Final Exam #2 Flashcards
In Madagascar, several species of lemur eat bamboo, but each species specializes in one part of the bamboo - one species eats mature bamboo stalks, one species eats bamboo shoots, and one species eats leaves. This is an example of
resource partitioning
A niche restricted by competition is a
realized niche
An interaction in which an individual of one species kills and consumes an individual of another is called
Predation
When the environment changes too quickly for an organism to adapt, what will occur?
Extinction
In the western United States, at the southern edge of their range, moose are sometimes so severely infested with ticks that they die. The tick/moose relationship is best described as
Parasitic
You will be conducting a study of the interactions of vegetation, animals, mineral composition of the soil, and water levels in a salt marsh. You are studying the
saltmarsh ecosystem
In order for natural selection to occur a population must 1. produce many offspring, 2. the offspring must have inheritable characteristics, and 3.
those characteristics must allow the organism to be fit
Evolution = natural selection + mutations. The major problem with this is that
Mutations are rarely beneficial nd our genome is actually degrading
A beehive depends on pollen from flowers to survive. Flowers depend on bees to pollinate them. Humans tend bee hives, offering the bees a place to live in exchange for some of their honey. The relationship among these three sets of organisms is
mutualistic
A deer browsing/munching on a shrub is an example
Herbivory
A niche restricted by competition is
realized niche
Giraffes, lions, zebras, hyenas, and all other living things of the Serengeti make up a(n)
Community
Which of the following describes a population that is distributed evenly across an area?
Uniform
Which of the following includes only biotic factors?
Population
A population’s growth rate is determined by births, deaths, ______ and _____
immigration and emigration
The largest population size a given environment can sustainably support is known as its
carrying capacity
All living things and their physical environment within a given area best defines
An ecosystem
An organism that depends on another without killing it is a predator.
False
Two populations of deer species are separated when a glacier forms. After the glacier melts the two populations become different species. This is an example of allopatric speciation.
True
You have many species of bacteria living in your gut and helping you with digestion. This relationship is best defined as commensalism.
True
The community is the simplest level of organization that the ecologist studies.
False
A herd of mule deer living on a certain mountain and sesparated from other herds of mule deer represents a species.
False
Exponential growth curves are generally S shaped.
False
A dead tree is an example of a biotic factor in a forest ecosystem.
True
Catastrophic events like floods are density-dependent factors that affect population growth.
False
In order of smallest to largest, an ecologist studies life at these scales:
Individual, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere
Read the following selection and answer the questions that follow. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve on the Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona. The preserve was created to protect deer from hunting and predation, which had reduced the population of Kaibab deer to only about 4000. Hunters were prohibited from shooting deer, but they were allowed to shoot the deer’s predators, including coyotes and cougars. Between 1907 and 1923, over 600 cougars and 3000 coyotes were trapped or killed. In response, the deer herd began to increase. By 1915, the deer were estimated at 25,000; by 1920, at 50,000; and by 1923, at approximately 100,000. If you were to graph the population of the Kaibab deer from 1906 and 1923, what would you see?
J shaped curve
What is the term scientists use to describe how reproductively successful an organism is in its environment?
Fitness
Which of the following is an interaction in which one organism is harmed and the other benefits (+/-)?
Parasitism
Mass extinctions occur gradually, one species at a time.
False
A trait that is passed to the next generations and promotes an individual’s survival and reproduction is called an adaptation.
false
Which of the following is an example of commensalism
Sharks and remoras
The ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem in which deer eat grass and coyotes eat deer is
the sun
A landslide causes part of a mountainside to fall away, leaving bare rock. In the years immediately following the landslide, the area will experience
primary succesion
Type 1 survivorship curve represents what type of group
Humans
A species introduced to a new environment without limiting factors could become
Invasive
In a food web that consists of grass, mice, deer, coyotes, and hawks, which species is likely to have the greatest biomass?
Grass
In the years immediately after a fire, a forest will experience
Secondary succession
Which of the following is an example of an invasive species in South Florida?
Iguanas
Where 2 different species live together best describes
symbiosis
