Free Forest Ecology MCQs with Answers

• A. 14%
• B. 3 - 5%
• C. 7 - 8%
• D. About 1%

Explanation: Only about 1% of incoming solar energy is converted into stored chemical energy by plants because photosynthetically active radiation is…

• A. Reaction wood formation
• B. Absence of secondary growth
• C. Absence of tylosis
• D. All of these

Explanation: Reaction wood develops in response to mechanical stress, including strong, persistent wind, and helps the stem maintain or regain its…

• A. Social and antagonistic
• B. Social and reciprocal
• C. Nutritive and antagonistic
• D. Nutritive and reciprocal

Explanation: Fungal and bacterial parasitism involves obtaining nourishment from the host while harming it, so the relationship is nutritive and…

• A. Above 32′
• B. In the hydrosphere
• C. Between 32′ - 64′ from soil level
• D. At the soil surface

Explanation: Air density is greatest at the soil surface because atmospheric pressure is highest there due to the weight of the overlying air.

• A. Commensalism
• B. Mutualism
• C. Parasitism
• D. Neutralism

Explanation: A climber uses the host mainly for physical support and normally does not obtain nutrients from it, while the host is neither…

• A. Lodging
• B. Unidirectional wind
• C. Erosion and deperition
• D. Salt spray

Explanation: Flag trees develop when persistent winds from one direction suppress branches on the windward side and produce one-sided crowns.

• A. Heliophilous
• B. Hydrophilous
• C. Pyriform
• D. Pyrophilous

Explanation: Pyrophilous plants are associated with fire or burnt ground and may colonize soil after burning.

• A. Obligate parasitism
• B. Facultative parasitism
• C. Halotism
• D. None of these

Explanation: Lichen mutualism is commonly described as helotism, in which the fungus obtains carbohydrates from the photosynthetic partner and provides…

• A. Commensalism
• B. Antibiosis
• C. Mutualism
• D. Protoco-operation

Explanation: Antibiosis is a negative interaction because one organism is harmed while the other is unaffected.

• A. Soil microflora
• B. Rhizoplane
• C. Rhizosphere
• D. All of these

Explanation: The rhizosphere is the soil zone directly influenced by plant roots and showing intense microbial activity due to root exudates.

• A. de Bary
• B. Warming
• C. Odum
• D. Mc Dougal

Explanation: Heinrich Anton de Bary proposed the term symbiosis in 1879 for the living together of unlike organisms.

• A. Culture chamber
• B. Phytotron
• C. Inoculation chamber
• D. All of these

Explanation: A phytotron is a controlled-environment facility in which plants are grown under regulated conditions such as temperature, light, humidity…

• A. Protoco-operation
• B. Predation
• C. Amensalism
• D. Parasitism

Explanation: Amensalism has the interaction pattern minus-zero: one population is harmed while the other is unaffected.

• A. No roots
• B. Longer roots system
• C. Shallow root system
• D. Aerial roots system

Explanation: Oxygen deficiency in soil restricts root respiration, so plants generally concentrate roots near the better-aerated surface and develop a…

• A. Commensalism
• B. Predation
• C. Neutralism
• D. Mutualism

Explanation: Cladophora gains a place to attach and receive support from the snail shell, while the snail is generally neither helped nor harmed.

• A. Non-obligatory commensalism
• B. Non-obligatory mutualism
• C. Facultative predation
• D. Facultative parasitism

Explanation: Protoco-operation is a facultative or non-obligatory mutualism: both populations benefit, but neither depends on the relationship for…

• A. Inorganic matter
• B. Organisms
• C. Litter
• D. All of these

Explanation: Fire readily consumes litter and kills many soil organisms, whereas inorganic mineral matter is not generally destroyed by ordinary fire.

• A. Zoophily
• B. Zoochory
• C. Mycorrhiza
• D. Epiphytism

Explanation: Epiphytism is usually commensalism because the epiphyte gains support while the plant used as a host is not significantly affected.

• A. Competition
• B. Commensalism
• C. Exploitation
• D. None of these

Explanation: When cane uses other vegetation merely as support while the supporting plants are not significantly helped or harmed, the association is…

• A. Predation
• B. Parasitism
• C. Amensalism
• D. Exploitation

Explanation: Microcystis can release substances that harm surrounding fauna while the alga is not correspondingly harmed, fitting amensalism.