Download Chapter 37 The Biosphere and Animal Distribution

Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
Chapter 15
The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The relatively thin layer on the earth's surface where life is possible is known as the
a. Ecosystem
B. Biosphere
c. Biome
d. Biopreserve
e. Lithosphere
2. Conditions that make life possible on earth include
a. Water, which is essential for living cells and also provides a moderate climate
b. A suitable range of temperatures
c. A steady supply of light and heat from the sun
d. Gravity to hold the atmosphere
E. All of the choices are required conditions
3. Which is NOT a correct association of earth components and properties?
a. Hydrosphere—lakes, oceans
b. Atmosphere—oxygen—ozone screening layer
c. Lithosphere—source of mineral elements
D. Atmosphere—78% oxygen, 21% nitrogen
e. All of the choices are correct
4. The proven phenomenon where visible and U-V radiation is absorbed at the earth's surface
and re-emitted as longer infrared wavelengths that are then absorbed by water vapor, carbon
dioxide, and methane, is known as
a. The ozone layer
B. The greenhouse effect
c. Global warming
d. The Gaia hypothesis
e. The atmospheric cycle
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
5. The present concern over the apparent increase in the temperature of the biosphere is a
"greenhouse effect" caused primarily by the
a. Decrease in the human population on earth
B. Increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels
c. Increased photosynthesis from increased carbon dioxide
d. Conversion of grasslands to farmlands
e. Increases in the tropical forest biome
6. A terrestrial environment represented by a major biotic unit consisting of a characteristic
and easily recognized variety of plant life is called
a. A zoogeographical realm
b. An ecocline
c. An ecosphere
D. A biome
e. None of the choices are correct
7. Which is a correct description of the air circulation patterns of the earth?
a. Warm air rises at the equator and moves all the way to the poles where it cools and sinks
B. In the Northern Hemisphere, the surface air moving northeast from 30 to 60 degrees is
moist and encounters cold air moving south to form a stormy region
c. Air evaporating at the equator is dry and therefore causes deserts when it sinks at 30
degrees north
d. The polar cells are cold and cause rainfall as they descend to the equator
e. The Coriolis effect deflects moving air to the left in the northern hemisphere
8. A characteristic of temperate deciduous forest is
a. The presence of such trees as pine, fir, spruce, and cedar
B. That the trees shed their leaves and become dormant during the winter
c. That the rainfall is low
d. That the forest floor has very little litter to serve as habitat for animals
e. All of the choices are correct
9. As the latitude increases, which biome sequence would you generally expect?
a. Tundra, coniferous forest, deciduous forest, tropical forest
b. Tundra, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tropical forest
C. Tropical forest, deciduous forest, coniferous forest, tundra
d. Tropical forest, coniferous forest, deciduous forest, tundra
e. Tropical forest, deciduous forest, tundra, coniferous forest
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
10. A characteristic of a tropical forest is that
a. There is much vegetation but relatively few species of plants and animals are present
b. The growing season is short
c. The animals such as deer, moose, and elk are common
D. The soil rapidly deteriorates when the forest is removed
e. All of the choices are correct
11. Which of the following communities has the highest agricultural productivity?
A. Prairie grassland
b. Temperate deciduous forest
c. Tropical rain forest
d. Tundra
e. Tropical rain forest and estuaries
12. Tundra is
a. An area of high precipitation and high humidity
b. A mixed forest composed of evergreen and deciduous tees
C. The treeless Arctic regions and high mountain tops
d. Composed of very little plant life and no animal life
e. None of the choices are correct
13. Grasslands do NOT have trees because
a. They are next to deserts
b. The soil is poor
C. Of the limited rainfall
d. There is too much snow in winter
e. There is too much sunlight in summer
14. The biome that contains the greatest variety of plants and animals is the
a. Grassland
b. Deciduous forest
c. Tundra
D. Tropical forest
e. Coniferous forest
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
15. About how much of the earth's water supply is freshwater, including ice caps, rivers,
freshwater lakes, etc.
