Lecture 1 - life cycles to life histories

Question 1

Definition of organismal ecology

Answer 1

concerned with behavioural, physiological and morphological traits that mediate interactions between individuals, species and environment

Question 2

Definition of population

Answer 2

a group of individuals of the same species living and interacting in a particular geographic area

Question 3

Definition of population ecology

Answer 3

examines factors that limit and regulate population size and composition

Question 4

Definition of community

Answer 4

consists of all the individuals of all the species that inhabit a particular geographic area

Question 5

Definition of community ecology

Answer 5

examines interactions among populations

Question 6

6 factors that drive distribution and abundance

Answer 6

birth, death, immigration, emigration, colonisation, extinction

Question 7

unitary organisms

Answer 7

easy to recognise genetically separate individuals

their form is determinate - programmed from birth

Question 8

modular organisms

Answer 8

growth is indeterminate
growth occurs by repeated production of modules
the individual genet is not dead until all of its modules are dead

Question 9

definition of senescence

Answer 9

the process of deterioration with age

Question 10

definition of semelparity

Answer 10

a reproductive pattern in which large numbers of offspring are produced in one reproductive event, after which the individual often dies
“big bang reproduction”

Question 11

definition of iteroparity

Answer 11

reproductive pattern in which organisms produce several offspring during repeated reproductive episodes

Question 12

definition of ephemeral

Answer 12

organism has a very short lifespan - most complete life cycle in <8 weeks

Question 13

definition of a survival curve

Answer 13

a graph showing the proportion of a population living after a given age

Question 14

R0 (diseases)

Answer 14

the number of people that one sick person will infect on average

Question 15

generation time

Answer 15

average time between birth of individuals and birth of their offspring

Question 16

generation time equation

Answer 16

XLxMx/R0

Question 17

Px

Answer 17

survivorship of age x females to age x + 1

Question 18

Fa

Answer 18

fertility

Question 19

Birth pulse equation

Answer 19

PxMx+1

Question 20

pre-breeding equation

Answer 20

P0Mx
P0= those surviving to age 1
no new borns counted

Question 21

population growth can be increased by which 3 things?

Answer 21

1. increased survival
2. increased reproduction
3. decreased generation time

Question 22

exponential population growth

Answer 22

a population of a few individuals
environment with no limiting factors
no restriction on available energy
no restriction on growth or reproduction

Question 23

what does r mean?

Answer 23

the intrinsic rate of increase

Question 24

definition of carrying capacity (k)

Answer 24

the maximum stable population size in a habitat that can be supported for a long period of time