Bio Ecology CFA/Pre-test

The biotic factors that affect an organism include other species in that organism’s community.

• True

• False

All the biogeochemical cycles involve both biotic and abiotic reservoirs.

• True

• False

The colonization of the stone walls of a building by mosses and lichens is classified as secondary succession.

• True

• False

The decline of a single species in an ecosystem rarely affects the other species living in that ecosystem.

• True

• False

The removal of water from the air by photosynthetic autotrophs is an important part of one of the major biogeochemical cycles.

• True

• False

In Colorado forests, a disturbance such as fire that initiates a series of changes leading back to a mature community is an example of primary succession.

• True

• False

A previously rapidly growing population of green tree frogs in the city park has suddenly leveled off, and is presently neither increasing or decreasing in numbers. This indicates that the tree frog population has reached its carrying capacity.

• True

• False

Which of these species might be classified as a pioneer species?

• pine tree

• oak tree

• hickry tree

• lichen

Compare primary and secondary succession. What is the distinction between them?

• Primary succession is the sequence of species that become established early in a newly colonized

  area, and secondary succession is the sequence of species that move in later.

• Primary succession is the establishment of a community in an area with no soil, while secondary succession is the establishment of a new community in an existing ecosystem that was disturbed.

• Primary succession is the establishment of a new community in an existing ecosystem that was disturbed, while secondary succession is the establishment of a community in an area with no soil.

• Primary succession is the sequence of plants that colonize a new area, while secondary succession is the sequence of animals that move in later.

Which of the following involves a situation in which a density-dependent factor influences a population?

• Several seasons passed during which rainfall was ample, winters were not severe and food for snow hares was in good supply.

• A hurricane severely disrupted a salt marsh and uprooted most of the marsh grass in an estuary.

• A forest fire on the north side of a mountain forced the white-tailed deer from the north side to move into the range of the white-tailed deer on the south side of the mountain, making food more scarce.

• After a heavy rain, pesticides that were applied to a cotton crop to control weevils ran off into a waterway that flows next to a field.