Population and Community Ecology

If these are present in a new environment, a species is unlikely to become invasive.

• predators, parasites, and competitors

• cane toads, kudzu, and zebra mussels

• exotic species

• symbiotic and commensalist species

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-5

A reintroduced population of wolves in a national park is 90 percent grey and 10 percent black, consistent with the wolf population in other regions. After several generations in isolation, the national park’s wolf population is 60 percent grey and 40 percent black. The wolf population has likely experienced

• natural selection

• genetic drift

• mutation

• migration

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

In Madagascar, several species of lemur eat bamboo, but each species specializes in one part of the bamboo—one species eats mature bamboo stalks, one species eats bamboo shoots, and one species eats leaves. This is an example of

• speciation

• resource partitioning

• competitioning

• niche partitioning

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

In the example above, one lemur species eats only bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoots contain a high level of cyanide, a toxic chemical. This lemur species has developed a tolerance for a certain amount of cyanide. What do you think will happen over time?

• The level of cyanide in the bamboo population will increase.

• The level of cyanide in the bamboo population will decrease.

• The level of cyanide in the bamboo population will remain the same.

• The level of cyanide in the lemur population will decrease.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

NGSS.MS-LS3-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Humans are generally

• carnivores.

• herbivores.

• omnivores

• detrivores.

Any being that uses the sun’s energy to create sugars is a

• primary producer.

• secondary producer.

• primary consumer.

• secondary consumer.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-6

Which best describes evolutionary success?

• A successful organism possesses adaptive traits and is able to pass those traits on to numerous offspring which then reproduce.

• A successful organism possesses traits that are different from traits in the rest of the population and that allow the organism to compete more successfully.

• A successful organism produces more offspring than others in the population.

• A successful organism possesses adaptive traits and produces more offspring than survive.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Around 65 million years ago, 95 percent of the planet’s species were wiped out, and the age of the dinosaurs ended. Which of the following best explains why we still have numerous species today?

• The species that exist today were those that were not wiped out when the dinosaurs died.

• The species that exist today evolved from surviving species to fill niches left vacant by the dinosaurs.

• The species that exist today speciated due to separation among different populations.

• The species that exist today have the potential to be as numerous as the ones that went extinct.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

A beehive depends on pollen from flowers to survive. Flowers depend on bees to pollinate them. Humans tend bee hives, offering the bees a place to live in exchange for some of their honey. The relationship among these three sets of organisms is

• parasitic.

• commensalist.

• symbiotic.

• mutualistic.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

The ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem in which deer eat grass and coyotes eat deer is

• the grass.

• the sun.

• the deer.

• chemosynthesis.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-6

NGSS.MS-LS2-3