Unit 1: The Living World - Ecosystems
Unit 2: The Living World - Biodiversity
Unit 3: Populations
Unit 4: Earth Systems and Resources
Unit 5: Land and Water Use
100
A tropical rainforest and an estuary both have very high net primary productivity, but for different reasons.This abiotic factor most limits primary productivity in the open ocean, despite having ample sunlight.
What is nutrient availability?
100
This measure of biodiversity describes the relative proportion of individuals among species in an ecosystem, rather than simply counting how many species are present.
What is species evenness?
100
This survivorship curve is most commonly associated with r-selected species that produce many offspring with little parental care.
What is Type III survivorship?
100
This type of plate boundary is responsible for seafloor spreading and the creation of new oceanic crust.
What is a divergent boundary?
100
A shared fishery collapses because individual fishers harvest as much as possible for short-term profit, even though this depletes the resource for everyone. This phenomenon is known as this.
What is the tragedy of the commons?
200
This ecological rule explains why a tertiary consumer receives far less usable energy than a primary consumer, even if both are part of the same food web.
What is the 10% rule (ecological efficiency)?
200
According to island biogeography theory, an island located close to the mainland and large in size will generally have this compared to a small, isolated island.
What is higher species richness (or greater biodiversity)?
200
his age structure diagram indicates a population experiencing this type of population trend.
What is rapid population growth?
200
Compared to sandy soils, clay-rich soils typically retain more nutrient cations such as calcium and potassium because they have a higher this soil property.
What is cation exchange capacity (CEC)?
200
The Green Revolution dramatically increased crop yields through mechanization, irrigation, synthetic fertilizers, and improved crop varieties, but also increased dependence on this major energy source.
What are fossil fuels?
300
A farmer applies a large amount of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to a cornfield. Several months later, nearby aquatic ecosystems experience algal blooms. Name the part of the water cycle that most directly moved nitrogen from the field into the water.
What is runoff (or leaching)?
300
A cheetah population experiences a severe population bottleneck after a disease outbreak. Even if the population size later recovers, this type of biodiversity will remain reduced.
What is genetic diversity?
300
Unlike the J-shaped curve, the S-shaped curve levels off because the population has reached this ecological limit.
What is carrying capacity?
300
Applying fertilizer uphill from a river increases the risk of eutrophication because precipitation transports nutrients through this land area.
What is a watershed?
300
This irrigation method has the highest water-use efficiency because it delivers water directly to plant roots while minimizing evaporation.
What is drip irrigation?
400
Unlike carbon, this major nutrient cycle lacks a significant atmospheric reservoir, causing it to move more slowly through ecosystems and often become a limiting factor in aquatic productivity.
What is the phosphorus cycle?
400
A coastal mangrove forest reduces storm surge damage, stores carbon, and improves local air quality. These environmental benefits are mainly classified as this category of ecosystem service.
What are regulating ecosystem services?
400
A country in Stage 2 of the demographic transition experiences rapid population growth primarily because of this demographic change.
What is declining death rates while birth rates remain high (due to increased access healthcare, sanitation, clean water, etc.)?
400
A coastal mountain range causes one side to be wet and forested while the inland side is dry and arid because moist air rises, cools, condenses, and then descends warmer and drier. This phenomenon is called this.
What is the rain shadow effect?
400
A pesticide initially kills nearly all target insects, but after repeated applications, the population rebounds and becomes difficult to control because resistant individuals survived and reproduced. This process is known as this.
What is pesticide resistance (natural selection)?
500
An invasive predator is introduced into an island ecosystem and causes a sharp decline in a native herbivore population. As a result, producer biomass increases dramatically. This ecological phenomenon, in which changes at one trophic level affect other trophic levels, is called this.
What is a trophic cascade?
500
Following a wildfire, grasses colonize first, followed by shrubs, then trees. Over time, biomass, species richness, and habitat complexity increase. This ecological process is known as this.
What is secondary succession?
500
A species reaches reproductive maturity in a few weeks, produces hundreds of offspring, provides no parental care, and thrives in disturbed habitats. This reproductive strategy is best described as this.
What is r-selected?
500
During this Pacific climate event, weakened trade winds allow warm surface water to move eastward toward South America, often increasing rainfall in the southern U.S. while reducing coastal upwelling off Peru.
What is El Niño?
500
A salmon aquaculture facility raises thousands of fish in crowded net pens near the ocean coast. Critics argue this practice can increase disease transmission to wild fish populations, concentrate waste in surrounding waters, and require large amounts of feed made from wild-caught fish. This food production method is known as this.
What is aquaculture?