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.

When population growth increases in proportion to the number of members of a population, __________ growth is said to have occurred.

a. density-dependent

b. density-independent

c. K-selected

d. arithmetical

e. exponential

K-selected species tend to (select all that apply):

a. experience their environments as unstable.

b. have stable populations.

c. have their populations limited by carrying capacity.

d. provide little care to their offspring.

e. be most affected by biological forces.