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[URL for this teacher resource page is: http://www.explorit.org/science/wetland.html ]
Explorit Science Center, 3141 5th Street,
Explorit's Wetlands
Quiz
1) What are wetlands?
a. habitats, b. lands that are often wet, c. homes to a
variety of animals, d. all of the above
Answer: d. Wetlands are habitats which periodically have
wet, waterlogged soils or are covered with a relatively shallow layer of water.
Wetlands are located in low-lying areas where rain and groundwater help keep
them saturated. Wetlands are home to a great variety of animals including
birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and insects.
2) Which of these is/are an example of a freshwater wetlands?
a. swamp, b. freshwater marsh, c. bog, d. all of the
above
Answer: d.
3) Are freshwater or saltwater marshes more common in the
world?
Answer: Freshwater marshes make up ~90% of
wetlands!
4) True or False? The water level of a marsh usually stays
about the same throughout the year.
Answer: False: Water levels increase during the winter
because of the rain and decrease during the summer when it is
dryer.
5) True or False? If you were to walk into a swamp, you might
drown in quicksand.
Answer: False: Quicksand does not occur in swamps. Swamps can actually have as little water as just a few inches or none at all (in the dry season).
6) True or False? A man who fell into a bog and died about
2000 years ago was found in the 1950s in an almost perfectly preserved state.
He was even still wearing his hat!
Answer: True: Decomposition occurs very slowly in many
bogs. The high acidity, cold year-round temperatures, and limited oxygen
supply, due to poor water circulation, discourage bacteria and other decomposers from breaking down material.
7) Which of these cities were built on wetlands?
a. New York, b. Chicago, c. San Francisco, d. all of the
above
Answer: c.
(Washington, D.C. and Boston were also built on wetlands.) 8) True or False? There are wetlands in Israel.
Answer: True.
9) What percentage of land do wetlands make up in the
US?
a. 5%, b. 10%, c. 25%, d. 35%
Answer: a.
10) Which two states have the most acres of wetlands?
a. California and Texas, b. Alaska and Florida, c. Arizona
and Oregon, d. Colorado and Nevada
Answer: b.
11) What percentage of the wetlands that existed 200 years ago
in what we now call California have been destroyed?
a. 20%, b. 45%, c. 75%, d. 90%
Answer: d.
12) Which two bodies of water form a watershed that
encompasses most wetlands, creeks, streams, and rivers in California?
a. Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay, b.
American River and Merced River, c. Putah Creek and Pacific Ocean, d.
Consumnes River and American River
Answer: a. The Delta and Bay drain an area of about 60,000
square miles (about 40% of California’s landscape). In 1850, there were
545,375 acres of tidal wetlands in the Delta and Bay. Today only 66,125 acres
remain.
13) Which life necessities do wetlands provide to animals?
a. food, b. water, c. shelter, d. all of the above
Answer: d.
14) Wetlands are habitats for several species of animals.
Which of the following could also be considered a habitat?
a. a pond, b. the soil, c. a tree, d. all of the above
Answer: d. Habitats provide shelter and food to the live
organisms that live there. Animals and/or vegetation live in ponds, the soil
and trees.
15) Which three animals might be found in a wetland?
a. beaver, duck, crab, b. snail, frog, dinosaur, c. deer,
giraffe, mosquito, d. muskrat, spider, llama
Answer: a.
16) Which of these is NOT an endangered animal that lives in
wetlands?
a. clapper rail, b. American crocodile, c. salt marsh
harvest mouse, d. red snapper
Answer: d. Wetlands are home to one third of the United
States’ endangered or threatened animals, including the California clapper rail, elderberry longhorn beetle, tiger salamander, and conservancy fairy
shrimp.
17) True or False? About 43% of endangered and threatened
animals and plants in the US depend on wetlands in some way.
Answer: True: Wetlands are home to one third of the United States’ endangered or threatened animals, including the California clapper rail, American crocodile and salt marsh harvest mouse.
18) True or False? Most of the snakes that live in swamps are
poisonous.
Answer: False
19) True or False? During migration, birds like to
“refuel” at wetlands while on their trek to their summer or winter homes.
Answer: True: The type of birds present at a wetland vary
from season to season due to their migratory patterns.
