WorksheetsAPES Review Units 1-2
Total questions: 40
Worksheet time: 21mins
This biome contains plants that are adapted to prevent water loss due to the low average rainfall and high temperatures year-round.
Savanna
Boreal forest
Tropical rain forest
Desert
A field is abandoned, and an invasive plant that can live in nutrient-poor soil moves into the field. If the land is later cleared of this invasive species and it is discovered that the soil has an abundance of nitrogen compounds, what conclusion can best be made?
The plants used up all of the phosphorus and potassium and left the nitrogen behind.
Primary succession always produces an abundance of nitrogen.
Bacteria in soil and in root nodules converted free nitrogen into nitrogen compounds.
The plants were able to produce nitrogen in their leaves.
The thick forest of this biome tends to be well adapted to short growing seasons.
Temperate grassland
Taiga
Tropical rainforest
Tundra
How does the burning of fossil fuels contribute to the net increase in atmospheric carbon?
Photosynthesis is reduced by virtue of increased smoke and haze.
Carbon released by the burning is not in a form that can be readily absorbed by plants, leaving residual carbon in the atmosphere.
Carbon that has been sequestered underground is added to the carbon cycling between the atmosphere and the biosphere.
Carbon released by the burning is more easily absorbed in the atmosphere than that produced by natural means.
Item 19
The net annual primary productivity of a particular wetland ecosystem is found to be 8,000 kcal/m2 per year. If respiration by the aquatic producers is 12,000 kcal/m2 per year, what is the gross annual primary productivity for this ecosystem, in kcal/m2 per year?
4000
8000
12,000
20,000
Which of the following is true of carbon as it cycles in nature?
Carbon dioxide is released during photosynthesis.
Carbon compounds rarely exist in the gaseous state.
Carbon sinks include forests and oceans.
The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is reduced by cutting trees.
Which of the following biomes is best characterized as an area that forms the narrow band along the coast that experiences a range of environmental conditions (including daily changes in sunlight, temperature, and water) ?
Open ocean
Lakes
Coral reefs
Intertidal zones
Which of the following is a measure of the biodiversity of an ecosystem?
The total number of individuals of a single animal species
The density of individuals in a hectare
The total number of different plant species
The soil depth at which burrowing insects are located
Which of the following correctly describes the disruption of an ecosystem service by an anthropogenic activity?
Provisioning services are disrupted by increased combustion of fossil fuels, which leads to an increase in air pollution.
Regulating services are disrupted by flash flooding from a hurricane, which decreases available food resources.
Supporting services are disrupted by an earthquake that causes habitat destruction, which displaces plants and animals.
Cultural services are disrupted by a tornado that causes the loss of acres of forest, which reduces the amount of harvestable timber.
The diagrams above show an area that was once a pasture that has since undergone changes to the vegetation over time. Which of the following changes in the hydrologic cycle is most likely to occur as a result of the change in vegetation in the area?
Increased infiltration
Increased runoff
Decreased transpiration
Decreased precipitation
Which of the following best describes the movement of energy in an ecosystem?
Energy is constantly recycled by decomposers for use by producers.
Energy is harnessed by producers, and available energy decreases with each trophic level transfer.
Energy is absorbed by plants through water and soil and then moves up the food chain through consumers.
Energy is magnified as it moves up the trophic levels, and tertiary consumers store the most energy in a food web.
The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event was caused when an asteroid impacted Earth approximately 66 million years ago, near what is now the Gulf of Mexico. The indirect effects of the impact affected the entire globe. The event resulted in the extinction of nearly 75 percent of all plant and animal species on Earth, including the majority of dinosaur species.
Which of the following likely best describes why most of these species went extinct?
Direct effects from the impact
Loss of competitors
Increase in genetic diversity in most species
Rapid climate and habitat change
For which of the following reasons do small isolated islands have a greater rate of species extinction than larger, less isolated islands?
Small isolated islands are more likely to receive more migrating species.
Small isolated islands provide opportunities for a greater diversity of species.
Because of their size, small isolated islands accumulate more species by chance.
Small isolated islands have a lower availability of resources.
