Deck 58: Community Ecology

Question 1

The individualistic model of a community as an assemblage coexisting primarily of species similar in their physiological requirements was proposed by

A) Frederic Clements.
B) Charles Darwin.
C) Henry Allan Gleason.
D) David Tilman.
E) Joseph Connell.

Answer 1

Henry Allan Gleason.

Question 2

Lake Baikal in Siberia is an ancient lake with a very diverse fauna. This diversity is consistent with the

A) time hypothesis.
B) individualistic model.
C) organismic model.
D) principle of species individuality.
E) effects of decreasing latitude and decreasing temperatures.

Answer 2

time hypothesis.

Question 3

The idea that most ecological communities merge into one another gradually is part of the

A) equilibrium model.
B) species-area effect.
C) time hypothesis.
D) organismic model.
E) principle of species individuality.

Answer 3

principle of species individuality.

Question 4

If you (incorrectly) proposed that tundra, the world's largest land biome, contains high species richness, your proposal would be consistent with the

A) area hypothesis.
B) time hypothesis.
C) productivity hypothesis.
D) MTE.
E) MDE.

Question 5

The species richness of trees can be predicted by

A) the time hypothesis.
B) species-area effect.
C) patterns of smaller insects.
D) the evapotranspiration rate.
E) the species-area effect.

Question 6

The productivity and area hypotheses together suggest that a large, tropical continent would likely have __________ species richness.

A) low
B) mature
C) poor
D) cyclical
E) high

Question 7

The intermediate-disturbance hypothesis predicts that the most species rich communities would contain

A) both r- and K-selected species.
B) high rates of evapotranspiration.
C) predominantly K-selected species.
D) intermediate biomass.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 8

Metagenomics offers a DNA-based method to understand

A) the history of species diversity.
B) the time hypothesis.
C) microbial diversity.
D) the organismic model of Clements.
E) the Shannon Diversity Index.

Question 9

Which of the following is true about temporal variation in community biomass?

A) It is a characteristic of high species richness.
B) It increases with increases in species richness.
C) It decreases with increases in species richness.
D) It is predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.
E) It is predicted by Clements' organismic model of community function.

Question 10

When species diversity is calculated, what is being measured?

A) Species number.
B) The evapotranspiration rate.
C) Both species number and relative abundance.
D) The resistance of a community to disturbance.
E) The process of inhibition.

Question 11

What is an area of the Earth's surface currently undergoing primary succession?

A) Volcanoes in Hawaii.
B) Behind retreating glaciers in Canada and Alaska.
C) Volcanoes in Iceland.
D) The area around Mount St. Helens in Oregon.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 12

Clements argued that the final stage of succession was always

A) a climax community.
B) a cohort.
C) a sere.
D) a secondary sere.
E) a cohort and a sere.

Question 13

In the wake of the retreat of a glacier, leaving bare rock and sand, the action of the first colonizing species in this environment to make the area suitable for other species is called

A) secondary succession.
B) climax succession.
C) seral accumulation.
D) facilitation.
E) optimal succession.

Question 14

Which of these patterns would the intermediate disturbance hypothesis NOT explain?

A) rapid growth and diversification in a recently glaciated area
B) low diversity where disturbance is rare
C) low diversity where disturbance is extremely frequent
D) high diversity in areas with frequent disturbance
E) high diversity in areas with frequent disturbance and low diversity where disturbance is rare

Question 15

Much of the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra was devastated by the 2004 tsunami. The recovery of forests in that area is an example of

A) secondary succession.
B) facilitation.
C) the diversity-stability hypothesis.
D) primary succession.
E) island biogeography.

Question 16

Species richness of birds in the continental United States is highest

A) where temperatures are highest.
B) in northern California.
C) in Florida.
D) in Texas.
E) in the center.

Question 17

Shannon diversity (Hs)

A) goes up with increases in the number of species sampled and is higher when individuals are more equitably distributed among species.
B) is higher when individuals are more equitably distributed among species.
C) is independent of abundance.
D) increases in areas undergoing secondary succession.
E) is higher when individuals are more equitably distributed among species and is independent of abundance.

Question 18

Diversity indices such as the Shannon diversity index are very valuable to

A) agricultural economists who study crop production.
B) the evapotranspiration rate.
C) the formation of climax communities.
D) conservation biologists who study rare species.
E) metagenomics.

Question 19

Each phase of succession is called a

A) series.
B) stage.
C) chronometer.
D) sere.
E) facilitation.

Question 20

In Frederic Clements' view, succession proceeds to an end point called a(n)

A) S1.
B) S2.
C) pioneer community.
D) climax community.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 21

In MacArthur and Wilson's island biogeography model, species richness is a balance between

A) arrival and extinction.
B) inhibition and facilitation.
C) arrival and speciation.
D) tolerance and inhibition.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 22

In island biogeography, larger islands support ______ species than smaller islands.

A) more
B) fewer
C) larger
D) stranger
E) smaller

Question 23

The source pool for an island can be

A) the mainland.
B) another island.
C) secondary succession.
D) the mainland or another island.
E) density transition.

Question 24

How are species-area relationships traditionally plotted?

A) on a log-log plot.
B) on a bar graph.
C) based on a source pool.
D) using a Shannon diversity index.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 25

Species turnover on islands has been observed to be low. What does this suggest about process in the equilibrium model of island biogeography?

A) Facilitation is of minor importance to this model.
B) Secondary succession rarely succeeds.
C) Succession on most islands is a fairly orderly process.
D) The intermediate disturbance hypothesis can explain colonization rates.
E) Immigration of new species often can not keep up with extinction.

Question 26

Simberloff and Wilson carried out a famous experiment to study the recolonization by arthropods of small mangrove by islands after the islands were fumigated. One of their findings was

A) several species of birds were facilitators of recolonization.
B) species turnover was high following recolonization.
C) recolonization was identical on all of the islands regardless of size.
D) species richness changes little following recolonization.
E) high diversity relative to the mainland.

Question 27

Support for the succession mechanism of tolerance is found in research on plant communities that shows

A) the island biogeographic theory is generally supported.
B) turnover is not what would be predicted by other theories.
C) climax communities never form as predicted by Clements.
D) succession is determined largely by species that exist in the ground as seeds or old roots.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 28

The principle of species individuality suggests that in response to climate change, species should migrate

A) as individual species.
B) as individual ecosystems.
C) through a process of primary succession.
D) in response to a steady level of disturbance.
E) None of these choices are correct.

Question 29

Who developed the individualistic model?

A) Daniel Simberloff
B) Frederic Clements
C) Henry Allan Gleason
D) Joseph Connell
E) O. Wilson

Question 30

In the organismic model, communities are superorganisms.

Question 31

If one species in a community is very common this will increase measures species diversity.

Question 32

South Texas has the highest bird species richness in the continental United States.

Question 33

Tree species richness in the United States is highest in the southeast.

Question 34

Joseph Connell proposed that at low rates of disturbance, a community will become dominated by K-selected species.

Question 35

The diversity-stability hypothesis supports the idea that pest outbreaks are less likely on cultivated land.

Question 36

MacArthur and Wilson's island biogeography would predict that there would be more species in North America than in Greenland.

Question 37

The productivity hypothesis would predict that there would be more species in North America than in the Amazon.

Question 38

A metagenomic library is a typical tool of analyzing the flowering plants in a forest community.