Ecology Review for Man and the Environment

Which group of organisms converts energy from the sun into stored chemical energy?

• Producers

• Decomposers

• Heterotrophs

• Consumers

A decrease in the biodiversity of an ecosystem usually leads to

• an increase in predator and prey populations

• the elimination of material cycling

• a decrease in stability

• an increase in dynamic equilibrium

Which sequence of events best represents ecological succession?

• A squirrel eats acorns, and a hawk eats the squirrel.

• Grass grows on a sand dune and is slowly replaced by shrubs.

• After many years of planting corn in the same fi eld, minerals present in the soil are used up.

• The decomposition of plant material releases nutrients, and other plants use these nutrients.

A population's carrying capacity is

• The absolute maxium population size of a species

• The lowest a species' population size can be

• The maxiumu population size that is stable for a species

Which group of organisms hold the most energy and biomass?

• Producers

• Decomposers

• Heterotrophs

• Consumers

Maintaining a rich variety of genetic material that may lead to discoveries useful to humans can be ensured by

• Preserving biodiversity

• Deforestation

• Asexual reproduction

• Genetic Engineering

A rich variety of genetic material in an ecosystem will

• reduce the biodiversity of the ecosystem

• decrease the carrying capacity of the ecosystem

• reduce the likelihood of future medical discoveries

• increase the chances that some organisms will survive change

High Biodiversity results in

• Increase in ecosystem stability

• Decrease in ecosystem stability

• No effect on ecosystem stability

Which activity is an example of a decomposer recycling organic compounds back into the environment?

• A tree synthesizes starch from simple sugars

• A bird digests proteins from its food

• A bacterial cell performs photosynthesis

• A fungus breaks down the body of a dead animal

The removal of the predator populations from an ecosystem would most likely result in

• a decrease in all the prey populations

• an increase in all the producer populations

• an increase in ecosystem diversity

• a decrease in ecosystem diversity