Primary producers in a lake ecosystem store approximately 25,000 kcal/m2/yr of energy in their biomass. Which of the following identifies the most likely amount of energy available to a tertiary consumer in this ecosystem?
25 kcal/m2/yr
250 kcal/m2/yr
2,500 kcal/m2/yr
25,000 kcal/m2/yr
Which of the following is most likely to be the direct result of lack of genetic diversity in a food crop such as corn?
Decreased kernel size
Decreased potential yield
Decreased dependence on chemical fertilizers
Increased susceptibility on plant disease
Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the following processes.
(A) Nitrification
(B) Denitrification
(C) Assimilation
(D) Ammonification
(E) Nitrogen fixation
Ammonia is converted to nitrite, then to nitrate.
Nitrification
Denitrification
Ammonification
Nitrogen fixation
Which of the following best helps to explain why phosphorus is often a limiting factor in many ecosystems?
There is usually a gaseous phase in the phosphorus cycle.
Phosphorus cycles very quickly through environments.
Under many conditions, phosphorus forms stable insoluble compounds.
Phosphate is not readily taken up by plants.
The two major processes involved in the carbon cycle are
weathering and erosion
photosynthesis and respiration
evaporation and transpiration
erosion and deposition
Algae in an aquatic food chain convert solar energy into 93,000 kilocalories of plant tissue.
Which of the following values best represents the amount of energy available for primary consumers in the food chain?
930 kilocalories
9,300 kilocalories
93,000 kilocalories
930,000 kilocalories
Organisms adapted to surviving in water with the widest range of salinity would most likely be native species in which of the following marine environments?
An offshore barrier reef
An estuary within a lagoon
The ocean covering the abyssal plain
The photic zone in the open ocean
Which of the following best describes soil in many tropical rain forests?
They lack soil horizons.
They are quickly depleted nutrients when the forest is removed.
They are similar to soils in grasslands.
They are well suited for growing a wide variety of crops.
Directions: Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the following possible relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.
(A) Commensalism
(B) Parasitism
(C) Mutualism
(D) Predation
(E) Competition
Exemplified by moss growing on a tree trunk in a forest
Commensalism
Parasitism
Mutualism
Predation
Which of the following best describes a symbiotic relationship?
Striped bass and bluefish eat the same variety of mackerel.
Intestinal bacteria inhabit the gut of humans.
Mountain lions feed on white-tailed deer.
Marsupial animals carry their young in a pouch.
The process in the hydrologic cycle in which water vapor is released from leaves into the atmosphere is called
infiltration
transpiration
sublimation
reflection
Approximately what percent of the water on Earth is freshwater (liquid and solid)?
75%
25%
2.5%
0.25%
Little is known about Africa’s elusive aardvarks, but new research says they are vulnerable to climate change like many other species.
Hotter temperatures are taking their toll on the aardvark, whose diet of ants and termites is becoming scarcer in some areas because of reduced rainfall.
Drought in the Kalahari Desert killed five out of six aardvarks that were being monitored for a year, as well as 11 others in the area.
The aardvarks’ body temperatures plummeted during the night because they were not getting enough energy from diminished food sources. They tried to conserve energy by looking for insects during the warmer daytime, but their efforts to adapt could not save them.
Researchers said some birds, reptiles and other animals use aardvark burrows to escape extreme temperatures, reproduce, and hide from predators. They could have fewer refuges available if aardvark populations shrink because of rising temperatures, they said.
The aardvark, which lives in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, is identified as an animal of “least concern” on an international “red list” of threatened species. There are no indications that the population is changing significantly in southern Africa, though it is speculated that numbers may be declining elsewhere because of habitat destruction, the bushmeat trade and other factors.
“Study Finds aardvarks suffering as African climate heats up,” Christopher Torchia, Phys.org, July 31, 2017.
Which of the following best identifies the author’s claim?
Aardvarks are shifting the location of their territories as a response to global climate change.
Providing aardvarks with more burrows will help them maintain their body temperature and increase survival rates.
Aardvarks are a keystone species and their decline could have a trophic cascade effect on the ecosystem.
