Chapter 2| Student Practice Quizzes | Environmental Change and Challenge, Third Edition

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the Submit my answers button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

The capelin is:
a) a small fish of the North Pacific
b) a small animal of the North Atlantic
c) a type of fishing net
d) an important food supply for many marine and avian species
e) an endangered species

Question 2:

Which of the following is not a common characteristic of living organisms?
a) they can reproduce
b) they use energy to maintain internal order
c) they decrease in size and complexity over time
d) they fit the biotic and abiotic requirements of a specific habitat
e) they react to their environment

Question 3:

Green pigments in plants that absorb light energy from the sun are known as:
a) phototrophs
b) photosynthesis
c) chlorophylls
d) chemoautotrophs
e) heterotrophs

Question 5:

The pitcher plant, the floral emblem of Newfoundland, is an example of:
a) an herbivore
b) a carnivore
c) an omnivore
d) an autotroph
e) a phototroph

Question 6:

Which is not characteristic of an ecosystem mostly controlled by a prey population?
a) disease
b) lack of forage
c) lack of water
d) rich nutrient supply
e) a very close relationship between a predator and its prey

Question 7:

Shorter food chains involve a proportionately larger loss of energy due to the greater number of energy transformations.
a) True
b) False

Question 8:

What is a biome?
a) ecosystems classified according to dominant vegetation and animal communities
b) open ecosystems
c) areas defined by temperature and rainfall

Question 9:

Why is the panda called a specialist?
a) it is found only in China
b) it has distinct black and white markings
c) it often does not breed well in captivity
d) its only food is bamboo
e) all of the above

Question 10:

What do the black bear and the coyote have in common?
a) they occupy very broad niches
b) they eat a wide range of foods
c) they do not adapt well to human-altered environments
d) a and b
e) b and c

Question 11:

What do the prairie bison and the beaver have in common?
a) they have been extirpated
b) they are carnivores
c) they are keystone species
d) a and b
e) a and c

Question 12:

What does a keystone species do?
a) it has a strong influence on its community
b) it has little impact on its local food web
c) without it the food web collapses
d) all of the above

Question 13:

Abiotic components of an ecosystem are:
a) light
b) temperature
c) water
d) all of the above

Question 14:

A brunisol is an example of:
a) a soil found under grasslands
b) a brown soil found under forests
c) a lichen
d) a moss

Question 15:

A niche is:
a) the combination of things a species needs
b) the place where a species lives
c) a type of bamboo
d) interspecific competition

Higher Education

Environmental Change and Challenge, Third Edition - Chapter 2