Unit 10 - Environmental Change

Insecticides are sprayed over a large area in an effort to reduce the number of grasshoppers that are eating the corn plants. How will this change affect this food chain? 

• The number of grasshoppers will increase
• The number of lizards will increase
• The number of lizards and hawks will decrease
• The number of grasshoppers, lizards, and hawks will decrease

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An organism that cannot adapt to changes in the environment will most likely - 

• produce more offspring
• die
• change its traits to survive
• store more food

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All of the following are examples of environmental changes that can be caused by humans except - 

• clearing land for housing developments
• pesticides
• volcanic eruption
• pollution

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In the 1850s, Thomas Austin released approximately twenty-four rabbits from Europe into the Australian countryside. By 1900, tens of millions of rabbits were found all over the Australian continent. The warm Australian climate, abundant farmland, and crops provided the perfect habitat for the rabbits. The rabbits caused extensive damage to all vegetation, and the lack of plants increased soil erosion. Why were the rabbits so successful? 

• the rabbits competed with local herbivores for food
• the rabbits did not have natural predators
• erosion of soil benefited the rabbits
• diseases helped decrease rabbit populations

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A giraffe’s niche is feeding on the canopy of trees.  What physical biological trait must the giraffes keep in order to support this niche?

• a long neck
• small antenna
• short ears
• large brown spots

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How would beavers building a dam cause an increase in the fish population? The dam

• blocks a river and creates a lake.
• causes predators to hunt more fish.
• forces many birds to leave the ecosystem.
• removes trees from around the river.

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Scientists are concerned about overfishing of shark populations. Sharks feed on rays and rays feed on scallops. Without sharks, rays consume all the scallop beds. This situation demonstrates that: 

• humans can improve an ecosystem by removing predators.
• humans can upset an ecosystem by removing species.
• reducing the shark population increases the quantity of scallops that can be taken.
• sharks are not important for the stability of the ecosystem.

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Global warming has been linked to a decrease in 

• the size of the polar ice caps 
• the temperature of Earth 
• the rate of species extinction 
• the rate of carbon dioxide production

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Which human activity would preserve nonrenewable resources?

• deforestation
• removing carnivores from a forest 
• recycling
• heating homes with fossil fuels  

Which human activity is correctly paired with its likely future consequence?

• overfishing in the Atlantic — increase in supply of flounder and salmon as food for people 
• development of electric cars or hybrid vehicles — increased rate of global warming 
• use of fossil fuels — depletion of underground coal, oil, and natural gas supplies 
• genetically engineering animals — less food available to feed the world’s population

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