20) True or False? There are more live organisms in a healthy
wetland than there are in almost any other kind of habitat.
Answer: True: There is more life acre for acre in a wetlands than in almost any other kind of habitat. Wetlands support huge numbers of insects, fish, birds, mammals and plants..
21) True or False? Approx. 66 percent of the commercial fish catch taken along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts in the US depend on wetlands for survival.
Answer: True
22) Which category of life form is NOT a part of the basic
food chain?
a. producers, b. recyclers, c. consumers, d. decomposers
Answer: b. Producers, consumers, and decomposers all exist
in different habitats, including wetlands. A producer is an organism in the
food chain that can use non-living matter to produce food (e.g. trees and
aquatic plants). A consumer is an animal that is not able to produce its own
food and must eat other organisms (e.g. birds, fish, and insects). A decomposer
is an organism that decomposes dead animals and plants (e.g. bacteria and
fungi).
23) True or False? A change in one strand of the food chain
of life does not affect the rest of the chain.
Answer: False: When a strand of the food chain is changed
it affects the entire chain. For example, if animal B goes extinct, then animal
A may starve and the animal C population will begin to grow and grow until they eventually run out of resources such as food and shelter. (A ---eats---> B---eats---> C)
24) What is a crop that is sometimes grown in wetlands?
a. wild rice, b. mint, c. cranberries, d. all of the above
Answer: d. One of the many reasons wetlands are important
to humans is because they can be used to produce food items like rice, mint, and cranberries.
25) What animals could you find at the Davis Wetlands?
a. otter, b. blue heron, c. pheasant, d. all of the above
Answer: d. Otters, blue herons and pheasants all make the
Davis Wetlands their home. Other animals that can be found at the Davis Wetlands are cackling geese, mallard ducks, ruddy ducks, raccoons, jackrabbits and owls, to name a few.
26) How many acres of permanent wetlands do the Davis Wetlands have?
a. 10, b. 55, c. 90, d. 220
Answer: d. There are 220 acres of permanent wetlands at the
Davis Wetlands. Designed in 1988, the Davis Wetlands also have 2 lagoons and 7 tracts that hold about 430 million gallons of water, 44 acres of seasonal
wetlands, 26 acres of riparian woodlands, and 108 acres of grassland/upland
habitat.
27) Which activity can you participate in while visiting the
Davis Wetlands?
a. bird watching, b. hiking, c. educational activities, d.
all of the above
Answer: d. The Davis Wetlands are open to the public for
free from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily. To find out more about the Davis Wetlands
visit their web site: www.city.davis.ca.us/city/pworks
28) How are wetlands important to people and to
wildlife?
a. they filter and clean water, b. they kill all vegetation
in the area, c. wetlands are NOT important to people or to wildlife, d. all of
the above
Answer: a. Wetlands filter out pollutants from the water so
it can get recycled and reused.
29) What is a way people harm wetlands?
a. dump their garbage in wetlands, b. drain them of their
water, c. fill wetlands, d. all of the above.
Answer: d. Wetlands are often drained or filled for
agricultural use or for the construction of buildings. When people damage
wetlands, either by polluting them or destroying them, they also remove the
habitat that plants and animals depend on.
30) True or False? It is impossible for a person to build an
artificial wetlands that can help filter pollution.
Answer: False: Artificial wetlands that can filter waste
water are already in the operational stage. Scientists feel that we will
eventually be able to use specially designed wetlands as large scale wastewater
treatment areas that filter pollution more efficiently and cheaply than
traditional methods.
31) What are ways that people can help protect and preserve
wetlands?
a. recycle, b. cut six pack rings, c. volunteer to build
trails, d. all of the above.
Answer: d. There are several things that you can do to help
protect local wetlands. Recycling whenever possible reduces the amount of waste that could end up in a wetland. Cutting up six-pack rings before throwing them away assures that birds and animals will not get their necks caught in the rings. The Davis Wetlands has several volunteer opportunities. You can help build trails or clean up the garbage at the Wetlands. Visit their web site for more information: www.city.davis.ca.us/city/pworks
The Wetlands program and quiz have been made possible by funding from the Sacramento River Watershed Program, Watershed Education Project and the City of Davis.
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