陆地生态系统生态学原理期末考试真题

Final exam for the course of Ecosystem Ecology, April 25, 2009

Name___________ Student Number__________

1. Multiple choice. For each question, there is only one best answer. Circle the correct answer with your pen or pencil. (1 pt. each, 40 pts. total).

1). If you are trying to develop a self-contained ecosystem that will be shipped into space to live by itself, which of the following is the minimum situation required for success:

a. autotrophs only are needed.

b. autotrophs and heterotrophs both are needed.

c. autotrophs and decomposers are both neede

d.

d. you must have autotrophs, heterotrophs, and decomposers.

2). Seasonality in the tropics is most related to variation in ________ while seasonality in the temperate zone is most related to variation in __________.

a. rainfall, temperature

b. temperature, rainfall

c. the tilt of the earth, the spin of the earth

d. the spin of the earth, the tilt of the earth

3). Which of the following nutrient cycles directly contributes to acid rain?

a. phosphorus cycle

b. sulfur cycle

c. hydrologic cycle

d. lead cycle

4). Deserts are associated with which latitude:

a. equatorial zones

b. 45 degrees north or south of equator

c. 30 degrees north or south of equator

d. they are not associated with latitude at all

5). Which type of response curve is most likely characteristic of micronutrients such as boron?

a. linear response

c. optimum response

b. saturation response

d. sigmoid response

6). If the earth spun in the opposite direction, the climate of Sichuan would probably be:

a. Much warmer throughout the year.

b. Generally wetter than it is now.

c. Drier than it presently is.

d. Sichuan would be unaffected by the change in spin.

7). The increasing concentration of chemicals (including nutrients or pollutants) in higher trophic levels is termed:

a. net primary productivity

b. biological magnification

c. trophic dynamics

d. biological remuneration

8). Which of the following nutrients with a gaseous biogeochemical cycle requires interactions with specific bacteria to make the cycle "perfect"?

a. oxygen

b. nitrogen

c. sulfur

d. carbon

9). What is typical of local nutrient cycles in situations that supported temperate grasslands before human settlement?

a. large accumulation of litter in the soil

b. very high and constant rates of decomposition

c. most nutrients stored in living biomass

d. unused nutrients rarely found

10). Higher plants most often absorb nitrogen from the soil in the form of

a. free nitrogen gas

b. ammonia

c. amino acids

d. nitrates

e. nitrites

11). As an ecosystem passes through the stages of succession

a. its species diversity decreases

b. its biomass increases

c. it becomes less stable

d. its ability to withstand stress decreases

12). Competition

a. describes an interaction in which one organism is adversely affected while the other is

unaffected

b. occurs only over food sources

c. may result in one species dying off or being forced to change its ecological niche

d. occurs only between closely related organisms

13). As energy flows through the ecosystem, the amount available to each trophic level

a. decreases

b. increases

c. remains the same

d. none of the prior answers is correct

14). When we eat vegetables we are acting as

a. producers

b. primary consumers