Deck 38: Animal Ecology

Question 1

When adding sterilized screw-worm flies to populations in an attempt to eradicate them from the United States,scientists found that not all of the adult screw-worm flies,often from different areas,were mating with each other.Each of the internally mating populations constituted a

A) lineage.
B) limiting resource.
C) clone.
D) deme.
E) cohort.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

An animal population is a group of animals that form which of the following?

A) a disparate community within an ecosystem
B) a reproductive community with members of the same species
C) individuals in a family that do not reproduce
D) various species living in a community

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A species of bat is found in 1)groves and grasslands,2)has a 4 degree temperature limit and 3)is at the end of its food chain.This defines its

A) range and habitat.
B) habitat and niche.
C) range and ecology.
D) ecology.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Commensalism differs from mutualism by the fact that in commensalism,

A) one organism is not affected.
B) one organism is always harmed.
C) both organisms benefit.
D) neither organism benefits.

Question 5

The sponge constitutes an animal that is

A) unitary due to cloning.
B) modular due to cloning.
C) a cohort due to cloning.
D) unitary due to fragmentation.
E) unitary due to age structure.

Question 6

Whether most young of an animal die soon after they are born or grow up such that most of the population dies in old age is called

A) carrying capacity.
B) intrinsic rate of growth.
C) cohort.
D) survivorship.
E) the limiting resource.

Question 7

If severe floods reduced the amount of agricultural land in China,which term in the logistic growth formula will change?

A) r
B) N
C) K

Question 8

The carrying capacity of the environment is determined by

A) the limiting resource in the environment.
B) the reproductive rate of an animal group.
C) the occurrence of disease.
D) a complex "balance of nature" that remains to be explained in terms that scientists can calculate.
E) the resources that are in surplus in the environment.

Question 9

A community is made up of

A) different populations of organisms living in the same area.
B) living organisms & the nonliving environment.
C) ecosystems.
D) just the nonliving environment.

Question 10

A frog is found along the edge of a pond.The location where the frog lives would be the frog's __________.

A) niche
B) habitat
C) biotic component
D) abiotic component

Question 11

A study of both a living community and all of its physical factors would focus on what level of organization

A) Trophic levels
B) Various biomes
C) The biosphere
D) Ecosystem

Question 12

What is a keystone species?

A) a predator that preys upon many different species in a community
B) a species whose removal causes major shifts in other species in a community
C) a mimic that has the same appearance as another, poisonous species
D) a prey species that must be present for its predator to survive
E) the most abundant species in a particular community

Question 13

Two species of caterpillar feed on the same species of corn.On close inspection,the two insects are found to be feeding on different parts of the corn,the root and the stem.What principle does this support?

A) keystone species.
B) niche overlap.
C) competitive exclusion.
D) Batesian mimicry.

Question 14

The term "ecology" was first introduced by whom?

A) George Gaylord Simpson
B) Charles Elton
C) Ernst Haeckel
D) Lawrence J.Henderson
E) E.O.Wilson

Question 15

Natural populations are controlled by density-dependent and density-independent forces.What is an example of a density independent factor?

A) Adverse weather
B) Food supply
C) Supply of nest sites
D) Supply of mates

Question 16

For a population experiencing logistic growth,what is the most likely result when N very closely approaches the value of K?

A) The population grows as fast as it can, or r(N).
B) The population levels off near carrying capacity.
C) The population has exceeds carrying capacity and begins to decline.
D) The population may grow or decline quickly, depending upon the value of r.

Question 17

MacArthur observed that five species of similar warblers coexisted on spruce trees,in feeding guilds,because they

A) ate different kinds of insects.
B) were kept below their carrying capacities by predators.
C) foraged in different places on the tree.
D) cooperated in their foraging habits.

Question 18

The maximum number of individuals of a species that an area can support is the

A) growth rate.
B) carrying capacity.
C) net productivity.
D) gross productivity.

Question 19

With over one billion people,but less land to farm than is in the United States,the People's Republic of China instituted a one-child-per-family policy.This immediately changed which numerical value in the logistic growth equation?

A) r
B) N
C) K
D) None of the choices are correct

Question 20

While an animal can survive (determined by lab tests)between the temperatures of 10^oC and 30^oC,we find in nature that the animal only exists between 16^oC and 28^oC.This is a difference between the __________________ and __________________.

A) fundamental habitat; realized habitat
B) fundamental niche; realized niche
C) realized habitat; fundamental habitat
D) realized niche; fundamental niche

Question 21

There can usually be no more than 4 or 5 trophic levels in a food chain because there is such a great loss of __________ between trophic levels.

