Deck 9: Population Ecology

Question 1

What determines biotic potential?

A)the reproductive age span
B)how many offspring die before reproducing
C)the minimum viable population
D)irruptive populations

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What is the biotic potential of a population?

A)It is the current growth rate of a population.
B)It is an expression of how many offspring survive and are able to reproduce.
C)It is the maximum reproductive rate of a population.
D)It can be determined only by studying an age structure diagram.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is the definition of emigration?

A)It is the repeated departure and return of individuals to and from a population area.
B)It is the one-way movement of individuals out of a particular population to another area.
C)It is the one-way movement of individuals into an area with an established population.
D)It is the one-way movement of individuals into an uninhabited area.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

How have humans extended Earth's carrying capacity for the human species?

A)by controlling many diseases
B)by using material resources at a sustainable rate
C)by decreasing life span
D)by using energy resources at a reduced rate

Question 5

Which prediction is logical for a species in which uniform dispersion has been observed?

A)intraspecific competition and evenly spread, scarce resources
B)intraspecific competition and evenly spread, abundant resources
C)interspecific competition and evenly spread, abundant resources
D)interspecific predation and evenly spread, scarce resources

Question 6

Which factor leads to an increase in biotic potential?

A)too much or too little light
B)too many competitors
C)an optimal level of critical nutrients
D)a low reproductive rate

Question 7

Which term is synonymous with changes in population size, density, dispersion, and age structure?

A)demography
B)biotic potential
C)succession
D)population dynamics

Question 8

What is carrying capacity?

A)the interaction of natality and mortality
B)the proportion of males to females
C)the maximum size of population that the environment will support
D)the reproductive rate

Question 9

Which letter has the shape of a logistic growth curve that depicts a population limited by a definite carrying capacity?

A)S
B)L
C)J
D)M

Question 10

Which statement does NOT apply to whooping cranes?

A)As of 2006, just over 330 individuals existed in the wild.
B)One population resides in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park during the summer.
C)Hunting, egg collection, and habitat loss took tolls on the population.
D)All whooping cranes are migratory.

Question 11

What enhances environmental resistance?

A)the ability to resist disease and parasites
B)a high reproductive rate
C)a specialized niche
D)the ability to compete for resources

Question 12

When does a population crash occur?

A)It occurs when a population overshoots carrying capacity, and environmental pressures lead to negative effects.
B)It occurs when a population approaches its carrying capacity.
C)It occurs when environmental resistance comes into play gradually.
D)It occurs when resources are essentially unlimited.

Question 13

What would be unlikely to influence carrying capacity?

A)resources
B)a rain shower
C)disease
D)predation

Question 14

What is one reason for a population to overshoot its carrying capacity and crash?

A)due to a time delay in an accumulation loop
B)due to a time delay in a positive feedback loop
C)due to a time delay between a positive feedback loop and a negative feedback loop
D)due to a time delay in a negative feedback loop

Question 15

Which letter has the shape of an exponential growth curve that depicts an ever-growing population?

A)M
B)L
C)S
D)J

Question 16

Which of the following is among the age structure categories?

A)proreproductive
B)reproductive
C)elderly
D)antireproductive

Question 17

Which statement summarizes the story of the whooping crane?

A)It's about an indicator species.
B)It's about an alien species.
C)It's about a non-native species.
D)It's about a success story.

Question 18

What leads to population growth?

A)increases in mortality
B)increases in environmental resistance
C)increases in biotic potential
D)decreases in natality

Question 19

Which population dispersion pattern applies to an ecosystem with unevenly distributed resources?

A)a uniform pattern
B)a random pattern
C)a clumped pattern
D)a dispersed pattern

Question 20

Which natural pattern of population dispersion is associated with the majority of species?

A)a uniform pattern
B)a clumped pattern
C)a random pattern
D)a dispersed pattern

Question 21

What is the most important ethical principle in conservation biology?

