Full Test Bank Biodiversity And Human Affairs Chapter 17

Test Bank

Chapter 17: Biodiversity and Human Affairs

Multiple Choice

Case

1. (knowledge) Early humans moved from the west coast of the Americas inland about 12,000 years ago. What happened in the Americas about this same time?

a. Christopher Columbus discovered America, but from the Atlantic coast side.

b. Most small mammals began going extinct.

c. Most large mammals began going extinct.

d. There was a serious continental drought.

e. North and South America split apart as the continents drifted.

17.1

2. (comprehension) As the climate changes, habitats change and species have to adapt or die off. What characteristic can help make a species more adaptable to this type of change?

a. Genetic diversity

b. Species richness

c. Biodiversity

d. Geographic relief

e. Species cannot be that adaptable.

3. (comprehension) If we breed a “perfect” potato for farmers we can stop worrying about genetic diversity in potatoes, right?

a. Yes. If it’s perfect, it’s perfect and we don’t need to keep working on it.

b. No, if the environment changes, a disease arises, or people’s tastes change, we need a source for different traits.

c. Yes. We would have a “perfect” set of genes, and we could always genetically engineer any new trait we wanted.

d. No. It wouldn’t stay perfect because genes randomly mutate, so we need to maintain other, less good potatoes, just in case.

e. Yes. The farmers have to worry about so many factors related to success of their crops, this would be one less problem.

4. (comprehension) You are in charge of maintaining biodiversity of a forest, part of which is being developed for housing. Would you argue for preserving one big park in the neighborhood, or a series of smaller ones?

a. Smaller ones. They would be easier to monitor and the homeowners near each might be more willing to maintain what would be like “their own” park

b. One big one. It would be much easier to monitor and maintain.

c. Smaller ones. Microhabitats in several smaller plots of land might allow for more species diversity.

d. One big one. Bigger habitats nearly always support more species than smaller ones.

e. You’d have to do a study to compare them because no one has really looked at this.

5. (comprehension) Why is it important to maintain habitat diversity to maintain biodiversity?

a. More varied habitats means more different species are adapted to them and live in them, leading to high species richness and high biodiversity.

b. A diverse habitat simply contains more individuals, contributing to biodiversity.

c. The number of species in an area depends on biodiversity.

d. Higher habitat diversity leads to higher genetic diversity which leads to higher biodiversity.

e. Widely distributed species need large habitats.

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6. (knowledge) Geographic relief in a region allows for higher biodiversity. What is this?

a. A relatively stable climate

b. A relative warm, but not too hot, climate

c. Variation in species with microclimates

d. High altitude, where biodiversity is naturally higher.

e. Variation in altitude, like you would find in a mountainous region

7. (comprehension) The country of Honduras is about the same size as the state of Virginia. Where would you expect to find higher species diversity? Why?

a. Honduras, because Virginia probably has more people.

b. Honduras, because it’s closer to the equator.

c. There’s no way to estimate this. You would have to survey.

d. Virginia, because the United States has the Endangered Species Act to protect species

e. Virginia, because the climate is more variable over a year.

8. (comprehension) The productivity hypothesis says that there is higher species diversity at the equator than toward the poles because the climate is perfect to grow plants. Besides just the volume of food, why might this allow for there to be more species?

a. There are more places to hide.

b. There is more variety of plants, so there can be species specializing in eating just one type, allowing more species to “fit” in the habitat.

c. Species can be more generalists than specialists, and generalists tend to not go extinct as easily.

d. There are just more plant species toward the equator and that alone accounts for the higher species richness.

e. Rainforests are among the most productive of ecosystems and they tend to be equatorial.

9. (knowledge) What is the most diverse type of habitat on Earth?

a. Tropical coral reefs

b. Temperate rainforests

c. Tropical rainforests

d. African savannahs

e. Coniferous forests

10. (comprehension) Human population growth most threatens tropical rainforests and tropical coastal habitats. Why is this a concern when it comes to preserving biodiversity?

a. There is really no way to keep people from moving to these habitats because they’re nice places to live.

b. Most of the species on Earth already listed as threatened or endangered live in rainforests.

c. The climate in these areas is most prone to change.

d. These habitats have the highest biodiversity on Earth.

e. Because people destroy the habitat wherever they live.

