Which of the following has the greatest effect on the rate of chemical cycling in an ecosystem?
a. The rate of decomposition in the ecosystem
b. The production efficiency of the ecosystem's consumers
c. The trophic efficiency of the ecosystem
d. The location of the nutrient reservoirs in the ecosystem

The discipline that applies ecological principles to returning degraded ecosystems to a more natural state is known as

a. Restoration ecology

b. Thermodynamics

c. Eutrophication

d. Biogeochemistry

Which of the following would be considered an example of bioremediation?

a. Adding nitrogen-fixing microorganisms to a degraded ecosystem to increase nitrogen availability

b. Using a bulldozer to regrade a strip mine

c. Reconfiguring the channel of a river

d. Adding seeds of a chromium-accumulating plant to soil contaminated by chromium

Which of these ecosystems has the lowest net primary production per square meter?

a. A salt marsh

b. An open ocean

c. A coral reef

d. A tropical rain forest

Nitrifying bacteria participate in the nitrogen cycle mainly by

a. Converting nitrogen gas to ammonia

b. Releasing ammonium from organic compounds, thus returning it to the soil

c. Converting ammonium to nitrate, which plants absorb

d. Incorporating nitrogen into amino acids and organic compounds

If you applied a fungicide to a cornfield, what would you expect to happen to the rate of decomposition and net ecosystem production (NEP)?

a. Both decomposition rate and NEP would decrease.

b. Neither would change.

c. Decomposition rate would increase and NEP would decrease.

d. Decomposition rate would decrease and NEP would increase.

Which of the following was a result of the Hubbard Brook watershed deforestation experiment?

a. Most minerals were not recycled within the intact forest ecosystem

b. Calcium levels remained high in the soil of deforested areas

c. Deforestation decreased water runoff

d. The nitrate concentration in waters draining the deforested area became dangerously high