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Applied Quiz: Introduction to Native Plants and Ecology

A second set of questions on this chapter, weighted toward using the ideas rather than recalling them. Each one puts you in a situation and asks what the chapter's framework says to do.

1. A neighbor points at the daylilies along her driveway and says, "Those aren't native, so I should rip them out." Using this chapter's decision tree, what is the accurate response?

  1. She's right — any plant that arrived after 1850 harms Minnesota ecosystems
  2. Daylilies are non-native but not invasive; they stay where planted and cause no ecological harm, so removing them is a preference, not an obligation
  3. Daylilies are native to Minnesota, so the premise is wrong
  4. She should keep them because non-native plants support pollinators better than natives
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The decision tree has three outcomes, not two. Daylilies pass "introduced by humans" but fail "spreads aggressively into natural areas," which lands them in the non-native, not-harmful box alongside tomatoes and tulips. Option A collapses non-native and invasive into one category, which is the single most common error in this chapter. Option C is factually wrong. Option D reverses the chapter's point about co-evolution.

Concept Tested: Native vs. Non-Native vs. Invasive

See: Chapter 1

2. You find a shrub in your woods with glossy leaves that are still green in late October, long after the oaks have dropped theirs. What should this observation make you suspect, and why?

  1. It is a healthy native shrub — holding leaves late means it is well adapted
  2. It is probably Common Buckthorn; holding leaves late is exactly how invasives outcompete natives for light
  3. The shrub is diseased and should be removed for that reason
  4. Leaf timing tells you nothing useful about whether a plant is native
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Extended leaf-out is one of buckthorn's competitive advantages — it photosynthesizes on both ends of the season when native understory plants cannot, and it casts shade when spring wildflowers need light. Option A gets the reasoning backwards: being out of step with the local season is a signal of foreign origin, not of fitness. Option C invents a diagnosis. Option D discards a genuinely useful field clue.

Concept Tested: Invasive Species Advantages

See: Chapter 1

3. Someone argues that a plant should count as "native" to Minnesota because it thrives here without watering or fertilizer. What is wrong with that reasoning?

  1. Nothing — self-sufficiency is the definition of native
  2. Nativeness is about evolutionary history in a place, not present-day performance; buckthorn also thrives here without help
  3. The reasoning is fine for woody plants but not for wildflowers
  4. Only plants listed in a state database can be called native
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. This is the chapter's definition doing real work. "Native" means present before roughly 1850, having evolved alongside Minnesota's soils, climate, insects and wildlife. Thriving without help is a consequence of that history for natives, but it is also true of the worst invasives — which is exactly why performance cannot be the test. Option D confuses a record of a fact with the fact itself.

Concept Tested: Native Plant Definition

See: Chapter 1

4. You photograph an unknown plant to identify later. You get one clear shot of the flower. What does this chapter say you are missing?

  1. Nothing — the flower is the definitive identification feature
  2. The whole plant and a leaf close-up; identification usually needs leaf shape, leaf arrangement and growth habit alongside the flower
  3. A soil sample from the base of the plant
  4. A photograph of the roots, which requires digging the plant up
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The chapter's tip is specifically three shots: the whole plant, the leaves, and the flower. Flowers are seasonal and many species share similar ones, so leaf shape, leaf arrangement (opposite versus alternate) and growth habit carry much of the identification. Option D would also destroy the plant, which is the wrong instinct to build.

Concept Tested: Plant Identification Basics

See: Chapter 1

5. A developer says a proposed parking lot is fine because "we'll replant with grass, so the plants are still there." Using the chapter's ecosystem concept, what is the strongest objection?

  1. Lawn grass is shorter, so it holds less carbon
  2. An ecosystem is the interaction between living things and their physical setting; replacing a native plant community with turf breaks the food web, the deep-root water function and the habitat, even though something green remains
  3. There is no real objection — replanting restores the ecosystem
  4. Grass is non-native, and all non-native plants are harmful
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The chapter defines an ecosystem as biotic and abiotic components interacting, with native plants as the foundation that feeds pollinators, builds soil, cycles nutrients and filters water. Turf keeps the green and drops nearly all the interactions. Option A is true but far too narrow. Option D repeats the non-native/invasive conflation the chapter warns against.

