Agricultural Ecology Test

Name: ______Score:______/100

Multiple Choice: Choose the letter that best answers the question of completes the statement.

  1. All the biotic and abiotic factors in a pond form a (an) :
  2. Biosphere
  3. Ecosystem
  4. Community
  5. Niche
  1. A relationship in which one organism is helped and another organism is neither helped nor hurt is called:
  2. Mutualism
  3. Parasitism
  4. Competition
  5. Commensalisms
  1. A form of symbiosis in which both organisms benefit is called
  2. Mutualism
  3. Parasitism
  4. Commensalisms
  5. Predation
  1. A type of symbiosis in which one organism benefits and the other is harmed is called:
  2. Mutualism
  3. Parasitism
  4. Commensalism
  5. Succession
  1. All life on Earth exists in a region known as:
  2. An ecosystem
  3. A biome
  4. A Biosphere
  5. Ecology
  1. Groups of different species that live together in a defined area make up a(an):
  2. Population
  3. Community
  4. Ecosystem
  5. Biosphere
  1. In the nitrogen cycle, bacteria that live on the roots of plants:
  2. Break down nitrogen compounds into nitrogen gas.
  3. Denitrify nitrogen compounds.
  4. Change nitrogen gas into plant proteins
  5. Change nitrogen gas into ammonia.
  1. When an ecosystem is limited by a single nutrient that either is scarce or cycles very slowly, this substance is called a (an):
  2. Nitrogen compound
  3. Organic phosphate
  4. Biogeochemical cycle
  5. Limiting nutrient

Short Answer: Using complete sentences answer the following questions:

  1. What is the definition of ecology?
  1. Name the different levels of organization within the biosphere, from smallest to largest.
  1. List two ways in which water enters the atmosphere in the water cycle.
  1. What are some similarities between the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle?
  1. What is meant by “nutrient limitation”?
  1. What is a biome?

Essay Questions

  1. Water is a vital commodity. What are several ways in which you can see water being wasted in your community? Can you offer some suggestions that will help limit the amount of wasted water? Can water consumption be reduced without a change in lifestyle?
  1. Native Americans taught European settlers to bury pieces of fish with the seeds of corn they planted. Why might this practice ensure a good harvest?
  1. As cattle graze in the grasslands of East Africa, they stir up insects living in the grass. Birds known as cattle egrets eat insects and capture more food when they hunt near the cattle than when they hunt on their own. Design an experiment that would determine if the relationship between cattle and egrets is one of mutualism,, parasitism, or commensalisms.
  1. The cowbird lays its eggs in other bird’s nests. When the cowbird egg hatches the parents feed the young cowbird along with their own young, which the cowbird then pushes out of the nest. Is this an example of mutualism, parasitism or commensalism? Explain.
  1. How are predation and parasitism similar? How are they different?