A)People should do that which tends to maintain Earth's life-support systems for us and other species.
B)People should be held responsible for their own pollution.
C)People should live lightly on the Earth.
D)No human culture should become extinct because of the actions of other humans.

Question 22

Which of the following is a density-independent population control?

A)disease in the environment
B)parasitism in the environment
C)predation in the environment
D)unfavourable chemical changes in the environment

Question 23

What survivorship curve would you expect for a mountain gorilla?

A)no loss
B)early loss
C)constant loss
D)late loss

Question 24

Which term can NOT be used to describe a type of population change curve?

A)stable
B)explosive
C)cyclic
D)irruptive

Question 25

Which term refers to a population with only a few individuals and thus a limited ability to rebuild due to a lack of genetic diversity?

A)founder effect
B)demographic bottleneck
C)inbreeding depression
D)genetic drift

Question 26

If wolves are controlling deer populations, what type of control is it?

A)predator control
B)top-down population control
C)producer-level control
D)bottom-up population control

Question 27

Which connections would likely occur among population cycles, survival strategies, and survivorship curves?

A)boom-and-bust; r-strategist; early loss
B)stable; K-strategist; early loss
C)stable; r-strategist; early loss
D)boom-and-bust; K-strategist; early loss

Question 28

Which organism is an r-strategist?

A)a saguaro cactus
B)a rhinoceros
C)a human
D)an insect

Question 29

What type of population change would you expect to occur for monkeys in an undisturbed section of the Brazilian rain forest?

A)cyclic
B)stable
C)explosive
D)irruptive

Question 30

What is one means by which humans interfere in the development of natural ecosystems?

A)by deliberately increasing some predators
B)by under harvesting renewable resources
C)by eliminating predators and introducing new species
D)by increasing the number of species by simplifying and homogenizing ecosystems

Question 31

What is the survivorship curve for a typical fish?

A)late loss
B)constant loss
C)early loss
D)no loss

Question 32

What type of population change would you expect to occur for beavers in a province that has just outlawed trapping?

A)explosive
B)stable
C)irruptive
D)cyclic

Question 33

Which strategy is a low priority for a conservation biologist?

A)sustaining sensitive ecosystems
B)rehabilitating degraded ecosystems
C)protecting species from sharp declines
D)protecting threatened ecosystems

Question 34

Which statement is a general description of a K-strategist?

A)It is more responsive to environmental changes than an r-strategist.
B)It has high genetic diversity.
C)It is generally less adaptable to change than an r-strategist.
D)It exhibits a fast rate of evolution.

Question 35

Which type of species is more resistant to habitat fragmentation?

A)a large predator species
B)a migratory species
C)a specialist species
D)a generalist species

Question 36

Which statement is a general description of an r-strategist?

A)It is small and short lived.
B)It has a low biotic potential.
C)It survives to reproduce.
D)It gives much care to its offspring.

Question 37

Which characteristic is generally exhibited by a K-strategist?

A)It generally lives in a rapidly changing environment.
B)It exhibits "boom-and-bust" cycles.
C)It has a population that rises quickly and then crashes.
D)It has a population that follows an S-shaped growth curve.

Question 38

Which of the following is a density-dependent population control?

A)fire
B)drought
C)predation
D)human destruction of habitat

Question 39

Which population pattern is likely for rabbits and coyotes living in an undisturbed habitat?

A)irruptive
B)cyclic
C)explosive
D)stable

Question 40

Which statement is characteristic of inbreeding?

A)It results when individuals in a large population mate with another large population.
B)It can result in a decrease in a defective gene within a population.
C)It occurs rarely in small or isolated populations.
D)It affects the survival rate and genetic diversity of a population.

Question 41

The intrinsic rate of increase (r) is the rate at which a population would grow if it had unlimited resources.

Question 42

When a population exceeds the environment's carrying capacity, species diversity becomes constant.

Question 43

Carrying capacity is the population size (or density) at which the environment is saturated.

Question 44

Metapopulations are spatially separated populations that may continue to exchange genes with each other through dispersal of individuals.