17.3

11. (knowledge) What does the theory of island biogeography attempt to illustrate?

a. Why islands have fewer species than the mainland

b. Why small islands always have the same number of species no matter where they are

c. Why species migrate to some islands more than others

d. Why bigger islands tend to have relatively fewer species than smaller ones

e. What factors determine the numbers of species on islands

12. (knowledge) Why are species living on islands more likely to go extinct than those living on the mainland?

a. Islands are more fragile habitats.

b. Island populations are often very small to start with, and then resources are limited.

c. People like to live on islands, so they often take over essential habitat.

d. Predators can easily take over on an island.

e. New individuals rarely migrate to islands.

13. (comprehension) According to the theory of island biogeography, the number of species increases directly in proportion to the size of the island. True or False?

A, True. Bigger islands have more species.

B. False. Bigger islands have more species generally, but with small islands, an increase in area makes a big difference while with larger island, it doesn’t make much difference.

c. True, the smaller the island, the fewer the species.

d. False. Small islands close to the mainland often have more species than larger islands farther from the mainland.

e. The theory of island biogeography doesn’t really compare area and species number.

14. (knowledge) Hawaii has more endemic species than anywhere on Earth. What does that mean?

a. There are more species at risk of extinction on Hawaii than anywhere.

b. There are more species in Hawaii that have been introduced by humans than anywhere else on Earth.

c. There are more species in Hawaii that migrated there than anywhere else on Earth.

d. There are more species in Hawaii that are used by native people there than anywhere else on Earth.

e. There are more species in Hawaii that live no where else than there are anywhere else.

15. (knowledge) How does the theory of island biogeography apply to habitats not on islands?

a. It doesn’t. It only works on islands.

b. On land, the relationship is reversed. Smaller areas of land tend to have relatively more species.

c. Small isolated areas of habitat on land, surrounded by unsuitable habitat, are like “islands” so bigger areas have more species.

d. It’s similar but on land, species on “islands” of habitat are much less likely to go extinct because it’s easier to migrate.

e. No one has tried to apply it to land, but it seems like it would work the same way.

17.4

16. (knowledge) Ecologists divide the earth into eight biogeographic realms which correspond approximately to what features on Earth?

a. Climate zones

b. Zones of human population density

c. Oceans

d. Continents

e. Latitude

17. (knowledge) What does Wallace’s Line delineate?

a. The Asiatic realm from the North American realm

b. The Australian realm from the Asiatic realm

c. The North American realm from the South American realm

d. The African realm from the Asiatic realm

e. The African realm from the South American realm

18. (application) The Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok are about the same size, close together, and feature similar habitats, but are on opposite sides of Wallace’s line. What does this tell you about them?

a. One is tropical and one is not.

b. One is highly diverse and one is not.

c. The species that live on them are very different.

d. Species do not migrate between them.

e. They are quite remote and thus both have low species diversity.

19. (knowledge) Mammals on Australia are mostly pouched (marsupials) and the mammals elsewhere in the world are mostly not pouched. Why is this?

a. A secure pouch is necessary for the highly variable and chaotic Australian habitats and not so much elsewhere.

b. Pouched mammals have only ever existed on Australia ,and it’s too far to migrate.

c. No one knows why this is. It’s an area of biodiversity under intense study.

d. The continent of Australia has been isolated from the others such that its species have evolved separately for a long time.

e. Australia is closest to Antarctica and there are no mammals there to migrate and create a population of non-pouched mammals.

17.5

20. (knowledge) About 550 million years ago was an important period in Earth’s history. What happened?

a. The continents began drifting, and they haven’t stopped since.

b. A meteorite hit the Earth, killing off most species.

c. Humans moved into North America, killing off most of the large mammals.

d. All the modern groups of multicellular animals developed over a relatively short period of time.

e. The dinosaurs developed and took over most of the Earth’s ecosystems, driving most smaller organisms extinct.

21. (knowledge) What are two proposed causes for the Cambrian Explosion?

a. A meteor killed off the dinosaurs, freeing up space for many other living things, resulting in much higher biodiversity.

b. A sufficiently high level of oxygen in the atmosphere and the development of hard parts for protection from predators.

c. Photosynthesis had used up enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that more active animals could survive.

d. The ice age ended and the climate warmed up enough to support the huge increase in biodiversity.

e. The cooling Earth’s core finally reached a temperature that allowed the continents to stabilize such that they could move around but still hold together.

17.6

22. (comprehension) If a healthy ecosystem experiences a drought for several years, and then the normal rain pattern returns what would you expect to happen?

a. A healthy and stable ecosystem will recover from the drought and quickly return to its previous state once the rains return.

b. A healthy and stable ecosystem will recover from the drought once the rain returns, but most of the plants that were there will have been replaced by new species.

c. Even a healthy ecosystem cannot recover quickly from an extended drought. I will recover but with an entirely new suite of species.

d. There is no way for an ecosystem to recover from an extended drought. New drought-resistant plant species will have taken over and the original animal species will have moved out or died off.

e. It completely depends on what the original productivity was. A previously highly productive ecosystem will quickly bounce back. An ecosystem that already had low productivity but lost it, will never get it back.