The loss of aardvarks described in the study was an isolated incident because most aardvark populations are increasing globally.
Living organisms must acquire energy from their environment. Examples of adaptations that help organisms acquire this energy include which of the following?
I. The dark, heat-absorbing coloration of a reptile.
II. The fangs and claws of a lion
III. The light coloration of a peppered moth
I only
II only
I and II only
I, II and III
Which of the following pathways indicate how nitrogen is added to the largest nitrogen reservoir?
Nitrifying bacteria and lightning
Decomposing plant and animal material
Denitrifying bacteria and volcanic activity
Nitrates taken up by plant roots
The largest area of old-growth forest in the United States is located in
Alaska
Montana
California
North Carolina
Which of the following statements is true of aquatic biomes?
Freshwater and marine biomes are evenly distributed on Earth.
Freshwater biomes are a vital source of drinking water.
Freshwater biomes supply a greater portion of Earth’s oxygen than marine biomes.
Marine biomes include streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes.
A one-hectare pond is sampled in early September. The sample yields 1 small catfish as well as 17 benthic invertebrates that represent 10 species.
Question
If the pond is resampled a year later, which of the following would best indicate that the pond had been adversely affected by adjacent development?
An increase in low-tolerance species has occurred.
A decrease in high-tolerance species has occurred.
Phylogenetic diversity has increased.
The biodiversity of the pond has decreased.
This biome has the highest net primary productivity, in part because of consistently warm temperatures and abundant sunlight.
Temperate grassland
Taiga
Tropical rainforest
Tundra
The underlying subsoil of this biome is permafrost, which prevents both water draining through and deep-rooted plants from growing. Additionally, there is very little precipitation per year.
Temperate grassland
Taiga
Tropical rainforest
Tundra
Traveling southward from the Arctic regions of Canada to the tropics of Panama, one passes through several biomes - tundra, coniferous forest, temperate deciduous forest, and tropical rain forest. This pattern of change in vegetation is primarily the result of-
primary and secondary succession
the invasion of exotic species
an increase in mean annual temperature and a decrease in mean annual precipitation
an increase in both mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation
Which of the following best illustrates an abiotic component of the environment affecting a biotic component of the environment?
Composted manure is added to agricultural soil during spring tilling.
Coral reefs modify the direction of an ocean current.
Plants release O2 into the atmosphere during photosynthesis.
Low phosphorus content in soil limits the growth of vegetation.
The net primary production of a pine forest on a lava flow on Mount Fuji is about 175,000 kcal/m2/yr, and the plant respiration is estimated to be 115,000 kcal/m2/yr What is the total amount of energy transferred during photosynthesis for this ecosystem?
Which of the following is an example of a carbon sink?
Deposition of organic matter on the deep ocean floor
Clearing of trees in the Amazon forest
Combustion of fossil fuels in power plants
Decomposition of food waste by bacteria
The Chatham Island robin is a small endangered bird found in scrub forests off the coast of New Zealand. The robin is preyed upon by introduced species such as cats and rats. In 1980, the population decreased to only 5 individuals and every individual today is a descendant of a single female. Which of the following is best illustrated in the decline of the Chatham Island robins?
Carrying capacity
Population bottleneck
Population overshoot
Type I survivorship
The many finch species of the Galápagos Islands evolved from a single species that immigrated to the islands from the coast of South America. These species differ primarily in beak shape, which is closely related to the type of food each species specializes in eating.
Which of the following best explains why each of the finch species on the Galápagos Islands evolved to be specialists?
Islands have limited food resources, forcing species to feed on a small range of food items.
Climate on islands tends to be less variable than on the mainland, minimizing seasonal absences of food.
Reduced competition from other bird species allows finch species to focus on specific food resources.
Food resources on islands are more plentiful and nutrient rich than on the mainland, leading to specialist behaviors in feeding.
Select the choice that best fits each statement. The following question(s) refer to the qualities of water samples.
Acidity
Turbidity
Hardness
Dissolved oxygen
Salinity
Question
Decreased by the breakdown of organic waste :
Acidity
Turbidity
Hardness
Dissolved oxygen
