Chapter 2 Chapter Quiz

What Is Biodiversity?

. A researcher wishes to distinguish a species of birds. The birds have specific black and yellow markings, and can occasionally produce hybrids by interbreeding with a species that has similar, but distinct, coloration. Their DNA has not been tested. The species definition that would be most appropriate for this bird species is _______ species.

. A group of conservation biologists wish to develop a plan to preserve an endangered species of salamander, but it is difficult to determine exactly which salamanders belong to that species. A nearby species looks very similar, and it is impossible to do DNA tests in the field. Thus, it is difficult to develop a useful conservation plan. To avoid most of these difficulties, the scientists should probably define the species using which approach?

. Scientists are measuring the species richness of frog populations over large regions to help document the rate of amphibian decline over the past 50 years. Measurements are being carried out through a citizen science project, in which individuals tabulate species in their own area and a central researcher collects and summarizes the data. The data collected by one citizen scientist at one pond in the region would be an example of _______ diversity.

. The Shannon diversity index is shown.
 

 
It categorizes according to both the number of species present and the proportion of each species. The following table indicates the species and proportions found in site I. Site II has the same four species, but they are present in equal numbers (4 of each species).
 

 
What is the Shannon diversity index of site I, and does it have a higher or lower diversity than site II?

. A population of turtles on an island is very small, and seems likely to die out. If this happens, it will most likely be because

. An ecologist wishes to determine if an endangered species of fish is present in any or all of the streams of a particular region. He could make this determination most efficiently by

. In a farm food web, rabbits and grasshoppers eat grass. Mice, grasshoppers, and small birds eat grains. Owls eat mice and grasshoppers. Foxes eat rabbits. Earthworms and beetles eat decomposing grass, grains, rabbits, grasshoppers, and mice after their deaths. The organisms in this food web that occupy the secondary consumer trophic level are

. Sea otters on the West Coast were hunted for their fur, and their populations plummeted. Populations of the sea urchins on which they fed then exploded, and the sea urchins overgrazed kelp, the large algae on which they fed. The offshore kelp forests mostly disappeared, as did the other species that ate or lived in kelp. In this description, which species served as a keystone species?

. The two pie charts represent two different estimates for global diversity. Chart A assumes that most organisms on Earth are animals, with most animals being insects. Chart B assumes that most organisms are bacteria, based on the assumption that each known species has at least 10 unique bacterial symbionts.
 

 
Which reason (if true) would provide the best argument for choosing chart A over chart B as the correct estimate?

. In which of these areas would one expect to find communities with the highest biodiversity?

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