Ecology questions

By Interwoven Maths

Ecology question collection

Review Ecology questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across communities and ecosystems; sampling methods; biodiversity and human impacts.

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Question 1

What is meant by a community in ecology?
  1. All populations living together in a habitat
  2. All abiotic factors in one ecosystem
  3. All individuals of one species
  4. All decomposers in a food web

Question 2

Which is a biotic factor in an ecosystem?
  1. Competition for food
  2. Light intensity
  3. Soil pH
  4. Temperature

Question 3

Which is an abiotic factor in an ecosystem?
  1. Moisture level
  2. Predation
  3. Disease-causing microorganisms
  4. Availability of prey species

Question 4

What do decomposer microorganisms do?
  1. Break down dead material and waste, releasing mineral ions
  2. Use light to build biomass from carbon dioxide
  3. Feed on living prey and transfer biomass
  4. Release nitrogen gas by breaking down nitrates

Question 5

About what percentage of biomass passes to the next trophic level?
  1. Around \(10\%\)
  2. Around \(1\%\)
  3. Around \(50\%\)
  4. Around \(90\%\)

Question 6

What is a transect used for in ecology?
  1. To study how organisms change across a habitat gradient
  2. To identify blood groups in a population
  3. To separate biotic and abiotic factors chemically
  4. To measure oxygen uptake in athletes

Question 7

Decay by microorganisms is generally fastest in which conditions?
  1. Warm, moist and aerobic
  2. Cold, dry and anaerobic
  3. Cold, moist and acidic
  4. Warm, dry and no oxygen

Question 8

In composting, which organisms mainly carry out decomposition?
  1. Bacteria and fungi
  2. Red blood cells
  3. Viruses
  4. Root hair cells

Question 9

Which gas produced by decomposition in landfill contributes to global warming?
  1. Methane
  2. Nitrogen
  3. Hydrogen
  4. Oxygen

Question 10

What often triggers eutrophication in freshwater?
  1. Nitrate and phosphate ions
  2. Dissolved oxygen
  3. Glucose and amino acids
  4. Carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide

Question 11

How can deforestation reduce biodiversity?
  1. It removes habitats and food sources for many species
  2. New forest edges replace the niches that were lost
  3. Separating populations increases gene flow between them
  4. A crop monoculture provides a wider range of habitats

Question 12

Which method helps conserve biodiversity?
  1. Maintaining seed banks and breeding programmes
  2. Clearing old forests for monoculture farming
  3. Releasing untreated sewage into rivers
  4. Increasing landfill use instead of recycling

Question 13

Why is maintaining high biodiversity often linked to ecosystem stability?
  1. Ecological roles are shared among more species
  2. Competition between species disappears
  3. Populations stop changing in size
  4. Abiotic factors no longer affect the community

Question 14

Why is fish stock management needed in some seas?
  1. To prevent overfishing and allow populations to recover
  2. To eliminate predator species
  3. To raise ocean temperature for faster growth
  4. To increase eutrophication for plankton blooms

Question 15

Which method records abundance in strips across a habitat gradient?
  1. Belt transect
  2. Line transect
  3. Random quadrat sample
  4. Mark-release-recapture

Question 16

What is biomass?
  1. The mass of living material
  2. The number of species
  3. The energy in sunlight
  4. The mass of soil

Question 17

Photosynthesis removes a gas that respiration returns. Which cycle?
  1. The carbon cycle
  2. The nitrogen cycle
  3. The water cycle
  4. The rock cycle

Question 18

What is eutrophication?
  1. Nutrient enrichment causing algal growth and oxygen loss
  2. Toxin build-up at higher trophic levels
  3. Water acidification by dissolved gases
  4. Sediment build-up that makes a river shallower

Question 19

What do decomposers release from dead material for plants to absorb?
  1. Mineral ions
  2. Whole protein molecules
  3. Insoluble starch grains
  4. Atmospheric nitrogen gas

Question 20

What is an indicator species?
  1. A species whose presence gives information about conditions
  2. A species used to treat a disease
  3. A species at the top of every food chain
  4. A species produced by genetic engineering

Question 21

Which action helps conserve peat bogs?
  1. Avoid drainage and reduce peat extraction
  2. Drain channels to increase oxygen in the peat
  3. Remove peat and replace it with garden compost
  4. Plant fast-growing trees across the bog

Question 22

What is an organism that lives in very extreme conditions called?
  1. An extremophile
  2. A producer
  3. A decomposer
  4. A consumer

Question 23

Which fungus is grown to produce mycoprotein?
  1. Fusarium
  2. Penicillium
  3. Yeast
  4. Rhizopus

Question 24

Which change can alter where a species is found?
  1. Temperature rising
  2. Its name changing
  3. Its class changing
  4. Its genome shrinking

Question 25

Why are some farm animals kept in small indoor pens?
  1. To reduce energy lost moving
  2. To increase their variation
  3. To speed up their breathing
  4. To lower their food intake

Question 26

Which factor threatens food security?
  1. A rising human population
  2. A falling human population
  3. Improved crop yields
  4. Better food storage

Question 27

Which gas contributes most to the enhanced greenhouse effect?
  1. Carbon dioxide
  2. Nitrogen gas
  3. Oxygen gas
  4. Argon gas

Question 28

What does an arrow in a food chain show?
  1. The direction energy flows
  2. Which animal is eaten
  3. Which animal is fastest
  4. Where the animals live

Question 29

Which organisms turn nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds?
  1. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria
  2. Decomposers
  3. Nitrifying bacteria
  4. Denitrifying bacteria

Question 30

In a pyramid of biomass, what does the width of each bar show?
  1. The biomass at that level
  2. The number of organisms
  3. The energy lost as heat
  4. The size of each organism

Question 31

Which trophic level number is given to producers?
  1. Level 1
  2. Level 2
  3. Level 3
  4. Level 0

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Review Ecology questions for Biology, with correct answers shown and coverage across communities and ecosystems; sampling methods; biodiversity and human impacts.

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