Chapter 46 Ecosystems - QUESTIONS
Chapter 46 Ecosystems - QUESTIONS
Chapter 46 Ecosystems - QUESTIONS
ART CONNECTION
2. Pyramids depicting the number of organisms or biomass may be inverted, upright, or even diamond-shaped.
Energy pyramids, however, are always upright. Why?
a. Ammonification converts organic nitrogenous matter from living organisms into ammonium (NH4+).
b. Denitrification by bacteria converts nitrates (NO3) to nitrogen gas (N2).
c. Nitrification by bacteria converts nitrates (NO3) to nitrites (NO2).
d. Nitrogen fixing bacteria convert nitrogen gas (N2) into organic compounds.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
4. The ability of an ecosystem to return to its equilibrium state after an environmental disturbance is called
________.
a. resistance
b. restoration
c. reformation
d. resilience
a. mesocosm
b. simulation
c. microcosm
d. reproduction
a. grazing
b. detrital
c. inverted
d. aquatic
7. The primary producers in an ocean grazing food web are usually ________.
a. plants
b. animals
c. fungi
d. phytoplankton
8. What term describes the use of mathematical equations in the modeling of linear aspects of ecosystems?
a. analytical modeling
b. simulation modeling
c. conceptual modeling
d. individual-based modeling
a. locus
b. location
c. trophic level
d. microcosm
10. The weight of living organisms in an ecosystem at a particular point in time is called:
a. energy
b. production
c. entropy
d. biomass
11. Which term describes the process whereby toxic substances increase along trophic levels of an ecosystem?
a. biomassification
b. biomagnification
c. bioentropy
d. heterotrophy
12. Organisms that can make their own food using inorganic molecules are called:
a. autotrophs
b. heterotrophs
c. photoautotrophs
d. chemoautotrophs
13. In the English Channel ecosystem, the number of primary producers is smaller than the number of primary
consumers because________.
15. The movement of mineral nutrients through organisms and their environment is called a ________ cycle.
a. biological
b. bioaccumulation
c. biogeochemical
d. biochemical
a. carbon dioxide
b. carbonate ion
c. carbon dust
d. carbon monoxide
a. ice
b. water vapor
c. fresh water
d. salt water
19. The process whereby oxygen is depleted by the growth of microorganisms due to excess nutrients in aquatic
systems is called ________.
a. dead zoning
b. eutrophication
c. retrofication
d. depletion
20. The process whereby nitrogen is brought into organic molecules is called ________.
a. nitrification
b. denitrification
c. nitrogen fixation
d. nitrogen cycling
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
23. Compare grazing and detrital food webs. Why would they both be present in the same ecosystem?
24. Compare the three types of ecological pyramids and how well they describe ecosystem structure. Identify
which ones can be inverted and give an example of an inverted pyramid for each.
25. How does the amount of food a warm blooded-animal (endotherm) eats relate to its net production efficiency
(NPE)?
27. What are the factors that cause dead zones? Describe eutrophication, in particular, as a cause.