Review Questions

The ability of an ecosystem to return to its equilibrium state after an environmental disturbance is called ________.

1. resistance
2. restoration
3. reformation
4. resilience

A re-created ecosystem in a laboratory environment is known as a ________.

1. mesocosm
2. simulation
3. microcosm
4. reproduction

Decomposers are associated with which class of food web?

1. grazing
2. detrital
3. inverted
4. aquatic

The primary producers in an ocean grazing food web are usually ________.

1. plants
2. animals
3. fungi
4. phytoplankton

What term describes the use of mathematical equations in the modeling of linear aspects of ecosystems?

1. analytical modeling
2. simulation modeling
3. conceptual modeling
4. individual-based modeling

The position of an organism along a food chain is known as its ________.

1. locus
2. location
3. trophic level
4. microcosm

The weight of living organisms in an ecosystem at a particular point in time is called:

1. energy
2. production
3. entropy
4. biomass

Which term describes the process whereby toxic substances increase along trophic levels of an ecosystem?

1. biomassification
2. biomagnification
3. bioentropy
4. heterotrophy

Organisms that can make their own food using inorganic molecules are called:

1. autotrophs
2. heterotrophs
3. photoautotrophs
4. chemoautotrophs

In the English Channel ecosystem, the number of primary producers is smaller than the number of primary consumers because________.

1. the apex consumers have a low turnover rate
2. the primary producers have a low turnover rate
3. the primary producers have a high turnover rate
4. the primary consumers have a high turnover rate

What law of chemistry determines how much energy can be transferred when it is converted from one form to another?

1. the first law of thermodynamics
2. the second law of thermodynamics
3. the conservation of matter
4. the conservation of energy

The movement of mineral nutrients through organisms and their environment is called a ________ cycle.

1. biological
2. bioaccumulation
3. biogeochemical
4. biochemical

Carbon is present in the atmosphere as ________.

1. carbon dioxide
2. carbonate ion
3. carbon dust
4. carbon monoxide

The majority of water found on Earth is:

1. ice
2. water vapor
3. fresh water
4. salt water

The average time a molecule spends in its reservoir is known as ________.

1. residence time
2. restriction time
3. resilience time
4. storage time

The process whereby oxygen is depleted by the growth of microorganisms due to excess nutrients in aquatic systems is called ________.

1. dead zoning
2. eutrophication
3. retrofication
4. depletion

The process whereby nitrogen is brought into organic molecules is called ________.

1. nitrification
2. denitrification
3. nitrogen fixation
4. nitrogen cycling