Unit 6: Biodiversity Studies in Botany & Zoology - Practice Quiz

1 What does the term biodiversity primarily refer to?

2 Which branch of biology deals mainly with the study of plants?

3 Which branch of biology deals mainly with the study of animals?

4 A thrust research area in a discipline generally refers to:

5 Which of the following is a key thrust area in modern plant biology research?

6 The variety of genes within a single species is called:

7 The number and variety of different species in a given area is known as:

8 Which of the following is a major thrust area in zoological biodiversity studies?

9 In situ conservation refers to conserving species:

10 Ex situ conservation involves protecting organisms:

11 Which of the following is an example of an ex situ conservation method for plants?

12 A biodiversity hotspot is a region that is:

13 Which of the following is a thrust area combining botany and biotechnology?

14 The scientific naming system giving each organism a two-part name is called:

15 Which organization publishes the Red List of threatened species?

16 A species that exists only in a particular geographic region and nowhere else is called:

17 An organism that has completely died out and no longer exists anywhere is classified as:

18 Which of the following is a major thrust research area addressing biodiversity loss worldwide?

19 The study of interactions between organisms and their environment is called:

20 A non-native species that spreads rapidly and harms local ecosystems is known as an:

21 A researcher wants to estimate plant species richness in a tropical forest plot while accounting for unseen rare species. Which biodiversity index approach is most appropriate for correcting undersampling?

22 Two forest sites have identical species richness, but Site A has one dominant tree species while Site B has evenly distributed abundances. Which index will clearly distinguish them?

23 In a mark-recapture study of a butterfly population, 80 were marked initially, and in a second capture of 100 individuals, 20 were marked. Using the Lincoln-Petersen index, the estimated population size is:

24 A botanist studying phylogenetic diversity wants a metric that reflects the total evolutionary history represented in a community. Which measure should be used?

25 A zoologist compares species composition between two habitats using the Jaccard index and gets a value of . This indicates that:

26 In DNA barcoding for plant species identification, why is the combination of rbcL and matK genes preferred over a single marker?

27 A community has a Simpson's index of dominance . What does the Simpson's index of diversity () tell us?

28 Which sampling design is most suitable for estimating tree density and basal area in a large heterogeneous forest with distinct zones?

29 A researcher plots a species accumulation curve that begins to plateau after 50 samples. The plateau indicates that:

30 In conservation prioritization, an area with many species found nowhere else on Earth is characterized by high:

31 A study reports high beta diversity between two adjacent forest patches. This means that:

32 When assessing threat status of a species, which framework provides internationally standardized categories such as 'Endangered' and 'Vulnerable'?

33 A researcher uses the point-centered quarter method in a grassland. What primary parameter is this method designed to estimate?

34 Which of the following best explains why the Shannon-Wiener index () is often preferred over simple richness in biodiversity research?

35 In a camera-trap study estimating mammal occupancy, detection probability is less than 1. Ignoring imperfect detection would most likely lead to:

36 A botanist studying invasive species impact would classify a native species that suddenly declines after an invasion as evidence of:

37 In molecular phylogenetics for zoological studies, the mitochondrial COI gene is widely used as a barcode marker mainly because it:

38 A researcher observes that removing a top predator caused a cascade of changes throughout a food web. The predator is best described as a:

39 When designing a dissertation on ethnobotany, which methodological tool is most appropriate for quantifying the cultural importance of plant species to a community?

40 A conservation study finds that a fragmented forest has smaller populations with reduced genetic variation. This condition increases the risk of:

41 A researcher computes Shannon-Wiener index () values of 3.2 for Site A and 2.1 for Site B, but Pielou's evenness () is 0.95 for Site A and 0.98 for Site B. Which interpretation is most defensible as a thrust research inference?

42 In DNA barcoding as a thrust area, why is the rbcL + matK combination preferred for plants while COI alone suffices for animals?

43 A conservation study reports a rarefaction curve for Site X that plateaus at 200 individuals, while Site Y's curve is still steeply rising at 400 individuals. What is the strongest conclusion for a thrust-area analysis?

44 When applying the IUCN Red List Criterion A (population reduction), a plant declines 45% over three generations due to a reversible and ceased cause with known mechanisms. Which category is most appropriate?

45 A phylogenetic diversity (PD) analysis shows Community P has fewer species than Community Q but higher Faith's PD. What does this most strongly imply for prioritizing conservation research?

46 Beta diversity between two zoological communities is partitioned into turnover and nestedness components. If nestedness dominates, which management strategy is best supported?

47 In a thrust study on invasive plant impact, a native community's Simpson's index () rises from 0.15 to 0.60 after invasion. How should this counterintuitive result be interpreted?

48 An eDNA metabarcoding survey detects a fish species in a river reach where no individuals are captured. What is the most rigorous conclusion for a thrust-area report?

49 A researcher uses the Chao1 estimator and finds observed richness , singletons , doubletons . The estimated richness is approximately:

50 In assessing pollinator-plant network robustness (a thrust area), a network shows high nestedness and low modularity. What does this predict about extinction cascades?

51 A population genetics thrust study finds high (0.35) but high within-population heterozygosity. What management implication follows?

52 In a functional-trait diversity study, two communities share identical species richness and Rao's Q, but differ in functional dispersion (FDis). What is the best inference?

53 A thrust-area analysis of a fragmented forest applies the species-area relationship . If area is reduced to 25% of original, and , the expected fraction of species retained is approximately:

54 When designing a herbarium-based climate-change thrust study, why can historical specimen phenology data introduce systematic bias?

55 A study of camera-trap data uses occupancy modeling rather than raw counts. What edge-case problem does occupancy modeling primarily address?

56 In a thrust study, Hill numbers () are used with , , . A community shows a steep drop from to . What does this indicate?

57 A researcher must resolve a cryptic species complex in zoology. Which integrative approach best mitigates the weaknesses of any single method?

58 In a bioprospecting thrust area, a plant extract shows strong in-vitro bioactivity but negligible in-vivo effect. What is the most likely research explanation?

59 A thrust study compares Jaccard and Bray-Curtis dissimilarity between two communities and gets very different values. What explains this discrepancy?

60 When constructing a species distribution model (SDM) as a thrust area, using only presence data with pseudo-absences risks which key inferential problem?