8.3.8: Review Questions

4.

The ability of an ecosystem to return to its equilibrium state after an environmental disturbance is called ________.

1. resistance
2. restoration
3. reformation
4. resilience

5.

A re-created ecosystem in a laboratory environment is known as a ________.

1. mesocosm
2. simulation
3. microcosm
4. reproduction

6.

Decomposers are associated with which class of food web?

1. grazing
2. detrital
3. inverted
4. aquatic

7.

The primary producers in an ocean grazing food web are usually ________.

1. plants
2. animals
3. fungi
4. phytoplankton

8.

What term describes the use of mathematical equations in the modeling of linear aspects of ecosystems?

1. analytical modeling
2. simulation modeling
3. conceptual modeling
4. individual-based modeling

9.

The position of an organism along a food chain is known as its ________.

1. locus
2. location
3. trophic level
4. microcosm

10.

The loss of an apex consumer would impact which trophic level of a food web?

1. primary producers
2. primary consumers
3. secondary consumers
4. all of the above

11.

A food chain would be a better resource than a food web to answer which question?

1. How does energy move from an organism in one trophic level to an organism on the next trophic level?
2. How does energy move within a trophic level?
3. What preys on grasses?
4. How is organic matter recycled in a forest?

12.

The weight of living organisms in an ecosystem at a particular point in time is called:

1. energy
2. production
3. entropy
4. biomass

13.

Which term describes the process whereby toxic substances increase along trophic levels of an ecosystem?

1. biomassification
2. biomagnification
3. bioentropy
4. heterotrophy

14.

Organisms that can make their own food using inorganic molecules are called:

1. autotrophs
2. heterotrophs
3. photoautotrophs
4. chemoautotrophs

15.

In the English Channel ecosystem, the number of primary producers is smaller than the number of primary consumers because________.

1. the apex consumers have a low turnover rate
2. the primary producers have a low turnover rate
3. the primary producers have a high turnover rate
4. the primary consumers have a high turnover rate

16.

What law of chemistry determines how much energy can be transferred when it is converted from one form to another?

1. the first law of thermodynamics
2. the second law of thermodynamics
3. the conservation of matter
4. the conservation of energy

17.

The mussels that live at the NW Eifuku volcano are examples of _______.

1. chemoautotrophs
2. photoautotrophs
3. apex predators
4. primary consumers

18.

The movement of mineral nutrients through organisms and their environment is called a ________ cycle.

1. biological
2. bioaccumulation
3. biogeochemical
4. biochemical

19.

Carbon is present in the atmosphere as ________.

1. carbon dioxide
2. carbonate ion
3. carbon dust
4. carbon monoxide

20.

The majority of water found on Earth is:

1. ice
2. water vapor
3. fresh water
4. salt water

21.

The average time a molecule spends in its reservoir is known as ________.

1. residence time
2. restriction time
3. resilience time
4. storage time

22.

The process whereby oxygen is depleted by the growth of microorganisms due to excess nutrients in aquatic systems is called ________.

1. dead zoning
2. eutrophication
3. retrofication
4. depletion

23.

The process whereby nitrogen is brought into organic molecules is called ________.

1. nitrification
2. denitrification
3. nitrogen fixation
4. nitrogen cycling

24.

Which of the following approaches would be the most effective way to reduce greenhouse carbon dioxide?

1. Increase waste deposition into the deep ocean.
2. Plant more environmentally-suitable plants.
3. Increase use of fuel sources that do not produce carbon dioxide as a by-product.
4. Decrease livestock agriculture.

25.

How would loss of fungi in a forest effect biogeochemical cycles in the area?

1. Nitrogen could no longer be fixed into organic molecules.
2. Phosphorus stores would be released for use by other organisms.
3. Sulfur release from eroding rocks would cease.
4. Carbon would accumulate in dead organic matter and waste.