Why does a vegetarian leave a smaller ecological footprint than an omnivore?

Eating meat is an inefficient way of acquiring photosynthetic productivity.

Which of the following is an example of Müllerian mimicry?

two species of unpalatable butterfly that have the same color pattern

According to the nonequilibrium model of community diversity, _____.

communities are constantly changing after being influenced by disturbances

Which of the following is an example of an ecosystem?

all of the organisms and their physical environment in a tropical rain forest

Which of the following has the greatest effect on the rate of chemical cycling in anecosystem?

the rate of decomposition in the ecosystem

Some birds follow moving swarms of army ants in the tropics. As the ants march along the forest floor hunting insects and small vertebrates, birds follow and pick off any insects or small vertebrates that fly or jump out of the way of the ants. This situation is an example of what kind of species interaction between the birds and the ants?

commensalism

What interactions exist between mycorrhizae and evergreen tree roots?

+/+

Which category in the figure above makes available the highest productivity per square meter?

algal beds and reefs

If two species are close competitors, and one species is experimentally removed from the community, the remaining species would be expected to _____.

expand its realized niche

If the flow of energy in an arctic ecosystem goes through a simple food chain, perhaps involving humans, starting from phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish to seals to polar bears, then which of the following could be true?

Fish can potentially provide more food for humans than seal meat.

Examine this food web for a particular terrestrial ecosystem. Which species is most likely a decomposer on this food web?

E

What interactions exist between a tick on a dog and the dog?

+/-

Which of the following is characteristic of K-selected populations?

offspring with good chances of survival

Which of the following terms encompasses all of the others?

heterotrophs

Which of the following groups would be most likely to exhibit uniform dispersion?

red squirrels, who actively defend territories

Dwarf mistletoes are flowering plants that grow on certain forest trees. They obtain nutrients and water from the vascular tissues of the trees. The trees derive no known benefits from the dwarf mistletoes. Which of the following best describes the interactions between dwarf mistletoes and trees?

parasitism

Which of the following could qualify as a top-down control on a grassland community?

effect of grazing intensity by bison on plant species diversity

In the figure above, which number would designate the biome with the highest variation in annual precipitation?

1

The main reason polar regions are cooler than the equator is that _____.

sunlight strikes the poles at a lower angle

A fish swimming into an estuary from a river would have which of the following as its greatest physiological challenge?

The change in water solute content would challenge the osmotic balance of the fish.

Two plant species live in the same biome but on different continents. Although the two species are not at all closely related, they may appear quite similar as a result of _____.

convergent evolution

Why is the climate drier on the leeward (downwind) side of mountain ranges that are subjected to prevailing winds?

Pushed by the prevailing winds on the windward side, air is forced to rise, cool, condense, and drop its precipitation, leaving drier air to descend the leeward side.

Besides sunlight, which would be the next most important climatic factors for terrestrial plants?

temperature and moisture

In the figure above, which number would designate the arctic tundra biome?

5

In plants, which of the following are produced by meiosis?

haploid spores

Liverworts, hornworts, and mosses are grouped together as the Bryophytes. Besides not having vascular tissue, what do they all have in common?

They require water for reproduction.

In the figure above, the process labeled "6" involves _____.

mitosis

The generative cell of male angiosperm gametophytes is haploid. This cell divides to produce two haploid sperm cells. What type of cell division does the generative cell undergo to produce these sperm cells?

mitosis

Why do seeded plants represent a major evolutionary advantage over mosses and liverworts?

Seeds have a longer shelf life, as their multicellular coats can provide protection and extend dormancy.

What evidence do paleobotanists look for that indicates the movement of plants from water to land?

waxy cuticle to decrease evaporation from leaves

In addition to seeds, which of the following characteristics is unique to the seed-producing plants?

pollen

Conifers and pines both have needlelike leaves, with the adaptive advantage of _____.

decreased surface area, reducing water loss

In examining an unknown animal species during its embryonic development, how can you be sure what you are looking at is a protostome and not a deuterostome?