Question 22

When pioneers settled the Midwest and Plains states,they killed or drove off the American bison,cougar,wolf,etc.Why does the elimination of such natural predators cause ecological problems?

Question 23

An interaction in which one species derives benefit from its host but neither benefits nor harms the host is ____________.

Question 24

A species that when removed from a community changes the structure of the community is called a ____________ species.

Question 25

The energy accumulated by plants,less that used in respiration,is the _____ _______ ______.

Question 26

Some conditions that can limit population size are severe cold,drought,fire,etc.; such conditions are regarded as density ____________.

Question 27

What is the role of decomposers in the cycling of carbon? What would eventually occur if decomposers lost the ability to break down plant and fungal matter?

Question 28

We could state a biological "law" that all food chains begin with photosynthetic producers if it wasn't for the exception of

A) lichens that make their own food energy.
B) anaerobic bacteria such as the tetanus agent.
C) chemosynthetic bacteria found around deep ocean thermal vents.
D) humans making synthetic food.

Question 29

The producers in deep-sea thermal vent communities are

A) bivalve molluscs.
B) giant pogonophoran worms.
C) deep-sea kelp.
D) chemoautotrophic bacteria.

Question 30

Most energy enters the ecosystem as

A) cell respiration.
B) plant growth.
C) chemical bond energy.
D) oxygen.
E) light energy.

Question 31

The energy storage in an animal's tissues is called

A) primary productivity.
B) gross productivity.
C) standing crop.
D) biomass.

Question 32

Ecologists have found that

A) life as we know it does not match the energy laws of physics.
B) ecology cannot be explained using principles from chemistry and physics.
C) it is possible to capture all the photosynthetic energy absorbed as molecules of glucose.
D) energy flows one way through ecosystems and requires external input.

Question 33

Only ______ are able to purposely and directly increase their carrying capacity.

Question 34

In tidal pools,a food pyramid is inverted with a small base of phytoplankton supporting zooplankton consumers.How can this be explained?

A) The pyramid is an energy pyramid and the trophic level occupied by zooplankton contains more energy than the level occupied by phytoplankton.
B) The pyramid is a numbers pyramid showing that only few phytoplankton support many zooplankton
C) These phytoplankton are actually deriving their food from dying animals, thus the pyramid is inverted.
D) The pyramid is a pyramid of biomass and the standing crop of phytoplankton has less biomass than the standing crop of zooplankton

Question 35

What prevents all species from evolving toward a survivorship curve where most individuals live to old age?

Question 36

A series of steps in which plants are eaten by consumers,which are themselves eaten by other consumers,is called the ______ ______.

Question 37

An assemblage of living organisms sharing the same environment is referred to as a ____________.

Question 38

In the logistic equation to describe the growth of populations,r is the intrinsic rate of increase of the population,and ____________ is the carrying capacity of the environment.

Question 39

The deep-sea rift communities in the Pacific depend on the action of chemoautotrophic ____________ to derive energy from the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide.

Question 40

Almost all life depends on the energy from the _______.

Question 41

Does competition promote the process of speciation? Why or why not?

Question 42

Describe the functioning and possible patterns associated with metapopulation dynamics.

Question 43

Discuss how the following terms are interrelated: niche overlap,competitive exclusion,character displacement,and guild.How do all these terms relate to the concept of competition?

Question 44

Discuss the paradox of biodiversity concerning species isolation and potential for both speciation and extinction.

Question 45

How does mutualism differ from commensalism? How would you experimentally determine if two species are living in a commensal or mutualistic relationship?

Question 46

Compare logistic growth with exponential growth.Would a pest insect species more likely exhibit a logistic growth curve or an exponential growth curve? Explain your reasoning.

Question 47

Distinguish between a habitat and a niche.Can these terms ever refer to the same thing?

Question 48

Are the benefits derived from Mullerian mimics always equal for each member of the mimicry complex?

Question 49

Discuss the different ecological effects of density independent factors and density-dependent factors on animal populations.

Question 50

Identify the following terms: r,K,N.Why does the term (K-N)/K approach zero (no slope)as N approaches the value of K?

Question 51

Can the biomass of all animals on earth ever exceed the biomass of all of the plants? Why? or why not?

Question 52

Explain the following concepts: age structure,survivorship curves,and intrinsic rate of increase.

Question 53

Discuss how the extinction of a keystone species can affect an ecosystem.

Question 54

What is the difference between a species' fundamental niche and its realized niche? Why is this important to the study of ecology?

Question 55

Explain the concept of "competitive exclusion." Give several examples that clearly illustrate this concept.

Question 56

Discuss how ecosystems are based on energy transfer at different trophic levels.