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PCAT Biology Ecology

Subjects : pcat, biology
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Symbiotic relationship from which both organisms derive some benefit






2. One that exerts control over the other species that are present






3. Vegetation has evolved adaptations for water conservation such as needle shaped leaves






4. Community in an ecological succession is identified by a dominant species






5. Animals that consume dead animals






6. Determines the nature of plant and animal life in the soil






7. Vegetation such as vines and eppiphytes






8. Plants growing on other plants - trees grow closely together; sunlight hardly reaches the forest floor






9. Includes the community and the environment and usually all five kingdoms






10. Animals eat the plants and synthesize specific animal proteins form the plant proteins. both plants and animals give off wastes and eventually die






11. Active swimmers such as fish - sharks - or whales that feed on plankton and smaller fish






12. Nutrients - water - and sunlight limitations aid in maintaining populations at relatively constant levels






13. One or both organisms can't survive without the other






14. Organisms that manufacture their own food






15. Links between oceans and land






16. Two species may rapidly evolve in divergent directions under the strong selection pressure resulting from intense competition. thus - the two species would rapidly evolve greater differences in their niches






17. Monkeys - lizards - snakes - and birds - floor is inhabited by saprophytes






18. Frozen area with no vegetation and terrestrial animals -animals that do inhabit polar regions generally live near the polar oceans






19. Made into nitrites by chemosynthetic bacteria and then to usable nitrates by nitrifying bacteria






20. One species may be competitively superior in some regions - and the other may be superior in other regions under different environmental conditions. this would result in the elimination of one species in some places and the other in other places






21. The stable - living part of the ecosystem in whicih populations exist in balance with each other and with the environment






22. Crawling and sessile organsms






23. Freshwater Biomes vs. Saltwater 3: Freshwater biomes - except very large lakes - are affected by variations in _________. temperature of freshwater bodies varies considerably; they may freeze or dry up - and mud from their floors may be stirred up by






24. Receive less than ten inches of rain each year; the rain is concentrated within a few heavy cloudbursts -ex: Sahara in Africa and Gobi in Asia






25. Food chain is not a simple linear chain but an intricate web






26. Cannot synthesize their ow food and must depend upon autotrophs or others in the ecosystem to obtain their food






27. Because organisms at the upper levels of the food chain derive their food energy from organisms at lower levels - and because energy is lost from one level to the next - each level can support a successively smaller biomass






28. One species may be competitively superior to the other and drive the second to extinction






29. The study of interactions between organisms and their environment






30. Only animal life and other heterotrophic life exists






31. The chief disruptive force






32. Without a constant input of energy from the sun - an ecosystem would soon run down - as food is transferred from one level of the food chain to the next - a transfer of energy occurs






33. Free-living organisms that feed on other living organisms






34. Characterized by low rainfall - although considerably more than the desert biomes receive -provide no shelter for herbivorous mammals from carnivorous predators -ex: East of the Rockies - steppes of the Ukraine - and the pampas of Argentina






35. Encompasses all that is external to the organism and is necessary for its existence






36. Evolve toward a balance in which the predator is a regulatory influence on th prey but not a threat to its survival






37. Chief animal inhabitant is the moose; however - the black bear - wolf - and some birds






38. Determine by the amount of decaying plant and animal life in the soil






39. Contains plankton - passively drifting masses of microscopic photosynthetic and heterotrophic organisms - and nekton - and algae






40. Animals that consume primary consumers (carnivores)






41. An essential component of amino acids and nucleic acids - which are the building blocks of all living things






42. Region on the continental shelf that contains ocean area with depths up to 600 feet and extends several hundred miles from the shores






43. Nitrates are absorbed by plants are used to syntheisze nucleic acids and plant proteins






44. The nitrogen locked up in the wastes and dead tissues is released by the action of the bacteria of decay - which convert the proteins into ammonia






45. Includes all portions of the planet that support life -the atmosphere - the lithosphere - and the hydrosphere






46. The vegetation that becomes dominant and stable after years of evolutiionary development






47. Individual unit of an ecological system - but the organism itself is composed of smaller units -organs >tissues >cells >molecules >atoms > subatomic particles






48. Have cold winters - warm summers - and moderate rainfall -found in the Northeast and Central-Eastern United States and Central Europe






49. Consists of populations of different plants and animal species interacting with each other in a given environment






50. Jungles characterized by high temperatures and torrential rains -found in Central Africa - Central America - the Amazon basic - and Southeast Asia