Population dynamics

Highways allow people to travel between towns and cities. These highways also divide ecosystems into smaller pieces. Animals can become separated from lakes they use for breeding. For example, tiger salamanders travel long distances to breed at lakes. How could highway systems affect animals such as tiger salamanders?

• Tiger salamanders may be cut off from important resources
• Tiger salamander could improve their ability to remember roads
• Tiger salamander's habitat within ecosystems could become larger
• Tiger salamanders habitat may be exposed to less pollution

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Guppies are small fish that live in fresh water. Most guppy species reproduce sexually, but some reproduce asexually. There are two lakes in a particular region. One lake contains  a species of guppy that reproduces asexually. The other lake contains a species of guppy that reproduces sexually. A scientist studying these lakes predicts that the sexually reproducing guppies would survive better than the asexually reproducing guppies if a fungus was introduced to both lakes. Which statement supports this hypothesis?

• The sexually reproducing guppies are carriers of harmful characteristics
• The sexually reproducing guppies require only one individual for reproduction
• The sexually reproducing guppies have a variation of inherited characteristics
• The sexually reproducing guppies are identical to one another

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The process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than other members of the same species is called................

• Natural selection.
• Evolution
• Competition
• Overpopulation

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How diversity within a species benefit that species if there is an environmental change?

• Diversity does not affect a species if there is an environmental change.
• Sexual reproduction within a species allows for diversity which benefits the species if there is an environmental change.
• Asexual reproduction within a species allows for diversity which benefits the species if there is an environmental change.
• None of the choices are correct

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Select the 3 statements that may explain the changes in the population of the peppered moths during this time:

• Options 1, 2, and 3
• Options 2, 3, and 4
• Options 1, 5, and 6
• Options 2, 4 and 5

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Which statement correctly explains why one of the species is more likely to survive an environmental change?

• Species 1 because it has fewer genes
• Species 2 because it has more genes
• Species 1 because it has less genetic diversity
• Species 2 because it has greater genetic diversity

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NGSS.MS-LS4-4

In the Western Hemisphere, crocodiles can be found only as far north as southern Florida. Crocodiles require warm temperatures to survive. The average annual temperature for southern Florida is 76 degrees F. However, crocodile fossils and fossilized subtropical plants have been found in parts of western Colorado, where the average annual temperature is 53 degrees F.
Which statement explains why crocodile fossils are found in western regions of the United States but living crocodiles are not?

• Crocodiles used to live in cold climates but adapted to warm climates
• The climate changed, and crocodiles could not survive in this region
• Crocodiles migrated from Florida to Colorado, where they died
• A glacier carried crocodile bones from Mexico to Colorado

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A park is home to a large number of robins, squirrels and rabbits. The robins and squirrels live in the park's trees. The robins feed on earthworms and insects that live on the ground. The squirrels eat the acorns produced by the park's oak trees. The rabbits hide in the bushed and feed on the grass. Which factor would directly limit the number of rabbits that could live in this park.

• Number of acorns
• Number of squirrels
• Number of bushes
• Number of robins

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A desert lake has evaporated to half its original size over the past 50 years. This caused a large increase in the lake's salt concentration. Over these 50 years, scientists have observed a decrease in the population of one fish species and an increase in the population of a shrimp species. Which hypothesis about the organisms ability to live with the salt concentration does the evidence suport

• The fish are better able to live in areas of high salt concentration
• Neither the shrimp nor the fish are able to live in areas of high salt concentration
• Both the shrimp and the fish are equally able to live in areas of high salt concentration
• The shrimp are better able to live in areas of high salt concentration

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What causes organisms to adapt?

• fossil records
• other animals
• their environment

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