Lab Midterm Exam Flashcards
Define ecology
the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and their physical surroundings
What are four methods of effective scientific communication?
Having a take-home message
Connecting with your audience
Making numbers more accessible via metaphors and graphics
Telling a story
What is the difference between a null and alternative hypothesis?
null - no change
adjacent - difference in populations
What is an example of a descriptive statistic that measures shape?
mean, median, or mode
What is an example of a descriptive statistic that measures spread?
standard deviation, variance
Why are descriptive statistics that measure shape and spread important?
both show info of the entire populations
What is a p-value?
probability for a given statistical model that, when the null hypothesis is true, the statistical summary would be equal to or more than the actual observed results
How is a p-value used in hypothesis testing?
Used to determine whether or not the null hypothesis is rejected or failed to be rejected
Define evolution as a scientist.
the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the hiwstory of the earth - difference in freq of alleles over time
Define evolution as a non-scientist
gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form
What are six mechanisms of evolutionary change
genetic drift, bottleneck effect, founders effect, natural selection, mutation, and migration
Describe genetic drift
flow of genes in and out of a population due to chance
Describe a bottleneck effect
a natural disaster occurs and the variety of genes in a population becomes very narrow
Describe the founders effect
organisms move to establish their own population with their own genes
Describe natural selection
survival of the fittests
Describe mutation
occurs due to changes in DNA
Describe migration
organisms coming in and out of populations
Explain the connection between evolution and climate change.
· Climate change can have an affect on phenology of vegetation
· Climate change can shift a population into different geographical areas
· There is a shift in the type of organisms found in certain locations
o Dispersal based on adaption
According to Wilson (1991) what is the primary cause of death in the gopher tortoises she studies?
· The cause of death for the gopher tortoises was found to be by predation
Is the cause of death of the tortoises due to density-independent or density-dependent factors? Explain the difference between those two factors.
· Density-dependent
· It is density-dependent because it is not caused by a random disaster such as fire, tornado, etc. in that case it would be density-independent.
Describe density dependent factors
competition for resources (food, water, light)
predation
diseases and parasites
waste accumulation
Describe density independent factors
natural disasters
What is carrying capacity and why is it important?
· Carrying capacity is the limit at which a population in time has reached their limit of vital resources to help maintain a healthy steady growing population
· The maximum amount of individuals an environment can sustain
Species differ in the time it takes them to reach sexual maturity and produce their first
offspring. What are the advantages and disadvantages of reproducing early versus late?
early reproduction ( r selection)
- “Quantity over quality”
- High reproductive rate
- Many offspring do not
survive to adulthood
- Generally small in size
- Small parental
investment in offspring
late reproduction (k selection)
*“Quality over quantity”
* Low reproductive rate
* Most offspring will
survive to adulthood
*Generally large in size
* Large parental
investment in offspring
Draw the three possible types of life history strategies and label them with example
species that exhibit each type
- Organisms can’t afford to have many well-cared for
offspring - There’s a trade-off between having many, poorly
cared for offspring or having few, well-cared for
offspring - Different species use different strategies
T1: low infant and juvenile mortality rates, most die elderly (humans)
T11: All ages have same mortality rates (birds)
TIII: juvenile mortality rate is highest and lowest is adult (plants)
What does a net reproductive rate (R0) value of 0.85 mean? What about 1.00? Or 1.45?
- R0 value of 0.85 means that the population is shrinking
- R0 value of 1.00 means that the population is stable
- R0 value of 1.45 means that the population is growing
What do Franks et al. (2007) predict will happen to flowering time in the drought versus
non-drought populations of field mustard plants? What evolutionary mechanism is
creating differences among the populations?
Franks et al. (2007) predicts that drought populations will flower earlier.
The evolutionary mechanism is natural selection.
Density dependent is to __ as density independent is due to __
biotic
abiotic
