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Ecology and Environment

Description: This test will help the students in revising theoir topics as it covers mant important topics from the ecology.
Number of Questions: 15
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Tags: Ecosystem Energy Flow Ecologacal Succession Ecological Succession Biogeochemical Cycles Nutrient Cycling Components of Ecosystem Important Components of Ecosystem
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Which of the following is not correct about the characteristics of the ecological niche of an organism?

  1. Includes living and physical factors of a species

  2. Includes the response of the population

  3. Describes a relative position of a species

  4. The realized niche is a group of environmental and ecological conditions

  5. Includes the set of both living and non-living factors


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

The non-living, physical factor is also a part of a niche as it influences the effect of the population and how they effect the resources and its enemies.

Ecosystem functions are also called ecological processes. Which among the following statements regarding the ecosystem functions is incorrect?

  1. A stable ecosystem is one whose structure and function remains more or less similar from year to year.

  2. In an ecosystem, the frequency of the occurrence of stress may be very high.

  3. The biotic community in an ecosystem usually contains a large biomass.

  4. The functioning of the ecosystem depends on biomass of the organisms.

  5. A system with high species diversity and low dominance is more productive but unstable.


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

A system with high species diversity and low dominance is less productive but stable. A system with a low species diversity and high dominance is more productive but unstable.

The end point of succession is called climax. Which among the following is a man-generated climax?

  1. Preclimax

  2. Post climax

  3. Disclimax

  4. Catastrophic climax

  5. Edaphic climate


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

When the stable community, which is not the climatic or edaphic climax for the given site, is maintained by man or his domestic animals, it is designated as disclimax or disturbance climax or anthropogenic sub climax.

A hydrosere is a plant succession which occurs in a fresh water lake. In which of the following stages of hydrosere, the water table gets lowered?

  1. Rooted submerged stage

  2. Sedge meadow stage

  3. Woodland stage

  4. Reed swamp stage

  5. Rooted floating plants


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

The soil remains drier for most of the time of the year and becomes suitable for development of wet woodland. It is invaded by shrubs and trees such as willow, alders, poplus. These plants react upon the habitat by producing shade, lowering the water table by transpiration, building up the soil and accumulation of humus with associated microorganisms.

To convert the atmospheric nitrogen into usable nitrogen, five steps are involved. The two prominent bacteria namely Pseudomonas and Clostridium are responsible for _________________.

  1. nitrogen fixation

  2. nitrification

  3. assimilation

  4. ammonification

  5. denitrification


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

When the ammonia is converted back into inert nitrogen, the process is called as denitrification. Bacteria are involved in this process which takes place in anaerobic conditions. Pseudomonas and Clostridium are responsible for the step of denitrification.  

Which among the following types of succession is a kind of self destruction being triggered by the external factors?

  1. Primary succession

  2. Autotrophic succession

  3. Allogenic succession

  4. Heterotrophic succession

  5. Autogenic succession


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Autogenic succession is caused by changes in soil structure and composition.  It is commonly found where the established community in response to environmental conditions or other factors, changes its habitat, eventually destroying itself. It is a kind of self destruction which is triggered by the external factors.

Which among the following does not characterise climax community?

  1. It is a balanced ecosystem.

  2. The individual organisms in the climax ecosystem are replaced by other organisms of the different kind.

  3. There is a large species diversity.

  4. There is an equilibrium between the nutrients intake and the return of the nutrients to the soil.

  5. The life here indicates the climatic type.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The individual organisms in the climax ecosystem are replaced by other organisms of the same kind. Thus, maintaining species equilibrium. The life and growth here indicates the climatic types of an area.

Which of the following statements regarding the energy flow in food chain is wrong?

  1. Energy loss in a food chain occurs in the expulsion of undigested food by excretion or regurgitation.

  2. Energy can be reused definitely, though matter circulates.

  3. With the decomposers, no energy is left for recycling.

  4. In the animals, the chemical energy is used as mechanical energy and heat.

  5. Energy is absorbed into the secondary consumers through the process of digestion.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

Energy cannot be reused indefinitely, though matter circulates. Energy from the sun or the solar energy is converted by the photosynthetic producers into chemical energy in the form of carbohydrates in plants.

Which among the following ecological relationships can be excluded from the group of symbiotic relationships?

  1. Mutualism

  2. Commensalism

  3. Predation

  4. Amensalism

  5. Parasitism


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Predation is a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation often results in the death of its prey and the eventual absorption of the prey's tissue through consumption. It is an oppositional relationship.

Regarding the trophic levels of a food web, select the statement which is incorrect.

  1. The primary predators do not feed on living creatures.

  2. The intermediate trophic levels are filled with carnivorous species like lion, tiger etc.

  3. The detritivores are considered at the zero level of the food chain.

  4. At the top level are the apex predatores.

  5. The basal species may consist of the detritivores.


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The intermediate trophic levels are filled with omnivorous species which feed on more than one trophic level and they cause the flow of energy through various food pathways from the basal species.

The relationship between a deer and a grass is of _____________.

  1. mutualism

  2. a predator and a prey

  3. a parasitic

  4. neutralism

  5. commensalism


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The relationship between a predator and its prey is perhaps one of the most evident and clearly visible in the natural world. The relationship simply means that one life form consumes another. Traditional examples of a predator and prey relationship include a fox and a rabbit or an owl and a mouse. This type of ecological relationship can also be applied to situations wherein the deer is the predator and the grass is the prey.

The competition is among one of the types of ecological relationships. Which of the following types of competition has the potential to alter populations, communities and the evolution of interacting species?

  1. Interference competition

  2. Exploitation competition

  3. Apparent competition

  4. Intraspecific competition

  5. Interspecific competition


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Interspecific competition may occur when individuals of two separate species share a limiting resource in the same area. Interspecific competition has the potential to alter populations, communities and the evolution of interacting species.

Among which of the following types of speciation, genetic drift is supposed to play a significant role?

  1. Allopatric speciation

  2. Peripatric speciation

  3. Parapatric speciation

  4. Sympatric speciation

  5. Natural speciation


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

In peripatric speciation, new species are formed in isolated, smaller peripheral populations that are prevented from exchanging genes with the main population. Genetic drift is often proposed to play a significant role in peripatric speciation.

Two competing species evolve different patterns of resource use so as to avoid competition. In which of the following types of niche differentiation, the partitioning can be on a daily scale?

  1. Conditional differentiation

  2. Morphological differentiation

  3. Spatial partitioning

  4. Resource partitioning

  5. Temporal partitioning


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Temporal resource partitioning occurs when two species eliminate direct competition by utilizing the same resource at different times. This can be on a daily scale.

Which among the following organism groups does not belong to indicator species?

  1. Stoneflies

  2. Euhrychiopsis lecontei

  3. Greasewood

  4. Lichens

  5. Mollusca


Correct Option: B
Explanation:

A keystone species is a species whose addition to or loss from an ecosystem leads to major changes in abundance or occurrence of at least one other species. One example is the herbivourous weevil Euhrychiopsis lecontei and its suggested keystone effects on aquatic plant species diversity by foraging on nuisance Eurasian Watermilfoil.

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