1. The branch of biology dealing with interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment is called
Correct : D. ecology.
2. The combined portions of Earth in which all living things exist is called the
Correct : D. biosphere.
3. Which of the following descriptions about the organization of an ecosystem is correct?
Correct : D. Species make up populations, which make up communities.
4. The simplest grouping of more than one kind of organism in the biosphere is
Correct : B. a community.
5. Plants are
Correct : A. producers.
6. What is the original source of almost all the energy in most ecosystems?
Correct : B. sunlight
7. An organism that uses energy to produce its own food supply from inorganic compounds is called a(an)
Correct : D. autotroph.
8. An organism that cannot make its own food is called a(an)
Correct : A. heterotroph.
9. Organisms that obtain nutrients by breaking down dead and decaying plants and animals are called
Correct : A. decomposers.
10. What is an organism that feeds only on plants called?
Correct : B. herbivore
11. All the interconnected feeding relationships in an ecosystem make up a food
Correct : D. web.
12. The total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level is called the
Correct : D. biomass.
13. What is an ecological model of the relationships that form a network of complex interactions among organisms in a community from producers to decomposers?
Correct : A. food web
14. What is the term for each step in the transfer of energy and matter within a food
web?
Correct : C. trophic level
15. A bird stalks, kills, and then eats an insect. Based on its behavior, which ecological
terms describe the bird?
Correct : C. carnivore, consumer
16. A snake that eats a frog that has eaten an insect that fed on a plant is a
Correct : D. third-level consumer.
17. The trophic levels in Figure 3–2 illustrate
Correct : C. the relative number of individual organisms at each level.
18. Only 10 percent of the energy stored in an organism can be passed on to the next trophic level. Of the remaining energy, some is used for the organism’s life processes, and the rest is
Correct : D. eliminated as heat.
19. Most of the energy available to a consumer trophic level is used by organisms for
Correct : B. respiration, movement, and reproduction.
20. Which type of pyramid shows the amount of living tissue at each trophic level in an ecosystem?
Correct : C. a biomass pyramid
21. Matter can recycle through the biosphere because
Correct : C. biological systems do not use up matter, they transform it.
22. The repeated movement of water between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere is called
Correct : A. the water cycle.
23. Carbon cycles through the biosphere in all of the following processes EXCEPT
Correct : B. transpiration.
24. How is carbon stored in the biosphere?
Correct : D. all of the above
25. Which of the following has a direct role in the nitrogen cycle?
Correct : D. all of the above
26. Organisms need nutrients in order to
Correct : B. carry out essential life functions.
27. The movements of energy and nutrients through living systems are different because
Correct : A. energy flows in one direction and nutrients recycle.
28. Biogeochemical cycling ensures that
Correct : C. nutrients will be circulated throughout the biosphere.