You see a mouth, but not an anus.

Which of the following would you classify as something other than an animal?

choanoflagellates

Suppose a researcher for a pest-control company developed a chemical that inhibited the development of an embryonic mosquito's endodermal cells. Which of the following would be a likely mechanism by which this pesticide works?

The mosquito would have trouble digesting food, due to impaired gut function.

What do all deuterostomes have in common?

The pore (blastopore) formed during gastrulation becomes the anus.

As you are on the way to Tahiti for a vacation, your plane crash-lands on a previously undiscovered island. You soon find that the island is teeming with unfamiliar organisms, and you, as a student of biology, decide to survey them (with the aid of the Insta-Lab Portable Laboratory you brought along in your suitcase). You select three organisms and observe them in detail, making the notations found in the figure above. Which organism would you classify as an animal?

organism C

While looking at some seawater through your microscope, you spot the egg of an unknown animal. Which of the following tests could you use to determine whether the developing organism is a protostome or a deuterostome? See whether the embryo _____

exhibits spiral cleavage or radial cleavage

This embryo may potentially develop into a(n) _____.

earthworm

Which of the following characteristics evolved independently in mammals and birds?

endothermy

Jaws first occurred in which extant group of fishes?

chondrichthyans

Which of these statements accurately describes a similarity between sharks and ray-finned fishes?

They have a lateral line that is sensitive to vibrations.

Which of the following are the only extant animals that descended directly from dinosaurs?

birds

The presence of a swim bladder allows the typical ray-finned fish to stop swimming and still _____.

not sink

Chordate pharyngeal slits appear to have functioned first as _____.

suspension-feeding devices

What group of mammals have (a) embryos that spend more time feeding through the placenta than the mother's nipples, (b) young that feed on milk, and (c) a prolonged period of maternal care after leaving the placenta?

Eutheria

Vertebrates and tunicates share _____.

a notochord and a dorsal, hollow nerve cord

A trend first observed in the evolution of the earliest tetrapods was _____.

feet with digits

What is believed to be the most significant result of the evolution of the amniotic egg?

Tetrapods were no longer tied to the water for reproduction.

In the figure above, which number represents an embryo?

11

Seeds:

all of the above are true

Which of the following statements about vascular plants is true:

vascularity allowed for plants to grow tall and compete for access to sunlight

Which of the following distinguish gymnosperms from angiosperms?

all of the above

Mosses and other non-vascular plants have life cycles dominated by:

gametophytes

Why are mycorrhizal fungi superior to plants at acquiring mineral nutrition from the soil?

Fungi secrete extracellular enzymes that can break down large molecules.

What is the most probable location of the oldest portion of this mycelium?

C

The earliest known mineralized structures in vertebrates are associated with _____.

feeding

Which of these characteristics added most to vertebrate success in relatively dry environments?

the shelled, amniotic egg

Which of these are amniotes?

turtles

Mammals and birds eat more often than reptiles. Which of the following traits shared by mammals and birds best explains this habit?

endothermy

When climbing a mountain, we can observe transitions in biological communities that are analogous to the changes _____.

in biomes at different latitudes

The oceans affect the biosphere by _____.I) producing a substantial amount of the biosphere's oxygenII) adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphereIII) being the source of most of Earth's rainfallIV) regulating the pH of freshwater biomes and terrestrial groundwater

only I and III

If carbon dioxide levels continue to increase and climate change continues over the next century, which of the following would best predict the directional migration of the North American ecosystems from the biomes shown in this climograph?

The ecosystems will shift to the north as temperatures warm.

Which of the following investigations would shed the most light on the future distribution of organisms in temperate regions that are faced with climate change?

Look at the climatic changes that occurred since the last Ice Age and how species redistributed as glaciers melted, then make predictions on future distribution in species based on past trends.

Which of the following is the best natural example of uniform distribution?

territorial songbirds in a mature forest during mating season

Approximately how many kilograms (kg) of carnivore (secondary consumer) biomass can be supported by a field plot containing 1000 kg of plant material?

