PAIx

Question 1

Differentiate standard deviation and standard error.

Answer 1

Deviation: the variation in the data.
Error: the variation in the means.

Question 2

Differentiate Fundamental and realized niche.

Answer 2

Fundamental is where an organism can survive. Realized is what they actually can use because of interactions.

Question 3

What does greater variance do to a normal distribution curve?

Answer 3

Makes its peak shorter, and wider.

Question 4

What does greater variance do to a normal distribution curve?

Answer 4

Makes its peak shorter, and wider.

Question 5

Why is the world green?

Answer 5

Population regulation. (top down by press, bottom up by resources, lateral by competition)

Question 6

What are meta-population dynamics?

Answer 6

The study of interactions in a population through time and space. Including immigration, emigration. Can be local extinctions and repopulations.

Question 7

What is a meta population?

Answer 7

Made up of a number of small groups of individuals. These sub populations occupy habitat patches.

Question 8

How do we qualify disturbances?

Answer 8

Type (biotic or abiotic), Frequency (diurnal, annual, random), Severity ( tsunami vs. Tide)

Question 9

Describe and apply the intermediate disturbance hypothesis

Answer 9

Describes how species diversity is highest at a medium level of disturbance, because at high end: low tolerance to the disturbance, at low end: competitive exclusion. Apply to

Question 10

What’s competitive exclusion?

Answer 10

When multiple species are competing for a limiting resource, they may not coexist at a constant population size. The one better suited to the environment will win out in the long term.

Question 11

Press vs pulse disturbance.

Answer 11

Press is consistent. Pulse is once in a while

Question 12

Why must plants defend themselves?

Answer 12

They are sessile, must limit how much herbivores may consume them…

Question 13

Mechanical defence. Why?

Answer 13

A physical feature or response in plant defence. Can be

1) Inducible (turned on in response to perceived danger) (more effective if danger is infrequent)
2) Constitutive (always there.) (better bang for buck if more consistent predation)

Question 14

Chemical defence. Why?

Answer 14

A chemical feature for plant defence.

1) qualitative (how significant is the chemical?)
2) quantitative (how much of the chemical is there. The more there is, the more it’s defended)

Question 15

In plant anatomy, what is a node vs an internodes?

Answer 15

Nodes are where new growth of stem, leaves, and stuff occurs. Internodes are the areas between the nodes.

Question 16

Plant organ types:

Answer 16

Stems
leaves
roots

Question 17

Plant tissue types:

Answer 17

Epidermis
Vascular
Mesoderm

Question 18

What is a digestibility reducer?

Answer 18

A constitutive defence. Makes it less rewarding to consume the plant. Typically in cell wall (structural) or vacuole(chemical).

Question 19

What are the four parts of a stage based approach to invasion?

Answer 19

1) Transport
2) Establishment
3) Spread
4) Impact

Question 20

Four categories of mutualism?

Answer 20

Energetic
Nutritional
Protective
Transport

Question 21

What determines type of plant defence (qual vs. quant) and why?

Answer 21

Plant apparently theory:
if it is apparent, then quantitative
if it is not apparent, qualitative

Because Apparent ones are more likely to be consumed will need more available, consistent defence. Better energy investment. Non- apparent are better with small quantities of a qualitative defence to defend against occasional specialist herbivores.

Question 22

Resource availability theory

Answer 22

Whatever resources are available will be used by a plant for defence.

Question 23

Polyphagy vs. monophagy.

Answer 23

Generalists vs specialists.
Generalists = broad breadth of diet
Specialists = typically highly coevolved. tend to be r selected

Question 24

R vs K selected

Answer 24

R is live fast die young

K is live slow, die old

Question 25

Generalism. Why? and by which mechanism

Answer 25

Decreases competition.( By resource partitioning.
Think different parts of the tree used by diff birds.
Access same resources in a diff way.)

Decrease toxin exposure. You can choose what to eat and what not to.

Predator avoidance. Choose what will kill your parasitoids (woolly bears)

Question 26

Hit me with the experiment funnel.

Answer 26

1) Big question
2) Study system and trait
3) Challenges? + how you address them?
4) Explicit hypotheses
5) Design specific study/ experiment

Question 27

What is the trophic cascade?

Answer 27

A negative direct causes a positive indirect effect.

Ex. deers decreased by predation (-ve) then plants increase (+ve)

Question 28

What is a regression analysis? When do you use it?

Answer 28

Used for data where dependent and independent are continuous. You would use a SCATTERPLOT.

Can be simple linear w ONE independent
Multiple regression with MULTIPLE independents
Non linear

Question 29

Characteristics shared by invasive species.

Answer 29

High fecundity
Small body size
High genetic diversity
High phenotypic plasticity
Vegetative or asexual reproduction
Broad native range
Abundant in native range
Physiological tolerance
Habitat generalist
Human commensal
Loss of natural enemies
Polyphagy

Question 30

What leads to invasion?

Answer 30

Species-poor habitats
Habitats disturbed
Islands