23. (knowledge) How is ecosystem productivity measured?

a. By the amount of sunlight that reaches the ground

b. By the number of different plant species

c. By the weight of all the plant matter in the system

d. By the weight of all the animal mass in the system

e. By the amount of rain the system receives annually

24. (comprehension) Why does high biodiversity result in higher productivity?

a. There are more species so there is more productivity.

b. It is more stable so it is more productive.

c. A variety of plants can exploit every niche and possibly help others get started.

d. A variety of plants can better compete with one another, so none go extinct.

e. A variety of animals can keep any single plant from “taking over.”

25. (application) Biologist John Terbough did a study of some newly formed islands in a lake in Venezuela. Some of the islands had predators and some did not. What did the study show?

a. The island ecosystems stabilized after awhile in both cases, so predators were not vital.

b. Predators eventually moved to the islands without any, and the ecosystems stabilized.

c. Islands with predators had lower biodiversity.

d. There was no difference at first, but eventually the predators killed off all the prey and destabilized those ecosystems.

e. Predators were stabilizing because without predators the grazers stripped all the vegetation and died off.

17.7

26. (comprehension) Loggers in the Pacific Northwest were opposed to trying to preserve the Northern Spotted Owl in the old-growth forests. Why?

a. Loggers do not appreciate animals.

b. Because doing so would destroy the old-growth forests for short-term gain at the expense of long-term benefits

c. Because doing so would allow other species to go extinct

d. Because doing so would mean the old growth forests could not be logged and they would lose a source of income

e. Because doing so would mean the end of the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest

27. (comprehension) The controversy between loggers and conservationists in the Pacific Northwest was framed as a fight over an owl, but what was it really about?

a. Whether an old-growth forest is really valuable

b. Most fights over habitat in the Pacific Northwest actually come down to salmon.

c. Short-term versus long-term benefits of an old-growth forest

d. Climate change

e. The effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act

28. (comprehension) How is genetic diversity a “provisioning service” of an old-growth forest?

a. It provides varieties of lumber.

b. It aids in eco-tourism.

c. There is high species diversity among the animals for hunting.

d. Tourism because people want to see the genetic diversity.

e. It provides a source for potential new products like medicines.

29. (comprehension) The old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest are considered to be rainforests, which means it rains a lot. How do the forests help people deal with the rain?

a. They retain water to prevent flooding and erosion.

b. They provide shelter to people out hiking.

c. They make it seem less gloomy.

d. They stick up into the clouds and absorb some rain directly.

e. They direct the water into the salmon streams.

30. (comprehension) If the loggers had logged the old-growth forests in the 1990s, they would have then planted more trees, so what’s the problem?

a. Even in a rainforest climate, trees take a long time to grow.

b. A manmade forest is less diverse, stable, and productive.

c. The species unique to the old-growth forests would have gone extinct.

d. Manmade forests do not provide the same level of service as established old-growth forests, so subsequent generations lose out on the value that would have been provided.

e. All of the above

17.8

31. (knowledge) About how many species have been identified on Earth?

a. 30 million

b. 10.8 billion

c. 1.1 billion

d. 1.3 million

e. 900,000

32. (comprehension) To have high species diversity in an ecosystem, you need which of the following combinations?

a. High species richness, and uneven but high species abundance

b. High species richness and even species abundance

c. High species evenness and richness, but not necessarily high abundance

d. High but uneven abundance and low species richness

e. High and even species abundance and low species richness

33. (application) Suppose you calculated the actual species diversity index for a marsh and found it was lower than you’d expected. You’ve rechecked your calculations and you’re sure they’re correct. What does this probably indicate?

a. The species diversity index model is wrong.

b. You need to go out and count numbers of species again.

c. The marsh had an especially productive year.

d. Something is keeping species out when they ought to be there.

e. The marsh is actually healthy.

34. (application) Suppose it was your job to assess the relative health of all the old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. What might you do to cover all that ground?

a. Put together a big team of scientists to go count species

b. Look for the presence of indicator species or examine satellite photos taken over time

c. Look at the logging records over time

d. Look at the number of ecotourists that are visiting the area

e. There’s no way to do this effectively, so you would divide up the territory and look at a few acres at a time.

