General Ecology Exam 2

What is more abundant in the Earth’s crust than in the body

Silicone

Organism A has a C:P ratio of 1000:1, organism B has a C:P ratio of 50:1. Which is most likely correct?

A = plant, B = animal

According to optimal foraging theory, what is maximized?

Amount of energy gained per unit time

How would shoot:root ratio in plants change with increasing light levels?

Decrease

Which of these populations is growing?

A. R0 = 0.61 B. r = -0.9

C. r = 0 D. R0 = 1.3

D. R0 = 1.3

K and r for the below curves are 4000 or 2000 and 0.1 or 0.4. What are K and r for population C?

K = 4000, r = 0.1

Which equation would you use to predict population size change in an annual plant?

Nt=N0*λ^t

The number of individuals an environment can support indefinitely is the:

Carrying capacity

What is the best age to begin reproduction for female red deer based on these figures:

6 - 10

In which population would you expect early reproductive maturity to be favored?

Population A.

In which population would you expect production of many small young?

Population A.

What is an example of exploitation competition?

Two species of algae taking up limiting nutrients from water

Which vector correctly describes change in number of species 1 from point A?

Vector pointing left ( ← )

Which outcome of competition is most likely starting with a combination of numbers of species 1 and 2 at point A.

Species 1 ‘wins’, species 2 goes extinct

Based on the figure and what you know about temperature in streams, in what order would you expect to see the 3 species dominate (from upstream downwards)?

Brook trout, brown trout, chub

In interspecies competition:

Both species suffer

“Competitors with identical resource needs can not coexist indefinitely” is a statement of the:

Competitive exclusion principle

Consider two competing species. Character displacement theory predicts that over time:

Natural selection will favor phenotypes that reduce competition

Saturation of water vapor pressure ______ with temperature increasing

Increases

An organism whose body fluids contain the same concentration of salt as the environment is:

Isomotic

Metabolic water is an important part of the water budget in some animals. Metabolic water comes from:

Oxidation of food

Stoichiometric (nutrient composition) imbalances between a consumer and its food are most problematic for:

Herbivores

Optimal foraging theory predicts that:

Evolution will favor strategies that optimize net energy acquisition

What is the most consistent difference between males and females across taxa?

Difference in energy investment into reproduction

Secondary sexual characteristics are:

Gender-specific traits that do not play a direct role in reproduction (ex. fancy tails)

What is an example of intersexual selection:

Female birds choosing the most ornate males

What is an example of something that is NOT a population

All species of grass in a patch of prairie

The current distribution of wolves in North America is an example of:

Realized niche

What pattern best describes human population distribution?

Depends on scale?

Intersexual selection in guppies is balanced by visual predation. Which of the below predictions is most likely correct?

Increased predator abundance will cause decreased showiness in males

Larger coalitions (>4 individuals) of male lions are more likely to be made up of:

Related individuals

What is an example of a population according to the ecological definition:

Lyme disease bacteria living in a tick (on slides it’s all of the above)

An ecological niche is the:

Range of environmental conditions under which a population can persist

Ant nests in the forest are distributed regularly/uniformly. What best describes the relationship between ant colonies:

Repel each other

Which of these populations is declining?

A. R0 = 1.1 B. r = -0.1

C. r = 0 D. R0 = 9.0

B. r = -0.1

Consider the logistic growth equation: dN/dt=rN*(1-N/K). When N=1200 and K=1000, population size will________ at the next time step:

Shrink

In the last 50 years, the human population growth rate has:

Declined

Are humans r-selected or K-selected?

K-selected