Environmental Biology
Exam Answer Key
Course Introduction
Environmental Biology explores the intricate relationships between living organisms and their natural surroundings, emphasizing the interdependence between biological systems and the environment. This course covers fundamental ecological principles, ecosystem structure and function, biodiversity, population dynamics, and the impact of human activities on natural resources and habitats. Students will examine current environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, conservation, and sustainable resource management, gaining an understanding of both the scientific basis and societal implications of environmental challenges. Through lectures, case studies, and practical investigations, learners develop the analytical and problem-solving skills necessary to assess and address environmental problems.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Ecology 4th Edition by Michael Begon
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Page 2
Chapter
1: Ecology and How to Do It
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Q1) You compile a model to test how dissolved carbon dioxide levels are affecting calcium deposition in the Pacific Ocean as a result of climate change.Your model indicates that many species relying on carbonate for shell deposition will not be able to survive due to the projected future changes in dissolved carbon dioxide levels as a result of climate change.What is the likely conclusion to draw from this result?
A) All species are doomed and there is nothing that can be done
B) Your model is only a prediction and can be applied cautiously to help land managers and other researchers
C) The result should not be generalized and you should not be cautious; the models right
D) The model is a perfect description of what will happen and you should let land managers know exactly what is going to happen as a result of climate change
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Ecologys Evolutionary Backdrop
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Q1) There is a species of bird called the Island Scrub Jay found only on the island of Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands off the coast of California.This species of bird is thus ________ to the Channel Islands.
A) Cosmopolitan
B) Extinct
C) Endemic
D) Endogenous
Answer: C
Q2) A ring species evolves due to a process of speciation that unfolds when:
A) There are distinct forms of a species (subspecies) that are capable of producing fertile hybrids
B) Subspecies are arranged across a temperature gradient
C) Subspecies are arranged along a geographic gradient
D) The arrangement of the ring species is such that the two ends of the gradient themselves meet and where they do those individuals do not interbreed.
Answer: A,C,D
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4
Chapter 3: Physical Conditions and the Availability of Resources
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Q1) There is evidence that some plants respond to herbivore attacks by increasing the production of chemicals known to deter herbivory.What would this be an example of?
A) Interspecific competition
B) An obligate response
C) Exploitation
D) An inducible defense
Answer: D
Q2) Conditions are physiochemical features of the environment,such as:
A) Temperature
B) Humidity
C) Prey density
D) Salinity
Answer: A,B,D
Q3) Morphological examples of crypsis include
A) A species that is brightly colored
B) A species that resembles some part of the environment that is inedible
C) A species that matches the color of the environment
D) A species with a pattern that disrupts their outline
Answer: B,C,D
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Chapter 4: Climate and the Worlds Biomes
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Q1) Which of the following accurately describes the tropical easterlies?
A) They always originate from the east
B) They always originate from the west
C) They occur between 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south
D) They occur between 0 degrees north to 30 degrees north only
Q2) The ________ cells move heat away from the Equator.
A) Hadley
B) Ferrel
C) Coriolis
D) Polar
Q3) What term describes the total amount of photosynthesis per area for a defined length of time?
A) Primary consumption
B) Chlorophyll capacity
C) Primary production
D) Rate of solar productivity
Q4) The formation of a savanna biome is largely due to the _______ cell.
A) Hadley
B) Ferrel
C) Polar
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Chapter 5: Birth, Death and Movement
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Q1) You are doing a research project to determine the age of maple trees in a series of 100 square meter plots.Your data are interesting because many of the trees that are the same age are not the same size,even though they are within a few kilometers of one another.Why might this be?
A) Trees are long-lived and unitary organisms. As a result, some individuals may have experience competition and predation that has affected growth and development.
B) Trees of the same age should all grow differently because they are semelparous perennials.
C) Trees are long-lived and modular organisms. As a result, some individuals may have experience competition and predation that has affected growth and development.
D) Trees of the same age should all grow differently because they are iteroparous annuals.
Q2) A Type II survivorship curve:
A) Shows that mortality is constant
B) Shows that younger individuals die sooner than older individuals
C) Is typical of seeds
D) Shows that the risk of mortality is the same regardless of age
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Interspecific Competition
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Q1) Replicates of seed mixtures containing four species are sown at a high density.However,the seeds are sown two ways.One way,they are sown at random.The other way they are sown as single-species aggregations.If the results showed that the performance of the superior competitor of the four species was compromised when grown as an aggregation but that aggregation improved the performance of the three inferior competitors,what would you think?
A) Intraspecific competition was not strong and coexistence is not favored.
B) Interspecific and intraspecific competition did not matter because niche differentiation was more important.
C) Coexistence was favored by niche differentiation.
D) When planted as aggregations, this ensured that intraspecific competition was stronger than interspecific competition.
