Answers.

A multiple choice question has a stem (the 'question'), a key (the 'answer') and a number of distracters (wrong answers intended to distract the student from the key). This part of the book contains the key to each question along with a brief explanation of why this is correct and, in some cases, what the distracters mean. The questions are grouped into 10 major topic areas: (1) The history and foundations of ecology, (2) Abiotic factors and environmental monitoring, (3) Taxonomy and biodiversity, (4) Energy flow and production ecology, (5) Nutrient and material cycles, (6) Ecophysiology, (7) Population ecology, (8) Community ecology and species interactions, (9) Ecological genetics and evolution, (10) Ecological methods and statistics.

Ecological genetics and evolution.

This chapter contains questions about the relationship between the genetics and ecology of organisms (including plants and animals), their adaptations to the environment, and their evolution.

Community ecology and species interactions.

This chapter contains questions about the structure of biological communities, their development over time, and the interactions between the species living within them, especially competition, niche separation and predation.

Ecological methods and statistics.

This chapter contains questions about the methods used by ecologists to sample and measure the biological components of ecosystems, and the statistical analysis of ecological data.