Understanding Biodiversity and Ecosystems

What does the term 'species richness' refer to in the context of biodiversity?

• The rate of species extinction

• The genetic diversity within a species

• The number of different species in an environment

• The complexity of ecological interactions

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Why is higher biodiversity important for ecosystem stability?

• It decreases energy flow in the ecosystem

• It increases competition among species

• It simplifies the food web

• It reduces the reliance on a single species

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What happens in an ecosystem when a whale dies and falls to the sea floor?

• It disrupts the marine food web

• It starts a new ecosystem known as a whale fall

• It causes immediate ecological collapse

• It has no significant impact on the ecosystem

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An ecological community can be defined as

• A living thing such as a plant or animal.

• A system comprising all the biotic and abiotic factors in an area and all the interactions among them

• All of the populations of different species in a particular area. All the populations in an ecosystem.

• A group of interacting organisms of the same species. A group of interbreeding organisms (species) living in the same area

Choose all the correct examples of a community

(multiple correct answers)

• All the biotic factors living in a desert

• All of the different schools of fish living in a coral reef

• An interbreeding colony of rats

• All of the abiotic and biotic factors living in the icy tundra

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A niche is

• The place where an organism naturally lives and grows

• The ecological role played by an organism. This is an organism’s total way of life.

• Biotic or abiotic environmental factors that restrict the growth of a population

• How humans affect and interact with their surrounding environment

What is the greenhouse effect?

• The warming of a planet due to trapped radiation.
• The cooling of Earth due to air pollution.
• The heating of a solid, such as a rock.

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The greenhouse effect is caused by

• more heat arriving at the Earth from the sun

• the Earth releasing more heat at night

• gases in the air trapping heat released by the Earth

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Organisms that do not decompose naturally can be buried and become what?

• oxygen

• nutrients

• calcium carbonates

• fossil fuels

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If the plant population decreased, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would _________.

• Stay the same

• Increase

• Decrease

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