a. 25%
b. 10%
C. 2.5%
d. 0.25%
e. 0.0025%
16. A rainbow trout requires high-oxygen, bubbly streams that are
a. Benthic
b. Pelagic
C. Lotic
d. Lentic
e. Estuarine
17. Lake Baikal in southern Siberia is unique as a lake because it is
A. Very old
b. Lentic
c. Lotic
d. Salty
e. An upwelling
18. Which of the following benthic areas is deepest?
a. Continental margins
b. Continental shelf
c. Continental slope
D. Abyssal plain
e. Continental rise
19. Which of the following ocean zones is exposed to air during low tide?
A. Intertidal
b. Pelagic
c. Upwelling
d. Bathypelagic
e. None of the choices are correct
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
20. What causes the geographic distribution of animals?
a. Extinction
b. Geological changes
c. Migration
d. Climate change
E. All of the choices contribute to zoogeography
21. Vicariance is a method of animal distribution that
a. Involves active movement on the part of the animals
B. Could result in allopatric speciation
c. Fully explains how animals have become distributed as they are today
d. Is referred to as continental drift
e. None of the choices are correct
22. Which is NOT correct concerning animal dispersal?
a. Emigration involves leaving an area
b. Immigration entails coming into a new area
c. Animals would move northward into favorable territory as a glacier retreated
D. Animal reproduction is slow and there is constant outside pressure from others to
immigrate
e. Knowing the routes of dispersal is critical to understanding disjunct distributions
23. To trace distribution by dispersal, a researcher must first establish the
a. Rate of dispersal
b. Mode of dispersal
C. Center of origin
d. Reason for dispersal
e. Speciation event
24. Which of the following would NOT be a vicariance event?
a. A family of rats jumps ship on a new island
b. The ancestral Darwin finch is blown to the Galapagos Islands
c. Salamander populations are split by a glacier in the last ice age
d. Australia drifts away before placental mammals arise
E. All of the choices would be vicariance events
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
25. A family tree based on known vicariant events would be called a
a. Vicariant phylogeny
b. Dispersal map
c. Evolutionary template
D. General area cladogram
e. None of the choices are correct
26. It is thought that the northern landmass that resulted from the division of Pangaea
fragmented and gave rise to
A. North America, most of Eurasia, and Greenland
b. North America and Central and South America
c. Eurasia, Africa, and Australia
d. South America, Antarctica, and Australia
e. All of the choices are correct
27. The theory of continental drift is supported by
a. Similarity of fossils in Africa and South America
b. Paleomagnetic surveys
c. Mid-ocean ridges that are spreading between Africa and South America
d. The fit of the continental shelves of South America and Africa, among others
E. All of the choices fit with continental drift theory
28. Why does continental drift theory not help explain the distribution of placental mammals?
a. Placental mammals were agile enough to cross all continental barriers
B. Placental mammals evolved after the breakup of the major plates
c. Their fossils were subject to more deformation
d. We just haven't located enough fossils of them
e. None of the choices are correct
29. When a land bridge was reestablished between North and South America at the end of the
Pliocene, what happened?
a. Nothing happened because the major mammal groups had not evolved differently since the
previous connection had been broken
b. Only the porcupine, armadillo, and opossum invaded from the south and survived
c. Both continents immediately dropped in diversity
d. Many hoofed animals moved north and displaced North American fauna
E. There was an enormous exchange of species in both directions
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Chapter 15 - The Biosphere and Animal Distribution
30. A species of cactus is endemic ("native") to North America. It was introduced to Australia
and soon spread across much grazing land, removing it from production. U.S. entomologists
sent down a moth also found only in North America, whose larvae fed voraciously on cactus.
Within a few years, the cactus population in Australia crashed to zero and both the cactus and
moth were eliminated from Australia. But the same species of cactus and moth continue to
coexist in North America as stable populations. The most likely explanation for the different
fate in Australia is
a. A well-evolved host-parasite relationship does not seriously damage the host
B. The moth population in the U.S. was probably controlled by U.S. parasites, but was no
longer suppressed when introduced into Australia without its natural parasites
c. The moth was more tolerant of Australian climatic factors
d. The cactus was probably limited by the nutrients present in Australia soils
e. None of the choices are correct
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