Biology 115, Sixth Quiz: 2 May 2000

A. Multiple choice questions: 0.5 points each.

• 1. A ______ indicates who eats whom in an ecosystem.
  • (a) food chain
  • (b) successional stage
  • (c) sere
  • (d) feeding frenzy
• 2. _____ is usually a limiting inorganic nutrient in most ecosystems.
  (a) Carbon; (b) Oxygen; (c) Potassium; (d) Phosphate
• 3. The world population is now undergoing ______ growth.
  (a) logistic; (b) exponential; (c) arithmetic; (d) zero.
• 4. To maintain the productivity of eroding land, more ______ must be applied.
  (a) fertilizers; (b) pesticides; (c) energy; (d) all of the above.
  
• 5. The branch of biology that is concerned with classification is called
  (a) phylogeny; (b) taxonomy; (c) meteorology; (d) systematics.
  
• 6. The correct sequence of events in organic evolution is
  • (a) proteins and nucleic acids, protocells, gases, simple organic molecules, first cells.
  • (b) gases, simple organic molecules, proteins and nucleic acids, protocells, first cells.
  • (c) protocells, gases, simple organic molecules, proteins and nucleic acids, first cells.

B. Definitions: 0.5 points each.

Provide a one-sentence definition for each word or phrase.

• 7. Demographic transition.
  
  
  
  
• 8. Natural selection.
  
  
  
  

C. Reverse Definitions: 0.5 points each.

Provide the term for which this is the definition.

• 9. The profession, or total role, of an organism is called its _______.
  
  
• 10. _________ potential is the maximum growth rate of a population under ideal conditions.
  

D. Fill in the blanks: 0.5 point each.

• 11. The doubling of populations in more developed countries between 1850 and 1950 was
  
  largely due to a decline in the ____________
  
  as a result of modern medicine and improved __________________.
  
  
  
• 12. Bacteria living in the root nodules of legumes can fix ____, i.e. convert it to _____.

E. Short answers: 1 point each.

Provide a brief answer for each question.

• 13. (Chapter 23, on-line material, screen 6):
  Is the amount of energy available to animals that eat plants the same amount of energy that was obtained from the sun in photosynthesis? Explain.
  
  
  
• 14. Arrange in chronological order:
  1: Homo erectus; 2: Homo sapiens; 3: Australopithecus afarensis; 4: Homo habilis.
  

F. Full-paragraph answer: 2 points.

Answer either of the following two questions. If you answer both, you will receive credit for neither.

• 15. Explain why it is that the population will continue to expand in less-developed countries even after replacement reproduction (the condition under which couple on average has only two children) has been attained.
• 16. The ecological effects of a 3.5 degree (Celsius) rise in global temperature would be significant, even though most of us would dress and behave similarly whether the outdoor temperature was 20.5°C or 24°C. Explain.