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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. In the ocean - the top layer thorugh which light can penetrate - is where all aquatic photosynthetic activity takes place






2. Treeless - frozen plain found between the taiga lands and the northern ice sheets - very short summer and thus a very short growing season during which time the ground becomes wet and marshy






3. Links between oceans and land






4. Elemental nitrogen is chemically inert and cannot be used by most organisms. Lightning and nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the roots of legumes change the nitrogen into the usable - soluble nitrates






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






6. Symbiotic relationship from which both organisms derive some benefit






7. 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






8. Includes climate - temperature - availability of light and water - and the local topology






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






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






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






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






13. Vegetation such as vines and eppiphytes






14. Freshwater Biomes vs. Saltwater 1: Freshwater is _______________ which results in the passage of water into the cell. Freshwater organisms have homeostatic mechanisms to maintain water balance by the regular removal of the excess water. these include






15. 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






16. Receive less rainfall than the temperate forests - have long - cold winters - and are inhabited by single coniferous tree-the spruce -extreme northern parts of Canada and Russia






17. Gaseous CO2 enters the living world when plants use it to produce glucose via photosynthesis. The carbon atoms in CO2 are bonded to hydrogen and other carbon atoms. the plant uses the glucose to make starch - proteins - and fat






18. Material is cycled and recycled betweenn organisms and their environments - passing from inorganic forms to organic forms and then back to the inorganic forms






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






20. Animals that consume primary consumers (carnivores)






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






22. Ammonia (NH3) is broken down to release free nitrogen - which returns to the beginning of the denitrifying






23. Energy is transferred from the original sources in green plants through a series o organisms with repeated stages of consumption and finally decomposition






24. Any group of similar organisms that are capable of reproducing






25. Nekton and benthos - scavengers - and predators (fiercely competitive)






26. 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






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






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






29. Animals that consume only plants or plant foods






30. Consumer organisms that are higher in hte food chain are usually larger and heavier than those further down






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






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






33. The ultimate source of energy for all organisms






34. Animals eat plants and use the digested nutrients to form carbohydrates - fats - and proteins characteristic of the species. a part of these organic compounds is used as fuel in respiration in plants and animals






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






36. Every energy transfer involves a loss of energy and each level of the food chain uses some of the energy it obtains from the food for its own metabolism and loses some additional energy in the form of heat






37. Organisms that manufacture their own food






38. Oceans connect to form one continuous body of water - which controls the earth's temperature by absorbing solar heat






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






40. Algae - sponges - clams - snails - sea urchins - starfish - and crabs






41. Animals that eat both plants and animals






42. 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






43. Animals that consume green plants (herbivores)






44. Integrated system of species that are dependent upon one another for survival






45. Defines the functional role of an organism in its ecosystem -described what the organism eats - where and how it obtains its food - what climatic factors it can tolerate and which are optimal - the nature of its parasites and predators - where and ho






46. Crawling and sessile organsms






47. Developed long legs and many are hoofed






48. 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






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






50. Adaptations for maintaining their internal osmolarity and conserving water