Chapter 6: Communities and Ecosystem Dynamics

Lily reads the following paragraph about garter snakes.

“Garter snakes may live in a variety of places, including meadows, forests, and along the shores of a pond. They hunt and eat small rodents and amphibians, and they will eat birds’ eggs. They provide food for larger predators, including hawks and raccoons.”

By citing information from this paragraph, Lily can most usefully answer which of these questions?

• How does the garter snake depend on microhabitats?

• What is the carrying capacity of a meadow for garter snakes?

• What is the tolerance of the garter snake to changes in its environment?

• What is the niche of the garter snake?

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Scientists have classified the sea otter as a keystone species in communities along the Pacific coast of North America. This classification depends on which property of the sea otters?

• Sea otters have the highest population in the community.

• Sea otters act to maintain a wide variety of other populations in the community.

• Sea otters are the largest, most massive members of the community.

• Sea otters provide food for all of the predators of the community.

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Termites are able to digest wood because of microbes that live in their gut. The relationship between a termite and the microbes inside it is an example of what type of symbiosis?

• parasitism

• mutualism

• commensalism

• a predator-prey relationship

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Walleyes and northern pike are both species of fish that live in freshwater lakes. Many lakes maintain large, healthy populations of both of these fish species year after year. Which statement about walleyes and northern pike is most useful in explaining how they are able to live together in the same habitat?

• The two species are adapted to eat different types of food.

• The two species are adapted to eat the same types of food.

• The two species have different ranges of tolerance to oxygen content in water.

• The two species have different ranges of tolerance to temperature.

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Thomas is describing an example of secondary succession. Which of the following events is most useful for him to include?

• Lichens begin growing on rocks that formed from a volcanic eruption.

• Many fishes die in a pond when oxygen levels decrease.

• The populations of wolves and rabbits change in a cyclical pattern.

• Small plants and animals return to the land after a forest fire.

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Barbara is studying the process of ecological succession in a temperate forest ecosystem. Her goal is to construct an explanation based on evidence. Observations of which of the following locations is most likely to provide useful evidence for Barbara to cite?

• a healthy, undisturbed temperate forest ecosystem

• a healthy temperate forest ecosystem a few years after a wildfire

• a farmer's field that had been cleared from a temperate forest

• a temperate forest that is changing due to invasive vines

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The diagram shows an example of ecological succession.

What can be inferred about the mature forest shown in the diagram?

• It is an intermediate community that will begin primary succession.

• It is an intermediate community that will give rise to new communities.

• It is the climax community that will never change after it forms.

• It is the climax community that is the last community of the succession process.

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Scientists have observed that all cheetahs have very similar body structures, markings, and other physical traits. These observations provide evidence for which conclusion?

• Cheetahs have low genetic diversity.

• Cheetahs have low species diversity.

• Cheetahs have high genetic diversity.

• Cheetahs are minimally affected by biodiversity.

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Which of the following describes a benefit of biodiversity to an ecosystem?

• decreases the energy flow through the ecosystem

• increases the maximum number of trophic levels

• increases the maximum biomass of the ecosystem

• allows the ecosystem to withstand environmental changes

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Food production, purifying water, storing carbon, and regulating pests are all examples of what?

• ecosystem services

• ecosystem resilience

• abiotic factors in ecosystems

• biodiversity

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