Exam 1 Test Bank:
Topic 1: Definition of Ecology
1. The Cary institute definition of ecology is “the scientific study of the
processes influencing the distribution and abundance of organisms, the
interactions among organisms, and the interactions between organisms and
the transformation and flux of energy and matter”. Which of the three
components of this definition come from the definitions of:
a. Ernst Haeckel
b. Herbert Andrewartha and Charles Birch
c. Eugene Odum
Topic 2: Evolution
1. What two types of experiments are used to establish selection for locally
adapted traits?
2. Consider a common garden experiment involving seeds of a species of orchid
from mountain top and low elevation populations. On the mountain tops the
orchid has a thicker stalk an a shorter overall stature; in the low elevation
population, the stalks are thinner and grow taller.
a. What experimental outcome would indicate that these populations
had been selected for locally adapted traits?
b. What experimental outcome would indicate that the observed
differences between these populations was due to phenotypic
plasticity?
3. Define phenotypic plasticity.
4. Define Convergent Evolution.
5. Define Parallel evolution.
6. What is the difference between allopatric and sympatric speciation?
Topic 3: Measuring populations
1. What is the difference between a unitary and a modular organism?
2. What is the difference between a genet and a ramet?
3. What is the difference between strip transect sampling and distance
sampling?
4. What is the goal of stratification in sampling design?
5. What are the 5 assumptions of mark-recapture sampling?
6. Consider a mark-recapture study to estimate the size of a fish population in a
lake. On the first occasion 100 fish were captured and marked. On the
second occasion, 200 fish were captured and 20 of these were marked
individuals that had been recaptured. What is the estimate of the population
size in the lake?
Topic 4: Resources and Conditions
1. What is the difference between a resource and a condition?
2. Provide an example of something that may be both a condition and a
resource?
3. What is the difference between a predator and a grazer?
4. What is the difference between a predator and a parasite?
5. What is the difference between a parasite and a grazer?
6. What is the definition of a niche given by G.E. Hutchinson?
7. What is the fundamental difference between the niche concept of Grinell and
Elton and that of Hutchinson?
Topic 5: Population Growth
1. What are the four processes that contribute to population growth and
decline?
2. What is the difference between a static and a cohort life table?
3. Define the net reproductive rate (in words),
4. Give the equation for the net reproductive rate and define all terms.
5. What important assumption must be made in order to interpret a static life
table?
6. In the panels below, label the x and y axes and draw the survivorship
patterns characteristic of a Type I, Type II, and Type III survivorship.
7. Which of the 3 types of survivorship functions characterizes the setting in
which the risk of mortality increases with age?
8. Which of the 3 types of survivorship functions characterizes the setting in
which the risk of mortality is constant for all ages?
9. Which of the 3 types of survivorship functions characterizes the setting in
which the risk of mortality decreases with age?
10. Define the cohort generation time (in words)?
11. What is the relationship between the net reproductive rate and the intrinsic
growth rate for species with overlapping generations?
12. Define reproductive value
13. Describe why reproductive value is often low in older individuals
14. Describe why reproductive value is often low in young individuals
15. For the basic exponential growth model, how does extinction probability
scale with :
a. Initial population size?
b. Generation time?
c. Environmental variability?
Topic 6: Intraspecific competition
1. What is the difference between exploitation and interference competition?
2. What is the difference between scramble and contest competition?
3. Which type of competition (scramble or contest) results in the greater
variance in resource allocation among individuals?
4. Define carrying capacity.
5. In the logistic model of population growth, what is the relationship between
the per capita contribution to population growth and population size?
6. What type of intraspecific competition is best characterized by the logistic
model?
7. State the equation for logistic population growth and define all terms.
8. If density limits per capita growth (as in the logistic model), at what
population size does the population grow fastest?
9. If density limits per capita growth (as in the logistic model), at what
population size does the population have the highest recruitment?
10. In the space below, draw the expected relationship between recruitment (yaxis) and population size (x-axis) for a population that experiences
intraspecific competition for resources.
11. Define the Allee effect.
12. Give two reasons why population growth rate may be lower when density is
low.
13. Give two reasons why a population may exhibit an Allee effect.
Topic 7: Life History Evolution
1. What is the difference between semelparous and iteroparous reproductive
strategies?
2. What traits are commonly associated with r-selected species?
3. What traits are commonly associated with K-selected species?
4. In many settings, the observed clutch size is lower than that expected by Lack
optimum. What characteristic can explain why the optimal clutch size would
be lower than the Lack optimum?
5. In the space below, draw the expected relationship between recruitment and
clutch size.
a.
6. Following the re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone, the population of elk
declined. As a consequence, elk herbivory on adult willow plants declined
significantly. Should the resulting decrease in the risk of adult willow
mortality select for greater or smaller allocation to reproductive effort?
7. Consider two populations of frog – population A is in a pond where pollution
reduces egg viability and results in high tadpole mortality, population B is in
a pristine pond. In which population would you expect:
a. Greater allocation of resources to reproductive effort?
b. Faster maturation of adults?
8. What were two observed changes in the life history characteristics of fishes
that were heavily harvested.
9. Buckling et al. showed that drug treatment of malaria resulted in a change in
the relative production of blood-stage and transmission stage malaria
parasites – what was that change? Explain why this change is predicted.
Topic 8: Dispersal
1. What is the difference between passive and active dispersal?
2. What is the difference between potential and realized dispersal?
Topic 9: Metapopulations
1. What is the difference between environmental and demographic variability?
2. What are the four conditions necessary for a metapopulation, according to
Hanski’s definition?
3. In the space below, draw the relationship between the colonization of
patches and the proportion of occupied patches according to the Levins
metapopulation model.
4. In the space below, draw the relationship between the extinction of patches
and the proportion of occupied patches according to the Levins
metapopulation model.
5. According to the Levins model, what is the necessary condition for the
proportion of occupied patches in a metapopulation to be greater than 0?
6. What are the 4 assumptions of the Levins metapopulation model?
7. Which type of variability (environmental or demographic) is likely to result
in synchronous extinction probability in patches in a metapopulation?
8. Which type of variability (environmental or demographic) is likely to result
in asynchronous extinction probability in patches in a metapopulation?
Case Studies and Homework:
Questions from the case studies that we discussed including the associated papers,
are all fair game.