35. (knowledge) What two types of organisms tend to be good indicator species, and why?

a. Anything works, scientists just have to agree on it.

b. Whatever is most rare in the ecosystem in question

c. Large mammals because they’re easy to find

d. Amphibians, because if they are there, there are sufficient wet and dry areas

e. Birds and flowering plants, because they are easy to survey.

17.9

36. (knowledge) Which of the following mass extinction events resulted in the loss of the most species?

a. The blitzkrieg extinction

b. The Cretaceous extinction

c. The background extinction

d. The current extinction event happening

e. The Permian extinction

37. (comprehension) Have scientists determined that as early humans moved from Africa to other continents, they were responsible for the extinction of large mammals?

a. Yes. Most recently in North America

b. It’s unclear. There’s not much evidence that humans hunted those animals.

c. Yes. There is considerable evidence that humans hunted large mammals.

d. No. It was probably climate change.

e. Yes. It’s happened on every continent.

38. (knowledge) All species go extinct. About how long is the average lifespan of a species?

a. One extinction per million species per year

b. 1 million years

c. One geologic period, like the Cretaceous

d. 100,000 years

e. Between 1 and 5 million years

39. (knowledge) Right now the background extinction rate is about what it normally has been historically through geologic time. True or False?

a. True. It’s quite constant over time.

b. False. It’s somewhat lower now than has been typical.

c. Can’t tell. We weren’t around early on so we have no way of knowing.

d. False. It’s much higher now than has been typical.

e. True. It looks like it, but we monitor species so much better now, we might just be seeing more species.

40. (knowledge) What is the most common reason species become endangered?

a. Pollution

b. Overharvesting

c. Habitat destruction

d. Displaced by invasive species

e. Killed by predators

41. (comprehension) If we’re interested in conserving global biodiversity, why is the fact than tropical rainforests are shrinking dramatically especially bad?

a. Rainforests occupy a lot of territory so if they’re shrinking, many species are being lost.

b. Rainforests are one of the most highly biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, so if they’re being lost, many species are being lost.

c. Unlike most other habitats, it’s very difficult to create manmade rainforests.

d. Rainforests are highly productive, and it’s not good to lose that productivity globally.

e. It’s not particularly bad. Every habitat on Earth is equally valuable for biodiversity.

42. (comprehension) Overharvesting of species we consume is the single biggest cause of species becoming endangered. True or false?

a. True. As human population grows we need more and more to eat, so this is generally the reason species become endangered.

b. True. Food species are increasingly going extinct these days.

c. It’s not at all clear what causes most species to become endangered because there are so many factors.

d. False. We don’t really overharvest most economically important resources.

e. False. This does happen, but we’re learning how to harvest sustainably and conservation programs have been successful bring exploited species back from the brink.

17.10

43. (comprehension) A developing country in tropical regions is likely to have rainforest which could easily be overexploited for lumber, initially, and then converted to farms. How could this be prevented in a practical way?

a. It can’t. People will take short-term advantage of whatever resource they have.

b. Simply make it illegal to log and provide social welfare to support people.

c. Fence off as much of the rainforest as possible to keep people out.

d. Wealthy countries can just buy up the forest and preserve it.

e. Organize businesses to take advantage of interest in ecotourism in these unique and interesting habitats.

44. (comprehension) If we want to preserve biodiversity, why is it important to control human population growth?

a. Humans don’t care about their habitat.

b. Humans are such effective competitors for limited resources, we’ll take what we need and other species will lose out.

c. Humans only care about the success of humans.

d. Humans want to live in tropical rainforests and will take over all that habitat at the expense of other species.

e. Humans aren’t smart enough to manage the Earth in such a way that biodiversity can be preserved.

“Biology in Perspective”

45. (comprehension) What is probably the first key to preserving biodiversity on earth?

a. Teaching people why biodiversity matters

b. Buying up what unique habitats remain so they can’t be developed

c. Identifying all the yet-undiscovered species on Earth

d. Eating a vegetarian diet

e. Feeling guilty about using the Earth’s resources

“Scientist Spotlight”

46. (knowledge) Who is perhaps the best known ecologist of our time, and what did he primarily study throughout his career?

a. R.H. MacArthur, island biogeography

b. Russell Wallace, biodiversity on Indonesian Islands

c. Paul Martin, the blitzkrieg hypothesis

d. Paul Ehrlich, effects of human population growth

e. E.O. Wilson, ants

47. (knowledge) What does ecologist E.O. Wilson think will be necessary to preserve biodiversity on Earth?

a. Making it a focus of the ecology labs at Harvard University, because that’s where the ecological research money is

b. Enhancing collaboration between science and religion, because it is both a scientific and moral goal.

