Biosphere Exam

Question 1

This is the term describing the permanent loss of a species resulting in an overall decreases in biodiversity

Answer 1

Extinction

Question 2

Evidence that life existed in the past is called

Answer 2

Fossil

Question 3

Net primary productivity is…

Answer 3

The rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store chemical energy minus the rate at which they use this energy through aerobic respiration

Question 4

True or False? Organisms with a narrow niche are generally resistant to environmental changes?

Answer 4

False

Question 5

During what geologic age did animals suddenly diversify?

Answer 5

Cambrian

Question 6

The concept that species have changed over long periods of time is known as:

Answer 6

Evolution

Question 7

Arrange in order of least to most complex, the levels of biological organization

Answer 7

Organisms, population, community, ecosystem

Question 8

True or False? Terrestrial biomes are defined primarily by their climatic factors, mainly temperature and precipitation, and the biological community that inhibits them

Answer 8

True

Question 9

Which of the following is a primary producer?

Answer 9

Algae

Question 10

Carbon takes between ________ years to move between rocks, soil, ocean, and atmosphere in the slow carbon cycle

Answer 10

100-200 million

Question 11

An ecological “niche” can be defined as _______.

Answer 11

The role an organism plays in its community

Question 12

True or False? Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions by which an organism derives energy for life processes

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What are the main components of the fast carbon cycle?

Answer 13

Primary producers

Question 14

Removal of which of the following from a community will have the greatest effect to the community structure?

Answer 14

Keystone species

Question 15

Why is it difficult to pull nitrogen from the atmosphere into the nitrogen cycle of the biosphere?

Answer 15

Few organisms can “fix” atmospheric nitrogen gas

Question 16

What is the ultimate source of energy for most surface ecosystems of present-day earth?

Answer 16

Sunlight

Question 17

Which of the following populations is most like to go extinct?

Answer 17

Small population in an unstable environment

Question 18

Biodiversity is a measure of:

Answer 18

The variety of special within an ecosystem

Question 19

The habitable zone of the solar system includes which planets?

Answer 19

Earth alone

Question 20

Prokaryote

Answer 20

Single-celled organisms that contain DNA and RNA within a cell well, but lack a membrane-bound nucleus and mitochondria

Question 21

Cyanobacteria

Answer 21

Cell that lack a true membrane-bound nucleus, contain chlorophyll a, and perform photosynthesis

Question 22

Eukaryote

Answer 22

Cells that lack a true membrane-bound nucleus, contain chlorophyll a, and perform photosynthesis

Question 23

Virus

Answer 23

Contain DNA and RNA but have no cell walls; they are parasitic infectious agents that reproduce when they infect a suitable host

Question 24

Biome

Answer 24

A major regional ecological community characterized by distinctive life forms and principal plant or animal species, such as a tropical rain forest, a tundra, a grassland, or a desert

Question 25

Ecosystem

Answer 25

A community of organisms and their physical environment that interact as an ecological unit

Question 26

Population

Answer 26

Any group of individuals, usually of a single species, occupying a given area at the same time

Question 27

Community

Answer 27

Any grouping of populations of different organisms that live together in a particular environment

Question 28

r-selected species

Answer 28

Species that produce many offspring, each with less chance of survival to adulthood, but potentially more adaptable to unstable environments

Question 29

K-selected species

Answer 29

Species that invest in fewer offspring, each with a better chance of survival to adulthood in stable environments

Question 30

Explain what the nitrogen paradox is

Answer 30

The ‘paradox’ of nitrogen is that 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen, but this is inaccessible to most organisms. Only specialized microbes and humans have figured out how to access atmospheric nitrogen and use it as a nutrient