10

What interactions exist between a lion pride and a hyena pack?

-/-

Why do logged tropical rain forest soils typically have nutrient-poor soils?

Most of the nutrients in the ecosystem are removed in the harvested timber.

Which of the following is an example of Batesian mimicry?

a nonvenomous snake that looks like a venomous snake

To recycle nutrients, an ecosystem must have, at a minimum, _____.

producers and decomposers

Food chains are sometimes short because _____.

most of the energy in a trophic level is lost as it passes to the next higher level

Consider the global nitrogen cycle depicted in the figure above. What is the limiting portion of the cycle for plants?

nitrogen fixation by bacteria

Scientists interested in how populations interact within communities are attempting to determine the species diversity of an island under study. What kind of data would be most helpful to the scientists in determining diversity?

The number of different species on the island and the size of the population of each species

In a tide pool, fifteen species of invertebrates were reduced to eight after one species was removed. The species removed was likely a(n) _____.

keystone species

Which letter represents an organism that could only be a primary consumer?

C

Evidence of which structure or characteristic would be most surprising to find among fossils of the Ediacaran fauna?

hard parts

The most ancient branch point in animal phylogeny is the characteristic of having _____.

true tissues or no tissues

An organism that exhibits cephalization probably also _____.

is bilaterally symmetrical

Some researchers claim that sponge genomes have homeotic genes, but no Hox genes. If true, this finding would _____.

confirm the identity of sponges as "basal animals"

The most plausible hypothesis to explain why species richness is higher in tropical than in temperate regions is that _____.

tropical regions generally have more available water and higher levels of solar radiation

Long-term studies of Belding's ground squirrels show that immigrants move nearly 2 kilometers from where they are born and become 1%-8% of the males and 0.7%-6% of the females in other populations. On an evolutionary scale, why is this significant?

These immigrants provide a source of genetic diversity for the other populations.

There are more species in tropical areas than in places more distant from the equator. This is probably a result of _____.

more intense annual solar radiation

In the figure above, which of the arrows represents the carrying capacity?

arrow C

Which of the following causes populations to shift most quickly from an exponential to a logistic population growth?

competition for resources

In some circumstances, grasses benefit from being grazed. Which of the following terms would best describe such a plant-herbivore interaction?

mutualism

Which letter represents an organism that could be a producer?

B

For most terrestrial ecosystems, pyramids composed of species abundances, biomass, and energy are similar in that they have a broad base and a narrow top. The primary reason for this pattern is that _____.

at each step, energy is lost from the system

What is the main advantage of controlled burnings of forested areas? Controlled burnings _____.

prevent the overgrowth of the underbrush

Stomata _____.

open to allow gas exchange and close to decrease water loss

Which of these is a major trend in land plant evolution?

the trend toward a sporophyte-dominated life cycle

In the figure above, which number represents the mature gametophyte?

7

Which of the following features of how seedless land plants get sperm to egg are the same as for some of their algal ancestors?

Flagellated sperm swim to the eggs in a water drop.

The adaptive advantage associated with the filamentous nature of fungal mycelia is primarily related to _____.

an extensive surface area well suited for invasive growth and absorptive nutrition

Which feature seen in chytrids supports the hypothesis that they diverged earliest in fungal evolution?

flagellated spores

Both animals and fungi are heterotrophic. What distinguishes animal heterotrophy from fungal heterotrophy is that most animals derive their nutrition by _____.

ingesting it

The evolution of animal species has been prolific (the estimates go into the millions and tens of millions). Much of this diversity is a result of the evolution of novel ways to _____.

sense, feed, and move

We should expect the inner wall of the swim bladder to be lined with tissue that is derived from _____.

endoderm

Which of the following is a feature of the tube-within-a-tube body plan in most animal phyla?

The mouth and anus form the ends of the inner tube.