c. Awarding more medals to ecologists who study in this field, because it will encourage more people to go into this research

d. Training more scientists in ecology, because there will be more appreciation and understanding of why biodiversity matters

e. Training more clergy in science so they start to agree that climate change is occurring

“Technology Connection”

48. (knowledge) If you want to monitor loss of rainforests on a global scale, what is an effective way to do it?

a. Maintain a network of ecologists worldwide to share information

b. Travel frequently to important sites

c. Keep track of satellite images of Earth over time

d. Use military surveillance tools

e. Count on “citizen scientists” in developing countries

“Life Application”

49. (comprehension) Why have researchers focused on a particular species of jellyfish when studying malaria?

a. The jellyfish stings have been discovered to treat malaria symptoms.

b. A glowing gene of the jellyfish can be used as a marker to sterilize mosquitoes that transmit malaria.

c. A glowing gene of the jellyfish can be used to make malaria-carrying mosquitoes glow in the dark.

d. A gene of the jellyfish can produce a protein that essentially kills off the malaria virus.

e. The jellyfish skin coating is an effective malaria mosquito repellant when applied to a mosquito net.

50. (comprehension) What does the story of the glowing jellyfish gene illustrate about biodiversity?

a. Every species matters. There’s no telling where we might get a resource we need.

b. All organism genes are valuable in genetic engineering.

c. Jellyfish genes are useful in mosquitoes.

d. All organisms can swap genes.

e. Preserving jellyfish in particular is very important.

“How Do We Know?”

51. (comprehension) The model of island biogeography is a mathematical model. How do we know it actually holds true in the “real” world?

a. Mathematical models are always accurate

b. Scientists collect data from real ecosystems to test it.

c. The modelers tested it extensively in the field before they published it.

d. The Simberloffs tested it in mangroves in Florida.

e. We don’t actually know, but it makes sense.

52. (comprehension) The theory of island biogeography says that the number of species on an island of a given size will stay fairly constant over time. How did the Simberloffs test this using mangrove islands in Florida, and was the theory supported?

a. They counted all the insects on a group of islands over time and the numbers didn’t change so the theory was supported.

b. They removed all the insects on a group of islands and then monitored how many came back. Before and after numbers were similar, so the theory was supported.

c. They removed all the living species on a group of islands over time and monitored how many came back. Before and after numbers were similar, so the theory was supported.

d. They removed all the insects on a group of islands and then monitored how many came back. Very few came back, so the theory was not supported.

e. They physically isolated a group of islands and then monitored all the species over time. The numbers changed quite dramatically so the theory was not supported.

17.1

1. (comprehension) When there are many different species living in one habitat, we say that habitat has high what?

2. (knowledge) There are three components to biodiversity: species richness, habitat diversity, and what else?

17.2

3. (knowledge) Worldwide, diversity of species tends to decrease as you move away from the equator. What do ecologists call this phenomenon?

4. (knowledge) There are several hypotheses to explain why biodiversity tends to be highest in the tropics. Which one suggests that the lack of effects of the ice ages has simply allowed new species there more time to evolve?

17.3

5. (knowledge) According to the theory of island biogeography, why will an island closer to the mainland have more species than one farther away?

6. (comprehension) According to the theory of island biogeography, would you expect a large island to have more, fewer, or about the same number of species as a very large island nearby?

17.4

7. (knowledge) Deserts in North Africa are very similar to deserts in North America, and so pretty much the same group of species lives in each place. True or False?

17.5

8. (knowledge) Before the Cambrian Explosion, most species had what sort of body design?

17.6

9. (knowledge) What is the name of the hypothesis that describes how an ecosystem eventually collapses as increasing numbers of species are removed?

10. (knowledge) When a single species is so important to the structure of an ecosystem that if it is removed, the whole system collapses, what do we call that species?

17.7

11. (knowledge) Sometimes the presence or absence of a particular organism in an ecosystem reflects directly on the health of that ecosystem, sort of like the “canary in the coal mine.” What do ecologists call those species?

12. (knowledge) What regulating services do intact old-growth forests provide?

17.8

13. (knowledge) What is included in the formula for the species diversity index?

14. (knowledge) If you need to monitor how ecosystems are surviving on a global scale, what is an effective way of doing it?

17.9

15. (knowledge) What was the cause of the extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs?

16. (knowledge) It appears that humans are a powerful force for extinction. What is this hypothesis called?

17.10

17. (Comprehension) If we’re going to preserve global biodiversity, should we be looking at short- or long-term economic gains?