Multiple Choice
Answer the following questions by selecting the correct answer from the options following each question.
1. Which of the following would be a biotic factor in an ecosystem?
1. insects
2. water
3. nitrogen
4. sunlight
2. What type of a factor would dead wood lying on a forest floor be?
1. abiotic
2. biotic
3. Several students wrote definitions of the term “biotic”. Which is the best definition?
1. Biotic means all the stuff that is used to support life in an ecosystem like soil, rocks, and water.
2. Biotic refers to the living and recently living factors that affect an ecosystem.
3. Biotic describes the nonliving factors which affect the growth of a species.
4. Biotic is a Latin word for animal life.
4. Which of the following would be an abiotic factor in an ecosystem?
1. insects
2. water
3. grasses
4. bacteria
5. The temperature range in an ocean tide pool was measured to vary from a low of 35°F to a high of 55°F. Temperature is classified as which type of factor?
1. abiotic
2. biotic
6. A student collects the following data in a pond ecosystem. Which data represents an abiotic factor?
1. The average weight of blue gill fish is 278 grams.
2. The pH, or acid level, in the pond is 6.3. Pure water has a pH of 7.
3. The density of cattail plants is 120 plants per square meter.
4. A survey found five frogs in a 25 square meter area.
7. Use the energy laws (conservation of energy and the second law of thermodynamics) to determine which of the following statements is true.
1. One hundred units of light energy strikes a leaf of a plant in one day. The plant will use that light energy in the process of photosynthesis to create at least 110 units of food energy.
2. If we consume 1500 Calories, they will be converted by the digestion process into 2000 Calories of available energy.
3. All organisms waste energy as they work to survive and reproduce.
4. More than one hundred percent of the heat energy at a hot spring can be converted into food energy by chemosynthetic bacteria.
8. What does the unit “Calorie” measure?
1. food energy
2. the amount of energy needed to warm one kilogram of water one degree
3. energy used by ecosystems
4. all of these
9. What is the process that utilizes sunlight to manufacture food molecules?
1. photosynthesis
2. chlorophyll
3. chemosynthesis
4. glucose
10. What is the bottom level of a food chain called?
1. producer level
2. first consumer level
3. decomposer level
4. second consumer level
11. In the food chain grass => grasshopper => bird, the grasshopper would occupy which trophic level?
1. producer level
2. first consumer level
3. decomposer level
4. second consumer level
12. In the food chain grass => grasshopper => bird, which level would the bird occupy?
1. producer level
2. first consumer level
3. decomposer level
4. second consumer level
13. A student has diagramed the grass => grasshopper => bird food chain as shown. Is he correct? If not, which selection best explains his error(s)?
1. Yes. There are no errors.
2. No. He has calculated the number of calories incorrectly. It should be 1500 then 15 then 1.5.
3. No. He has mislabeled the first and second consumer levels. If they were reversed, everything would be correct.
4. No. He has labeled the bird as a carnivore. Birds have no teeth, so they can’t be called a carnivore. Everything else is okay.
14. What is the role an organism plays in its community called?
1. ecosystem
2. population
3. niche
4. biosphere
15. What are all the members of one species in a region called?
1. ecosystem
2. population
3. niche
4. biosphere
A student graphed the data on the population of mice and owls in an abandoned field. The data is plotted below. The green line is the population of the mice, and the yellow line is the population of the owls. The gray lines show the peak in the population of mice.
16. What is the carrying capacity of the mice?
1. 0–50
2. 50–100
3. 100–150
4. 150–200
5. 200–250
17. What is the carrying capacity of the owls?
1. 10–50
2. 50–100
3. 100–150
4. 150–200
5. 200–250
18. Why should experiments have at least two groups?
1. The two groups allow us to make sure we did not miss anything in the experiment.