Which structure of the amniotic egg most closely surrounds the embryo?

the amnion

A new species of aquatic chordate is discovered that closely resembles an ancient form. It has the following characteristics: external armor of bony plates, no paired lateral fins, and a suspension-feeding mode of nutrition. In addition to these, it will probably have which of the following characteristics?

no jaws

To reproduce, many plants produce seeds-structures containing embryonic offspring along with nutrients inside a tough case. These offspring develop after being released by the parent plant. To which animal reproductive strategy is seed production most comparable?

oviparous reproduction

It is believed that the coelacanths and lungfish represent a crucial link between other fishes and tetrapods. What is the major feature in these fish in support of this hypothesis?

Their fins have skeletal and muscular structures similar to amphibian limbs.

Air masses formed over the Pacific Ocean are moved by prevailing westerlies where they encounter extensive north-south mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades. Which statement best describes the outcome of this encounter between a landform and an air mass?

The warm, moist Pacific air rises and cools, releasing precipitation as it moves up the windward side of the range. This cool, now dry air mass heats up as it descends on the leeward side of the range.

Coral reefs can be found on the southeast coast of the United States but not at similar latitudes on the southwest coast. Differences in which of the following most likely account for this?

ocean currents

Wetlands are standing bodies of freshwater, just like lakes and ponds. However, wetlands are different from lakes and ponds because wetlands have _____.

shallow water and emergent vegetation

Which of the following best substantiates why location 3 is an equatorial (tropical) climate?

The temperature is high for each monthly average.

The last common ancestor of all animals was probably a _____.

flagellated protist

Which of the following is (are) unique to animals?

nervous system signal conduction and muscular movement

During chordate evolution, what is the sequence (from earliest to most recent) in which the following structures arose?1. amniotic egg2. paired fins3. jaws4. swim bladder5. four-chambered heart

2, 3, 4, 1, 5

Which of the following is a characteristic of all chordates at some point during their life cycle?

post-anal tail

To reproduce, many plants produce seeds-structures containing embryonic offspring along with nutrients inside a tough case. These offspring develop after being released by the parent plant. To which animal reproductive strategy is seed production most comparable?

oviparous reproduction

Which extant chordates are postulated to be most like the earliest chordates in appearance?

lancelets

Generalized global air circulation and precipitation patterns are caused by _____.

rising, warm, moist air masses that cool and release precipitation as they rise and then, at high altitude, cool and sink back to the surface as dry air masses after moving north or south of the tropics

Which of the following might be an investigation of microclimate?

the effect of sunlight intensity on species composition in a decaying rat carcass

Subtropical plants are commonplace in Land's End, England, whose latitude is the equivalent of Labrador in coastal Canada, where the local flora is subarctic. Which statement best explains why this apparent anomaly exists between North America and Europe?

Warm ocean currents interact with England, whereas cold ocean currents interact with Labrador.

Which of the following is a widely supported explanation for the tendency of tropical communities to have greater species diversity than temperate or polar communities?

Tropical communities are generally older than temperate and polar communities.

An ecologist recorded twelve white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, per square kilometer in one woodlot and twenty per square kilometer in another woodlot. What was the ecologist comparing?

density

Consider the food chain of grass → grasshopper → mouse → snake → hawk. About how much of the chemical energy fixed by photosynthesis of the grass (100 percent) is available to the hawk?

0.01%

In the figure above, which of the following survivorship curves most applies to humans living in developed countries?

curve A

Which of the following ecosystems would likely have the largest net primary productivity per hectare and why?

grassland, because of the small standing crop biomass that results from consumption by herbivores and rapid decomposition

Red-cheeked salamanders are partially protected from predators because of cardiac glycosides they produce from glands on their back. When ingested, cardiac glycosides disrupt normal heart rhythms. A different salamander species, the imitator salamander, also has red cheek patches, but does not produce cardiac glycosides. It does gain protection from predators that have learned to avoid red cheeked salamanders. How does this relationship affect the population dynamics of both species?

The red cheeked salamander is negatively affected, the imitator is positively affected.