Question 45

How did the World Health Organization control sylvatic plague in Borneo (Brunei)?

A)by parachuting healthy cats into the infected area
B)by spraying the infected area with pesticide
C)by burning all the huts that housed infected people
D)by introducing lizards to the infected area

Question 46

Which statement applies to natural ecosystems?

A)They are subject to continuous invasion by pathogens and weeds.
B)They are usually capable of self-maintenance and self-renewal.
C)They have most of their biomass in one species.
D)They require applications of pesticides.

Question 47

Environmental resistance consists only of biotic factors.

Question 48

Logistic growth involves a rapid exponential population growth followed by a drastic decrease in population growth.

Question 49

Which feature would likely be lacking in a living system?

A)diversity
B)interdependence
C)predictability
D)limits

Question 50

The population size of any species is influenced by the births, deaths, immigration, and emigration that occur within each population.

Question 51

When a population reaches carrying capacity, the population's biotic potential gradually declines to a consistent value that is slightly greater than the original value.

Question 52

In most cases, the effects of population increase, or of environmental resistance, are not felt instantly.

Question 53

The human population can continue yielding a J-shaped growth curve because of technology.

Question 54

Overuse of antibiotics has accelerated natural selection and caused genetic resistance.

Question 55

A population's growth rate will increase as the population reaches its carrying capacity.

Question 56

A monoculture is a single crop that has replaced many interrelated plant and animal species.

Question 57

One lesson biologists have learned from nature is that everything is connected to and interdependent with everything else.

Question 58

Why did the World Health Organization initiate pesticide spraying in Borneo (Brunei)?

A)to control sylvatic plague
B)to kill the caterpillars found in thatched roofs
C)to eliminate small lizards
D)to reduce the incidence of malaria

Question 59

Which statement is a basic lesson from nature?

A)Sunlight is the source of energy that sustains ecosystems.
B)Energy is not required to maintain energy flow and recycle chemicals.
C)There are no limits to population growth.
D)Populations of organisms, including humans, are kept in check by natural means.

Question 60

Highly developed countries have such high rates of population growth because their birth rates are so high.

Question 61

A population's ____________________ structure can have a strong effect on how rapidly its size increases or decreases.

Question 62

Many long-lived species, such as algae and insects, have irruptive population cycles.

Question 63

All r-selected species are specialists.

Question 64

A life table shows the number of individuals at each age on a survivorship curve.

Question 65

Most large mammals and birds of prey are ____________________ -selected species.

Question 66

All K-selected species have fewer, larger offspring than most other species.

Question 67

A(n)____________________ can easily be wiped out because of its susceptibility to pathogens.

Question 68

____________________ density is the number of individuals in a particular population found in a particular space.

Question 69

Irregular population behaviours are not fully understood.

Question 70

A(n) ________________________________________ is a fleeting solution for a high-throughput economy.

Question 71

The primary goal of ____________________ is to determine the necessary balance in order to ensure a minimal disruption in all living species.

Question 72

Which letter in the diagram corresponds to the point at which resources are not limiting and a population can grow at its intrinsic rate of increase?

Question 73

The biotic potential and the population size modified by the environmental resistance determine the _________________________.

Question 74

If most of a species' offspring die before reaching reproductive age, this is an indication that this species may be ____________________ -selected.

Question 75

Infectious disease is a classic type of ____________________-dependent population control.

Question 76

Populations which have individuals evenly spaced throughout the environment have a(n) ____________________ dispersal pattern.

Question 77

A species whose population size fluctuates slightly above and below its carrying capacity is said to have a fairly ____________________ population size.

Question 78

The lynx and the hare exhibit a(n) ____________________ population cycle.

Question 79

Species that have capacity for a high rate of population increase are called K-selected.

Question 80

A mammal reaches maturity after 10 years and bears only one or two young every two years.The parents and the rest of the herd protect the young.The type of survivorship curve that this animal would have is a(n) _________________________ curve.