General ecology test 1

What is a ecology?

The study of relationships between organisms and their environment

What is an environment?

A combination of both physical and chemical conditions, as well as all the organisms living within it

What is the cornerstone of ecology

Natural selection

What is an ecosystem?

The biotic community and the biotic environmental factors within it

What is a population?

A group of individuals of the same species within the same area

What is a community?

Groups of populations living within the same area

True or false: Organisms are affected by and modify the environment that become a part of it

True

What is a landscape?

Area of land or water made up of communities and ecosystems with similar environmental factors

What is a biome?

Region made up of similar types of ecosystems

What is a biosphere

the layer around the Earth for all life lives

What is the basic unit of ecology?

An individual organism

What is a temporal scale?

A time scale

What is a spatial scale?

An area scale

Go from individual to biosphere

Individual, species, population, community, ecosystem, landscape, biome, biosphere

What are populations characterized by?

Genetics, distribution (size and shape), number of individuals at a specific stage or size

What are the types of population dispersions?

Clumped, uniform, Random

What causes clumped dispersions?

Competition for a resource and they all crowd around it

What causes uniform dispersion?

Territoriality

What is population Dispersion determined by?

Environmental conditions, and other species

What is geographic range?

The area where a species is found

What does it mean to have a ubiquitous geographic range?

A large range

What does it mean to have an endemic geographic range?

A small range

What can geographic range be affected by?

Dispersal, mechanisms, life, stages, suitable habitats across range, and biotic and abiotic factors

True or false the scale of which you look at something can affect what dispersal mechanism is found

True small scales appear more uniform or random wire large scales appear more clumped

What is abundance?

The number of individuals in a population

What is density?

The number of individuals per area of space

True or false density increases as the area increases

False density decreases as the area increases

What is a meta-population

Collection of local sub populations

What are the three ecological periods of a population?

Pre-reproductive, Reproductive, and post reproductive

What is the ratio of sexually reproducing populations and does it change?

1:1 and it changes over the lifespan due to Deaths

What is dispersal

Movement of individuals over space and time

What causes a change in the population ?

Birth, immigration, death, emigration

What is a Closed population?

Where immigration and emigration can occur

What happens in closed populations?

Movement in or out does not occur

What is a life table

Age specific table death that shows mortality patterns

What is a cohort

Group of individuals born in the same period of time

What are the Assumptions of a Time specificlife table

—Each age class was Sampled in proportion To the number within the population

— Age specific birth and death rates Are constant overtime

What is survivorship?

lx = probability at birth of surviving to age

x = nx/n0

What is dx

Age specific mortality (deaths at each age)

dx = nx - n(x + 1)

What is qx

The death rate

qx = dx/nx

What is nx

Number alive at age X

What is a type one survivorship curve?

survival rate high throughout life span, with heavy mortality at the end

What is a type 2 survivorship curve

survival rates don’t vary with age, straight curve (ex: squirrel)

What is a type 3 survivorship curve

high early mortality rates (ex: squid, octopi, rats)

What is fecundity

Fertility

What is the formula for birthrate

#births/female at each age

What is the Allee effect

decline in either reproduction or survival under conditions of low population density

What is the net reproductive rate

$$R_0$$

average # of females produced during a lifetime by a newborn female

What is a growing net reproductive rate?

$$R_0>1$$

What is a shrinking net reproductive rate?

$$R_0<1$$

What is a stagnant net reproductive rate?

$$R_0=1$$

What is another word for stochasticity

Randomness

What is demographic stochasticity

random variations in birthrates and death rates occurring in populations from year to year

What is environmental stochasticity

random variations in the environment from year to year

What is life history

lifetime pattern of growth, development, and reproduction

What is reproductive success?

The number of offspring that was survived to reproduce

What is parthenogenesis

development of organism from an egg without fertilization

What does it mean to be dioecious?

Male and female reproductive organs on a separate plant

What is a monocious plant

Having separate male and female Flowers on the same Planto

What is the sequential hermaphrodite?

It changes sex at one point in it’s lifetime

What is the relationship between reproductive effort and parental survival?

The more reproductive effort = less parental survival

Between raising young and offspring production

The more offspring produced the less effort goes into raising

What is reproductive effort?

The total energetic cost of reproduction per unit of time

What does it mean to be altricial

Juveniles are too weak to support themselves while young

What does it mean to be precocial?

Spring and support themselves while young

What does it mean to be iteroparous

Offspring are produced multiple times in a lifetime

What is intrasexual selection

Members the same sex compete for mates

What is intersexual selection?

Members of the opposite sex, choose mates based on traits, mating rituals, or resources

What is monogamy?

For being pair bonds with one partner

What does it mean to be semelparous

Offspring or produced only ones in a lifetime

What is promiscuity?

Having many mates with no pair bonds

What is polygamy?

Two or more mates

What is polygyny

One male with many females

What is polyandry

1 female with many males

What is autogamy

Self pollination

What is an R strategist

Wes with short lives and high reproductive rates in low population densities that have lots of offspring and lots of resources

What are K strategists

Larger organisms and more stable populations that live longer and grow lower with a competitive resources that are at or near the carrying capacity

What is exponential growth

Growth that is independent of density and stays the same regardless of population size due to an abundance of resources

What is logistic growth

growth that slows and stabilizes when it gets close to the carrying capacity due to limited resources

True or false: more individuals = more time to reproduce

False

What type of factors are density dependent (biotic or abiotic)

Biotic

What type of factors are density independent (biotic or abiotic)

Abiotic

What is the carrying capacity (k)

The maximum population size an environment can sustain

What is self thinning

When individuals die due to over competition because of high population densities with lack of resources

What is the Allee effect

Decline any either reproduction or survival under conditions of low population density

True or false: as population density increases dispersal increases

True

What is intraspecific competition

Competition between the same species

What are the two types of intraspecific competition?

Scramble competition and contest competition

What is contest competition?

Get more resources based on social hierarchy

What is scramble competition

As the population rises, everyone gets less resources

True or false: competition is always direct

False competition can be direct and indirect because of exploitation of resources

What is dispersal?

The distance of organisms and how they spread out

True or false: dispersal is an effective method of population regulation

False

What is territoriality?

An animal or group of animals defending all or part of its home range

True or false territoriality is an effective method of population Regulation

True

True or false plants have territoriality

True

What type of species interaction are neither parties helped nor hurt

Neutral

What type of species interaction are both benefited?

Mutualism

What type of species interaction is one benefiting and the other is not affected

Commensalism

What species interaction is one harmed at the other is not affected

Amensalism