ET Food chains and food webs 4/2/24

The populations of which organisms will most likely increase as a result of a disease that suddenly reduced the population of Texas horned lizards?

• Grasses and ants

• Ants and grasshoppers

• Grasshoppers and Texas Cottonmouths

• Texas cottonmouths and red shouldered hawks

The fox in this food web would be considered a:

• Tertiary Consumer
• Producer
• Secondary Consumer
• Primary Consumer

The number of pythons found throughout Everglades National Park has increased in recent years. These huge snakes are not native to Florida and are believed to have been released into the wild by pet owners. Wildlife biologists have initiated attempts to capture and remove these pythons. Which statement best explains the biologists’ reason for removing these pythons from the Everglades?

• The pythons could upset the territorial boundaries of native organisms.

  
  

• The pythons could adapt to overcome diseases common to native snakes.

• The pythons could prey on native organisms and cause native populations to decline.

• The pythons could begin to interbreed with native snakes and produce a more successful species.

A new species of snake was introduced to a tropical region. Scientists then noticed a steady decline in the presence of field mice and an increase in the number of snakes. Which of these is the most likely explanation about why the population size of each animal changed?

• The snakes introduced to the region dominated the habitat, forcing the mice to find another place to live.

• The mice became prey to the introduced snakes, allowing the snake population to increase but decreasing the mice population.

• The snakes introduced to the region competed with the mice for food, allowing the snake population to increase but decreasing the mice population.

• The people in the surrounding area set traps that killed the mice, allowing the snakes to live without any predators and therefore to increase in number.

Rabbits introduced into Australia over 100 years ago have become a serious pest to farmers. Rabbit populations increases so much that they displaced many native species of plant eaters. What is the most logical explanation for their increased numbers?

• Rabbits have a high death rate.

• There are few effective predators.

• Additional rabbit species have been introduced.

• There is an increase in rabbit competitors.

Scientists found, that over a period of 200 years, a mountain pond was transformed into a meadow. During that time, several communities of organisms were replaced by different communities. Which of these best explains why new communities were able to replace older communities?

• The original species became extinct.

• Species in the older community died from old age.

• The abiotic characteristics of the habitat changed.

• Diseases that killed the older organisms disappeared.