is this an example of: Squirrels in the forests of Wisconsin hide away hickory nuts and acorns, which they will eat during the long, cold winter.

Most plants have a variety of chemicals, spines, and thorns because the plants...

Consider this food chain: Tall grass is consumed by grasshoppers that, in turn, are eaten by mice, and the mice are eaten by prairie kingsnakes. Red-tailed hawks prey on mice and prairie kingsnakes. When a red-tailed hawk dies, bacteria, beetles, fungi, and many types of worms help break down the body. What type of consumers are the grasshoppers?

On Earth, most organic molecules are produced by...

A hypothetical community on a barren mid-Atlantic island consists the booby and the noddy, the fungi and microorganisms that live on the birds' dung, a tick that feeds on these two birds, a cactus, a moth that feeds on cast-off feathers, a beetle that lives on dung organisms, and spiders that eat the other arthropods. There are no other plants and no lichens. Which of the following choices incorrectly pairs a member of this assemblage with its position in the trophic structure? a) cactus, producer b) fungi, detritivores c) booby, primary consumer d) moth, detritivore

In a food chain consisting of phytoplankton → zooplankton → fish → fishermen, the fishermen are...

In a certain ecosystem, field mice are preyed on by snakes and hawks. The entry of wild dogs into the system adds another predator of the mice. The most likely short-term result of this addition is...

If the snake population were suddenly reduced because of a virus that kills only snakes, we would expect that the population of _____.

Which of the following represents a community with the greatest species richness?

The number of species in a community is called the...

Without elephants, some of the grasslands in Africa would eventually become thickets or forests because elephants weed out trees and shrubs. Even though elephants make up a small percentage of the animals living on the grassland, the grassland would eventually cease to exist without them. In this community, elephants are _____.

When a New England farm is abandoned, its formerly plowed fields first become weedy meadows, then shrubby areas, and finally forest. This sequence of plant communities is an example of

What generally flows in one direction through an ecosystem, from producers up through each level of consumers, and is not recycled?

The flow of ________ into ecosystems occurs in one direction only, while ________ are recycled within the ecosystem itself.

What processes does not occur in ecosystems?

When the system is stable, the teacher seals it into a large, airtight glass box and leaves the box in a sunny location. After three months, the organisms in the aquarium appear alive and healthy. Which of the following statements about the experiment is true? a) During the three months, the biomass of animal life was greater than the biomass of plant life. b) The air in the glass box contains no carbon dioxide. c) Some of the energy in the system has moved from one organism to another during the three months. d) No energy has entered or left the glass box during the three months.

Which of the following ecosystems would probably have the highest primary productivity? Assume that we are comparing similar sizes of each ecosystem. a) the open ocean b) an ecosystem with only primary consumers c) a desert environment d) a tropical coral reef

For a given area and time period, the amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy in organic compounds is called...

In an ecosystem where 500,000 kcal of sunlight is available for producers, approximately how much chemical energy will be contained in secondary consumers?

In an average ecosystem, about how much energy is present in the organisms at a given trophic level compared to the organisms at the next higher trophic level?

About how much of the energy in the producers of an ecosystem will be available to secondary consumers in this ecosystem?

Our current ability to feed the people of the world would improve if people ate a diet that only consisted of _____.

Which of the following substances is cycled between organic matter and abiotic reservoirs?

Which of the following is an abiotic reservoir? a) an algal bloom b) soil c) birds d) the fish in the sea

The main cause of the recent increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is _____.

Given that CO2 is produced by cellular respiration, why does the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere remain relatively constant? (When answering this question, exclude the impact of human activities on atmospheric CO2.)

What type of population interaction benefits neither population?

If the niches of two species are very similar, what will be true?

Mutualism could be expressed by _____.

Herbivores are _____.

A series of reciprocal evolutionary adaptations in two species is called _____.

A species of malaria-carrying mosquito lives in a forest in which two species of monkeys, A and B, coexist. Species A is resistant 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, what would be an immediate observable consequence?

Photosynthetic organisms are called _____.

When you eat an apple, you are serving as a _____.

The main detritivores in an ecosystem are _____.

Consider this segment of a food web: Snails and grasshoppers eat pepper plants; spiders eat grasshoppers; shrews eat snails and spiders; owls eat shrews. The snail occupies the trophic level(s) of _____.

Species richness and relative abundance define the _____ of a community.

In ecosystems, organisms at the highest trophic levels usually contain less collective biomass than the organisms at lower trophic levels because _____.

A study of metabolic rates in a terrestrial community showed that the energy released by respiration exceeded the energy captured in photosynthesis. Which of the following situations is most likely? a) The second law of thermodynamics (in a closed system, there is a general tendency toward disorder) is not in effect. b) Community biomass is decreasing. c) Community biomass is increasing. d) A climax community has been reached.

The biomass in an ecosystem will be greatest at the trophic level comprising of _____.

The relationship between biomass and primary productivity is that _____.

In any food chain, the top level of consumers is quaternary (fourth). Why are there almost never any fifth-level consumers?

What best describes the base of a pyramid of production?

The biggest difference between the flow of energy and the flow of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem is that _____.

Bacteria are especially important in making _____ available to plants.

_____ is the goal of developing, managing, and conserving Earth's resources in ways that meet the needs of people today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.