A country whose population pyramid is widest at the bottom can expect to have ____ population growth in the near future than a country whose population pyramid is of uniform width throughout.

A country’s human population changes can be predicted by looking at its total fertility rate, informally defined as the ____. The “replacement” level for fertility in more- developed countries is ____.

A ____ is all the members of a species that live together in a defined geographical region. A ____ is all the populations of all species living in a single region. An ____ is a community of organisms and the physical environment with which they interact.

Environmental resistance can be defined as all the forces of the environment that act to ____.

Carrying capacity can be defined as the maximum ____ of a given species that a defined geographical region can____.

Does the concept of carrying capacity apply to human beings? Does the planet as a whole have a human carrying capacity, or do human beings have an infinite capacity to improve life through such means as obtaining greater crop yields and becoming more energy efficient?

A(n) _________ consists of all members of a single species that live in a defined geographic region, while a(n) __________ consists of the populations of all species that live in a defined region.

a. ecosystem; community

b. ecosystem; biosphere

c. community; ecosystem

d. population; community

e. biome; ecosystem

Is human disease a form of environmental resistance?

A community and all the nonliving elements that interact with it (sunlight, nutrients, soil, etc.) is called

a. a population group.

b. a biosphere.

c. an ecosystem.

d. a biome.

e. a social system.

Some scientists argue that no single factor poses a greater threat to the environment than the continued growth of the human population, while others believe the use of resources per person is a more critical factor. What arguments can you think of for or against either proposition?

The largest scale of life, which can be thought of as the interaction of all of Earth’s ecosystems, is called

a. the biome.

b. the ecosphere.

c. the biosphere.

d. the environment zone.

e. the ionosphere.