Ecology Biology 1

There are approximately 10,000 kilojoules (kJ) of energy available at the primary producer level of this ecosystem. Assuming that the transfer of energy between trophic levels is 10% efficient, which ratio represents the available energy of gopher frogs to grasshoppers in the food web?

• 1 kJ : 10 kJ

• 10 kJ : 1 kJ

• 1 kJ : 100 kJ

• 100 kJ : 1 kJ

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Gopher tortoises are listed as a vulnerable species since human activities are causing their populations to decline. Which of the following diagrams best models what is likely to happen to the other species populations if gopher tortoises were to disappear from the ecosystem? (Note: ↑ means the population increases; ↓ means the population declines; − means no change in population.

• Option A

• Option B

• Option C

• Option D

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Which of the following organisms serves a role similar to the gopher tortoise in their ecosystem?

• Leopard seals of Antarctica, which are fierce predators, will eat the pups of other seal species and have been known to be aggressive toward humans.

• Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, a fish found in coral reefs in Eastern Africa, eat dead tissue off larger fish.

• Galapagos tortoises, which sometimes trap birds underneath their bodies, crush them by dropping their bodies on the bird and then eat the dead bird.

• Hippos of Gorongosa National Park, which are massive in size, move soil around and create channels that redirect water as they walk. This creates habitat and shelter for a diversity of many smaller organisms.

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Based on the information provided, which of the following represents the human impact on the global nitrogen cycle?

• industrial nitrogen fixation

• nitrogen lost to the atmosphere

• reduction of nitrogen available to terrestrial ecosystems

• reduction of nitrogen fixation by bacteria

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This diagram demonstrates why the ocean is a large carbon sink. An increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can cause atmospheric temperatures to increase. Which statement explains how this could affect the ocean as a carbon sink

• Less atmospheric carbon dioxide would be available to phytoplankton.

• Dissolved carbon dioxide gas in the ocean would increase because surface winds would cause a deeper circulation pattern, making more room for the gas.

• Less carbon dioxide gas would be contained in the ocean because increasing precipitation would dilute the carbon entering the ocean.

• Less carbon dioxide would be dissolved in the ocean because increasing atmospheric temperatures would cause ocean temperatures to increase

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Based on the data provided, what factor of those listed below appears to be the most important in stabilizing the population from its initial size over the subsequent 100 years?

• (A) The absence of migration

• (B) A low migration rate

• (C) A high migration rate

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A student states that the relationship between the remora and the shark is that of predation. Do you agree with the student? What is your justification?

• The student is correct, due to the remora eating the shark’s food.

• The student is correct, due to the shark being eaten by the remora.

• The student is incorrect, due to remora benefitting and the shark shows no positive or negative benefits (commensalism)

• The student is incorrect, due to the remora feeding off of the shark (parasitism).

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The picture shows a pika, a small mammal found in grassland ecosystems. The vast grasslands of the Tibetan plateau are home to the plateau pika. The numerous pikas are prey for many predators of the grasslands, which serve as a major watershed for much of the area. The watershed drains large quantities of groundwater during the rainy season, or the monsoon season. Pikas have extensive burrows that help drain groundwater rapidly and are used as nesting sites by many bird species. However, many people advocate the eradication of the plateau pikas because they compete with livestock for grass.

Which of these will most likely happen if the plateau pikas are completely removed from the Tibetan plateau grasslands?

• The ecosystem will become unstable because predators will have fewer prey, the birds will have fewer nesting sites, and the area downriver will become vulnerable to flooding without the burrows to aerate the soil and provide drainage for monsoon rains.

• The ecosystem will become more stable because the pika will be replaced by other species of small mammals that can fill the niche, bird species will adapt to nesting aboveground, and the soils will become compacted without the burrows.

• The ecosystem will become unstable because the predators will migrate to nearby ecosystems, the birds will nest in nearby trees, and the soils will be aerated by other small mammals.

• The ecosystem will become more stable because the pika will no longer be there to eat the grasses, the birds will migrate to other ecosystems during nesting season, and the soils will be able to absorb more of the monsoon rains without the pika burrows.

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In the process of researching how to manage a large game ranch, historical accounts indicated that a species of deer that once lived there had been extirpated. After doing some research to determine what might be an appropriately sized founding population, managers reintroduced deer to the ranch. The population then increased for several generations, and the managers graphed the number of individuals (vertical axis) against time, or the number of generations (horizontal axis). If no natural predators are impacting the population, which of the following graphs best represents the population?

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Which of the following graphs illustrates the growth over several seasons of a population of snowshoe hares that were introduced to an appropriate habitat also inhabited by predators in northern Canada?

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