Environmental Science Test 5A
 
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Environmental Science Test 5A

Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
 

 1. 

Which of the following statements is not correct?
a.
Plants and other producers get their energy directly from the sun.
b.
Animals get their energy from the sun indirectly.
c.
Bacteria that live deep in the ocean get their energy from hydrogen sulfide in hot water.
d.
Consumers get their energy directly from the sun.
 

 2. 

Which kind of organism obtains energy only from producers?
a.
decomposers
c.
omnivores
b.
herbivores
d.
All of the above
 

 3. 

If an insect eats a plant and a bird eats the insect, about how much energy from the plant is stored in the insect for the bird to use?
a.
90 percent
c.
10 percent
b.
50 percent
d.
1 percent
 

 4. 

Which of the following does not contain carbon from the bodies of plants and animals that died millions of years ago?
a.
coal
c.
natural gas
b.
oil
d.
phosphate salts
 

 5. 

Which gas makes up 78 percent of our atmosphere but can be used by plants only when transformed by bacteria first?
a.
nitrogen
c.
hydrogen
b.
oxygen
d.
carbon dioxide
 

 6. 

Which of the following plants is likely to be a pioneer species?
a.
lichen
c.
shrub
b.
grass
d.
oak tree
 

 7. 

What kind of natural disaster helps some forest communities by allowing some trees to release their seeds, by clearing away deadwood, and by encouraging new growth?
a.
fire
c.
windstorm
b.
flood
d.
drought
 

 8. 

Where would an ecologist be least likely to go to study primary succession?
a.
a new island formed by a volcanic eruption
b.
a gravel-filled valley that had been covered by a glacier until recently
c.
a locked, abandoned asphalt parking lot in New York City
d.
the Amazon Rain Forest
 

 9. 

Which statement describes how humans are affecting the balance of carbon in the atmosphere?
a.
Fewer agricultural crops are planted, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
b.
Burning fossil fuels in great quantities has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
c.
Overgrazing of grasslands has reduced the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
d.
Severe drought in large areas of the world has decreased the amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.
 

 10. 

Which of the following is not a true statement about cellular respiration?
a.
It is essentially photosynthesis in reverse.
b.
Oxygen is one of the primary reactants.
c.
It produces energy for organisms to use.
d.
Sugar molecules are its primary products.
 

 11. 

Which of the following are photosynthetic organisms?
a.
fungal decomposers
c.
freshwater algae
b.
deeply buried soil bacteria
d.
intestinal bacteria
 

 12. 

Consumers are organisms that
a.
eat only other animal species.
b.
get their energy by eating other organisms.
c.
are also known as self-feeders.
d.
occupy an ecosystem’s lowest energy level.
 

 13. 

The energy consumed by organisms
a.
can be stored in fat and sugar molecules.
b.
remains constant at all trophic levels.
c.
undergoes magnification in food chains.
d.
is not partially lost during digestion.
 

 14. 

Plants play a crucial role in the carbon cycle because they
a.
do not release carbon dioxide during cellular respiration.
b.
allow carbon to enter an ecosystem through photosynthesis.
c.
have special bacteria that live in their root systems.
d.
are chemically converted into fossil fuels when burned.
 

 15. 

The bacteria that live within the roots of a soybean plant are a critical part of the nitrogen cycle because they
a.
provide the plant with sugars needed for growth.
b.
transform nitrates into nitrogen gas for release.
c.
change atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form for other organisms.
d.
release nitrogen by decomposing dead plant parts.
 

 16. 

Succession is possible because
a.
climates change over time.
b.
it is a rapid and chaotic process that is very difficult to control.
c.
existing plants reproduce quickly.
d.
ecosystems are disrupted by natural or human-caused events..
 

 17. 

Which of the following is an example of secondary succession?
a.
breaking down of bare rock by fungi and mosses
b.
pioneer plants begin to grow after glacial melting
c.
growth of plants after a forest is destroyed by fire
d.
appearance of weeds in cracks in a concrete surface
 

 18. 

Which of the following is not a likely component of soil formed during primary succession?
a.
cast-off parts of shrubs and trees
c.
dust particles from the air
b.
decayed lichens and bacteria
d.
broken bits of stone and rock
 

 19. 

Which organism is likely to be in the bottom trophic level of a food chain?
a.
leopard seal
c.
krill
b.
algae
d.
killer whale
 

 20. 

What term is used to refer to the many feeding relationships that are possible in an ecosystem?
a.
food web
c.
energy pyramid
b.
food chain
d.
energy transfer
 

 21. 

Which of the following is responsible for making nitrogen in the atmosphere usable by living organisms?
a.
absorption of nitrogen in rain
b.
conversion of nitrogen into carbohydrates by photosynthesis
c.
nitrogen-fixing bacteria
d.
decomposing bacteria
 

 22. 

Which item is a carbon sink and not part of the carbon cycle?
a.
carbon in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide
b.
consumers breaking down carbohydrates into carbon dioxide during respiration
c.
carbon found within limestone rocks
d.
carbon dioxide being converted into carbohydrates during photosynthesis
 

 23. 

What type of vegetation would you expect to find on an abandoned farm that has remained undisturbed for 150 years?
a.
short grasses
c.
young pine trees
b.
shrubs
d.
tall, mature oak trees
 

 24. 

What type of succession occurs after a natural process such as a flood?
a.
primary succession
c.
old-field succession
b.
secondary succession
d.
climax community
 

 25. 

Which of the following is one of the largest carbon reservoirs on Earth?
a.
limestone
c.
Amazon rain forest
b.
fossil fuels
d.
Atlantic Ocean
 

Completion
Complete each statement.
 

 26. 

A process in which energy from the sun is used to make sugar molecules is called _________________________.
 

 

 27. 

Organisms that get their food by breaking down dead organisms are called ____________________.
 

 

 28. 

Horses and cattle are ____________________ because they eat only plants.
 

 

 29. 

A lion is an example of a group of consumers called ____________________.
 

 

 30. 

Bacteria and fungi are examples of a group of consumers called ____________________.
 

 



 
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