Concept Tested: Ecosystems

See: Chapter 1

6. Your yard floods every spring and the soil stays soggy into June. A garden center recommends amending heavily with sand and topsoil to "fix the drainage" before planting. What does this chapter's logic suggest instead?

  1. Follow the advice — most native plants require well-drained soil
  2. Choose native species already adapted to wet Minnesota conditions rather than re-engineering the site to suit plants that need it dry
  3. Plant nothing until the drainage is professionally corrected
  4. Any Minnesota native will grow in any Minnesota soil, so the site does not matter
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Minnesota's 1,800+ native species span everything from dry sand prairie to aquatic lake plants, so wet ground is a condition to match, not a defect to correct. Option A wrongly treats "native" as a single set of requirements. Option D goes too far the other way — natives are adapted to particular Minnesota conditions, which is why habitat is one of the identification features listed in this chapter.

Concept Tested: Habitat and Adaptation

See: Chapter 1

7. A friend defends planting Purple Loosestrife because "the bees love it and it's beautiful." What does the chapter's definition of invasive let you say?

  1. Pollinator visits settle it — if bees use it, it belongs
  2. Beauty and bee visits are real but irrelevant to the definition; invasive means non-native, aggressively spreading, and causing ecological or economic harm, and loosestrife chokes wetlands and reduces wildlife habitat
  3. It is acceptable as long as it is planted away from water
  4. It is fine because it is not on any state list
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The invasive test is spread plus harm, and neither is cancelled by the plant being attractive or being visited by insects. Option C ignores that seed moves — loosestrife does not stay where it is planted. Option D is factually wrong in Minnesota, where purple loosestrife is a prohibited noxious weed.

Concept Tested: Invasive Species Definition

See: Chapter 1

8. Two prairie plantings are installed side by side. One uses three species; the other uses thirty. A drought hits in year four. Based on the chapter's concept map, what would you predict and why?

  1. Both perform identically, since all the species are native
  2. The thirty-species planting is likely more resilient, because biodiversity feeds back into ecosystem stability — some species will be adapted to the stress that hurts others
  3. The three-species planting does better because there is less competition for water
  4. Neither survives, since native plants need supplemental watering in drought
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The chapter's concept map draws an explicit arrow from biodiversity to ecosystem stability and resilience. A diverse planting spreads its bets across species with different rooting depths and drought strategies. Option D contradicts the chapter's point that established natives are built for Minnesota's extremes.

Concept Tested: Biodiversity and Resilience

See: Chapter 1

9. You are standing in a Minnesota woodland and someone asks why this state has such an unusual plant list compared with neighboring states. What is the chapter's answer?

  1. Minnesota's glacial history left uniquely fertile soil everywhere
  2. Three major North American biomes — tallgrass prairie, deciduous forest, and coniferous boreal forest — converge here, so species from all three occur in one state
  3. Minnesota has more lakes than any other state
  4. The state has protected its plants longer than its neighbors
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. The convergence of prairie, deciduous forest and boreal forest is what the chapter names as the source of Minnesota's ecological diversity, and it is why the rest of this book is organized by plant community. Option C is a real Minnesota fact but not the explanation for floristic diversity.

Concept Tested: Minnesota's Major Ecosystems

See: Chapter 1

10. Bree introduces herself in this chapter as a rusty-patched bumble bee rather than a honeybee. Using the chapter's own categories, why does that distinction matter for a book about native plants?

  1. It doesn't — a mascot is decoration and the species is arbitrary
  2. The honeybee is a non-native species introduced from Europe, so a book teaching the native/non-native distinction would be contradicting itself; the rusty-patched bumble bee is native, and its survival depends on the plants the book teaches
  3. Bumble bees are better pollinators than honeybees in every situation
  4. Honeybees are invasive in Minnesota and should be removed
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Apply the chapter's own decision tree to Apis mellifera: introduced by humans, therefore not native. It does not spread aggressively into natural areas causing harm, so it is non-native rather than invasive — which is why option D goes too far. Option C overstates a real advantage; native bees are often better pollinators of native plants, but "in every situation" is not the claim.

Concept Tested: Native vs. Non-Native

See: Chapter 1