Name _________________

Per _______ Date _______

Chapter Four: Ecosystems Populations and Succession

Indicate whether the following factors are examples of biotic potential (BP) or environmental resistance (ER).

1. ___ lack of suitable habitat 2. ___ disease

3. ___ reproductive rate 4. ___ ability to migrate

5. ___ adaptabibility 6. ___ competition

Indicate whether the following traits are characteristics of J or S population curves.

7. ___ biotic potential = environmental resistance

8. ___ biotic potential > environmental resistance

9. ___ population increases and dies off in rapid sequence

10. ___ violates the fourth principle of ecosystem sustainability

11. ___ the human population growth curve is an example

12. In which order would (trees, mosses, grasses, shrubs) appear during primary succession?

13. In which order would the following plant communities appear during secondary succession (grasses, pines, herbaceous plants, deciduous trees)?

14. Differentiate between primary and secondary succession:

15. What role does fire play in ecosystem maintenance?

16. Describe the role and provide an example of territoriality and its role in habitat defense.

17. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of climax ecosystems?

a. maximum species diversity

b. a variety of dominant plant forms

c. self-perpuating

d. self-maintaining regardless of climatic, abiotic or biotic changes

Which of the following human actions will ( A) and will not (B) cause upsets of natural ecosystems?

18. ___ increasing population size

19. ___ decreasing the producer populations

20. ___ resource partitioning

21. ___ introducing species from one ecosystem to another

22. ___ eliminating natural predators

23. ___ controlled burns in forests

24. ___ removal of dead litter

25. ___ removing bark beetle infestations