Test Bank to Accompany Essentials of Ecology,Begon,4e

Chapter 1 Test Bank Questions
Authored by Lee Kats and Gary Bucciarelli


Multiple Choice


1. Ecological phenomena can occur at a range of
a. Biological scales.
b. Spatial scales.
c. Temporal scales
d. All of the above
ANSWER: D
Difficulty: Easy
Bloom Code: Comprehension
Reference: Section 1.1


2. Which field of ecology studies trends and fluctuations in the
number of individuals of a particular species at a particular time
and place as a result of birth and death rates and interactions
between predators and prey?
a. Community ecology
b. Systems ecology
c. Ecosystem ecology
d. Population ecology
ANSWER: D
Difficulty: Easy
Bloom Code: Knowledge
Reference: Section 1.1

,3. One researcher studies plant cells and how these cells and plants
respond to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide. Another
researcher studies how multiple species interact and what affects
their abundances and distributions. A different researcher studies
a species’ DNA and what changes have occurred between
populations as a result of evolution. What do these researchers all
have in common?
a. They all study community ecology since each researcher is
interested in what happens within communities
b. They are all interested predator-prey interactions
c. They all study one of the many levels of biology with some
application to ecology
d. They all study organismal biology since each researcher
only studies the response of single-celled organisms
ANSWER: C
Difficulty: Medium
Bloom Code: Synthesis
Reference: Section 1.2


4. An ecologist wants to study what plants colonize a site after a
volcano has erupted. She plans to compare what plant species
were once there with what plant species begin to grow in a matter
of a few months. What term best describes the process she is
interested in studying?
a. Unnatural history experiment
b. Ecological succession
c. Organismal ecology
d. All of the above
ANSWER: B
Difficulty: Medium
Bloom Code: Application
Reference: Section 1.2

,5. Who defined ecology as “the comprehensive science of the
relationship of the organism to the environment?”
a. Ernst Haeckel
b. Charles Darwin
c. E.P. Odum
d. G.E. Likens
ANSWER: A
Difficulty: Easy
Bloom Code: Knowledge
Reference: Section 1.1


6. Pure science is:
a. The practical application of scientific data.
b. The conceptual truth proven by science.
c. An experimental, systematic approach to a scientific area of
interest.
d. Theoretical modeling to prove what will happen in an area
of interest.
ANSWER: C
Difficulty: Medium
Bloom Code: Comprehension
Reference: Section 1.1


7. If ecologists study the distribution, abundance and productivity of
mosquitoes so that they can develop pesticides or ways to
effectively manage West Nile virus, they can be considered what
type of ecologist?
a. An ecologist that focuses on pure science
b. An applied ecologist
c. An ecosystems ecologist

, d. None of the above
ANSWER: B
Difficulty: Medium
Bloom Code: Comprehension
Reference: Section 1.1


8. A researcher is studying how individual single-celled organisms
of the same species are affected by water temperature. This is an
example of studying ecology at what level?
a. Organismal
b. Population
c. Ecosystem
d. Community
ANSWER: A
Difficulty: Hard
Bloom Code: Synthesis
Reference: 1.2


9. You conduct a study and do a statistical analysis on your data.
You set your confidence level at 95%. If you ran your statistical
test and the p-value was equal to 0.035, you would conclude
what?
a. There is no association and your results are not significant.
b. You could conclude that there is an association, but your
results are not significant.
c. Your results are significant and that 95% of studies just like
yours should generate similar results
d. None of the above
ANSWER: C
Difficulty: Hard