Q2) Under variable conditions,competition may only rarely "run its course," and the outcome cannot be predicted simply by _________.
A) Application of environmental heterogeneity.
B) saying it's due to the Competitive Exclusion Principle.
C) Interspecific competition.
D) None of the above.
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Predation, Grazing and Disease
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Q1) If prey are experimentally protected from predators then:
A) Prey numbers typically decrease quickly
B) Prey numbers may increase but then decrease when resources become limiting
C) Prey numbers usually do not change
D) Prey numbers are not dependent on predators
Q2) What type of organism relies on a host,but it does not usually kill it?
A) Parasitoid
B) Parasite
C) Predator
D) Prey
Q3) Predation can be thought of as:
A) An extreme form of parasitism
B) A community disturbance
C) A process that occurs in the absence of competition
D) A process that can promote species coexistence
Q4) When high energy prey are common you might predict predators
A) Become more choosy about which parts of the prey they consume
B) Become less choosy by consuming the entire prey
C) Become generalists
D) Move from patch to patch quickly
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Chapter 9: From Populations to Communities
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Q1) In founder-controlled communities:
A) Species are approximately equivalent in their ability to invade gaps.
B) Colonizing species are relatively equal as competitors.
C) One species, "founder," typically controls community outcome.
D) Gaps are resistant to colonization.
Q2) If all trophic levels are being controlled by the abundance of resources available to plants it would be called _____________.
A) Bottom up control.
B) Top down control
C) Trophic limitation
D) Producer limitation
Q3) Which of the following might be considered primary succession:
A) Colonization of a newly formed volcanic island.
B) Regrowth after timber harvest.
C) Colonization after a severe hurricane.
D) Colonization of exposed land after glaciation retreat.
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11
Chapter 10: Patterns in Species Richness
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Q1) It would be most difficult for a species to invade a community where the resource utilization of current resident species ________________.
A) Does not overlap.
B) Overlaps.
Q2) Experiments performed in the rocky intertidal zone by Robert Paine showed that the experimental removal of a predator had dramatic consequences to the structure of the community.What was the ultimate conclusion of this study?
A) That predators can prey so heavily that they eventually reduce species richness to nearly zero. As a result species richness is reduced.
B) That prey need spatial and temporal fluctuations to coexist, otherwise the community structure will collapse. When fluctuations do not occur, then species richness is significantly reduced.
C) That predators have no impact on the structure of lower trophic levels.
D) That predators can mediate coexistence by reducing the number of individuals of a species in the community that tend to dominate and as a result increase species richness more than if they were not present.
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Chapter 11: The Flux of Energy and Matter Through Ecosystems
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Q1) If you were given a measure of the total fixation of energy via photosynthesis,you would have which?
A) Primary productivity
B) Rauto
C) Gross primary productivity
D) Secondary productivity
Q2) Which of the following choices explains what a standing crop of biomass is?
A) A standing crop is the seed bank, the number of potential living plants within a unit area.
B) A standing crop of living organisms within a unit area.
C) A standing crop is the megafauna of a unit area.
D) A standing crop is the number of plants in an agricultural plot of land that ended up bearing a food resource product.
Q3) If the cumulative mass of organisms in a biome was hypothetically held constant,but the area of the biome was reduced,how would biomass be affected?
A) It would not be affected
B) Biomass would decrease because it is proportional to area
C) Biomass would increase because it is per unit area
D) Biomass would decrease because it is per unit area
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Chapter 12: Global Biogeochemical Cycles and Their Alteration by Humans
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Q1) The rate of phosphorous flow through the global environment is three times faster now than before the industrial and agricultural revolutions.The main problem with this accelerated cycle is that?
A) It results in acidification of the oceans
B) It causes drastica alteration of ocean currents
C) It causes eutrophication of freshwater lakes
D) It initially slows the growth of freshwater vegetation
Q2) According to the Rockstrom paper,which of Earth's critical "life-support" systems has been perturbed most beyond Rockstrom's "safe" level?
A) Climate change
B) Biodiversity
C) Phosphorous cycle
D) Ocean acidification
Q3) In recent years (1993-2013)the global rate of increase in carbon dioxide concentrations has leveled off.True or False
A) True
B) False
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Page 14
Chapter 14: The Ecology of Human Population Growth, Disease,
and Food Supply
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Q1) Population growth is increasingly stressing the environment and this is also correlated to which of the following?
A) Global gross domestic production and affluence
B) The number of patent applications and global gross domestic production
C) Global primary productivity and number of patent applications
D) The number of patent applications and affluence
Q2) Which of the following are results of intensified agriculture?
A) Monoculture
B) Biomagnification
C) Increased disease transmission as a result of monoculture
D) A reduction in feedlots
Q3) The two global areas that are predicted to most contribute to global population in the next 50 years are
A) Latin America and Africa
B) Asia and Africa
C) Africa and Europe
D) Europe and North America
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