The Full Extent of the Diversity and Abundance of Life

question 35

Multiple Choice

The full extent of the diversity and abundance of life on earth has only been understood in the past few years as a result of

• A)microscopy techniques to identify the vast quantity of viruses present in all environments.
• B)advances in deep oceanography and deep earth mining engineering.
• C)environmental movements to preserve parks, coral reefs, and glaciers.
• D)techniques to identify organisms that do not rely on culturing.

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Definitions:

Long-run Marginal Cost

The change in total cost when producing one additional unit of a product or service in the long term, where all inputs are considered variable.

Economies of Scale

Enterprises gain cost benefits from their operation size, as the cost for each unit produced typically drops when the scale enlarges because fixed expenses are distributed across a greater number of output units.

Efficient Scale

The level of production at which a firm can produce its product at the lowest average cost per unit.

Economies of Scale

Economies of scale describe the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, with cost per unit of output generally decreasing with increasing scale.