exam 2

Question 1

what is ecology?

Answer 1

the study of organismal interactions

Question 2

what resources are utilized in a niche?

Answer 2

food, shelter, water, space

Question 3

what functions do a niche provide?

Answer 3

producer or consumer, engineer: affecting structres

Question 4

what interactions do niches do?

Answer 4

nutrient flow, selective pressures, movement, behavior

Question 5

niche overlaps

Answer 5

overlap in one dimension does not necessarily imply strong competition, minimal niche overlap; little potential for competition

Question 6

consequences of competition

Answer 6

population regulation, logistic growth model, character displacement, species can evolve to minimize niche overlap

Question 7

logistic growth model

Answer 7

wherein the instantaneous change in the population is a function of proximity to an environmentally dictated carrying capacity

Question 8

phenotypic placidity

Answer 8

the ability of individual genotypes to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions, natural selection effect on phenotype is not heritable, “programming” based on environmental conditions, environmental effect on phenotype is not heritable

Question 9

life history theory

Answer 9

how organisms budget available energy to competing demands over the course of their lifetimes to maximize their total lifetime reproductive success, tradeoffs between survival and reproduction, terminal investment: putting all energy into reproduction instead of energy to live in last week of life

Question 10

parity

Answer 10

how often to reproduce

Question 11

iteroparous

Answer 11

producing offspring at multiple times in life

Question 12

semelparous

Answer 12

only producing offspring once in life

Question 13

negative competition

Answer 13

both parties loose out

Question 14

competition

Answer 14

mutually detrimental

Question 15

mutualism

Answer 15

both participants experience benefits (reciprocity)

Question 16

exploitation

Answer 16

predation and parasitism, one party gains at expense of the other

Question 17

commensalism

Answer 17

one party experiences net benefit, other no effect

Question 18

amensalism

Answer 18

one party experiences detriment, other no effect

Question 19

what do behavioral ecologists study

Answer 19

a behavior is a way that animals can solve problems in their life. it is usually studied with in the context of a stimulus and a response

Question 20

behavior is

Answer 20

a phenotype, heritable, shaped by evolution, situationally flexible

Question 21

most behaviors caused by two forces

Answer 21

genetics and learning

Question 22

applications of a behavioral ecologist

Answer 22

conservation, agriculture, wildlife management, climate change adaptation, insight into human behavior, evolution, and disease

Question 23

genetically programmed behaviors

Answer 23

genes influence behaviors through effects on neuron development and physiology, thus behaviors can have a heritable component

Question 24

innate behaviors

Answer 24

performed in response to a cue without prior experience, fixed action patterns

Question 25

fixed action patterns

Answer 25

consist of a series of actions triggered by a key stimulus. the pattern will go to completion even if the stimulus is removed

Question 26

learned response

Answer 26

behavior modified based on previous experience, habituation

Question 27

habituation

Answer 27

is a simple learned behavior in which an animal gradually stops responding to a repeated stimulus

Question 28

classical vs operant conditioning

Answer 28

a type of learned response from the association of cause and effect

Question 29

key behaviors of interest

Answer 29

movement, optimal foraging, communication, interactions with others

Question 30

local movement

Answer 30

in response to a stimulus, organisms can change movement randomly (kinesis) and non randomly (taxis), migration and navigation

Question 31

optimal foraging

Answer 31

big prey or small prey, where/when to look for prey, decision based on how much energy, time, and risks of gettin food

Question 32

information flow

Answer 32

one animal transmits information to another animal causing some kind of change in the animal that get the information

Question 33

signal/cue (communication)

Answer 33

chemical, visual, auditory, tactile

Question 34

community ecologist

Answer 34

study the processes that drive community patterns

Question 35

richness

Answer 35

how many species

Question 36

diversity

Answer 36

what is the frequency of each species in a sample of individuals

Question 37

dynamics

Answer 37

how does richness and diversity change overtime

Question 38

added species

Answer 38

speciation (genetic drift/non random selection), migration (random)

Question 39

species lost

Answer 39

extinction (genetic drift or non-random selection

Question 40

area hypothesis

Answer 40

larger areas host more species

Question 41

theory of island biogeography

Answer 41

species richness depends on area and distance between habitats

Question 42

productivity hypothesis

Answer 42

species richness correlates positively with primary productivity

Question 43

richness is also affected by

Answer 43

disturbance and habitat heterogeneity, but in complex ways that depend on the community

Question 44

succession

Answer 44

process of change in community composition, structure and function over time. mediated by habitat transformation and interspecific interactions

Question 45

redundancy hypothesis

Answer 45

increasing diversity increases the likelihood that niches and functions are fulfilled

Question 46

what is an ecosystem

Answer 46

a system of physical, chemical, and biological processes active "within a space-time unit of any magnitude"

Question 47

ecosystem function

Answer 47

ecosystem components (abiotic and biotic) exchange and transform energy and chemicals

Question 48

net primary productivity

Answer 48

measure of carbon fixed by photosynthesis minus energy used during cellular respiration

Question 49

biomass production

Answer 49

secondary production is limited by primary production

Question 50

energy flow

Answer 50

trophic efficiency represents efficiency of transfer of energy between trophic levels

Question 51

trophic cascade

Answer 51

bottom up, top down

Question 52

bottom up

Answer 52

physical and chemical processes

Question 53

top down

Answer 53

physical and human factors

Question 54

biocgeohemical cascades

Answer 54

biological, geological, and physical transport mechanism move chemicals through ecosystems and around the globe

Question 55

geological cycles

Answer 55

formation and weathering of rocks

Question 56

physical cycles

Answer 56

water and air currents, precipitation, wind

Question 57

biological

Answer 57

assimilation and decomposition

Question 58

carbon cycle

Answer 58

autotrophs acquire CO2 from the atmosphere and C is assimilated into biomass