Quiz On Field Guides And Taxonomic Keys
This is a quiz for middle school science students on field guides, taxonomic keys, and how they relate to the classification of living organisms.
- 1.An "either this or that" scenario best describes
- A.
Field guides
- B.
Dichotomous keys
- C.
Classification
- D.
One of life's tough choices
- 2.In order for a field guide to work well, organisms must be identified with
- A.
Physiological features
- B.
Behavioral features
- C.
Smellable features
- D.
Observable features
- 3.The word "dichotomous" is best defined as
- A.
A certain classification of plants
- B.
Something having two possible outcomes
- C.
A field guide
- D.
An evolutionary relationship between two species
- 4.One drawback of field guides is that
- A.
They only show the evolutionary relationship between two or more organisms
- B.
They don't show the evolutionary relationship between two or more organisms
- C.
Some have drawings while others have photos
- D.
They don't say anything about where an organism can be found in the wild
- 5.In order for taxonomic keys to be effective the paired statements used must
- A.
Cover a wide variety of characteristics
- B.
Cover only one or two characteristics
- C.
Cover one characteristic at a time
- D.
Be ignored completely
- 6.Which of the following would not typically be used as a field guide?
- A.
A guide to backyard flowers
- B.
A birdwatching book
- C.
A small book on the different kinds of fish you could catch from a small lake
- D.
A key on the species of botflies that infest caribou herds in the Arctic
- 7.Dichotomous keys always begin with
- A.
A set of paired statements labeled 1a and 1b
- B.
A set of paired statements labeled 1 and 2
- C.
A set of paired statements labeled 1 through 10
- D.
A set of paired statements labeled 1a and 2a
- 8.Choose one of the following to best complete this statement: ____________ are used as a quick and easy reference whereas __________ are used to specifically identify an organism to genus and species.
- A.
Field guides, textbooks
- B.
Textbooks, taxonomic keys
- C.
Taxonomic keys, field guides
- D.
Field guides, taxonomic keys
- 9.In biology the word "field" refers to
- A.
A farmer's field
- B.
The natural environment
- C.
A forest
- D.
Well, um, a field...
- 10.When identifying a new organism while using a taxonomic key, you should
- A.
Start at the beginning each time
- B.
Pick up where you left off last time
- C.
Wait for a new copy of the key to become available
- D.
Ask someone else to do it for you
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