Random

Question 1

demography

Answer 1

the study of factors that determine the size and structure of a population over time

Question 2

Life Tables Purpose

Answer 2

summarize the probabilities that an individual age class will survive and reproduce in any given year over the individual’s lifetime

Question 3

What is the main cause of density-dependent growth?

Answer 3

intraspecific competition, as increased competition for limited resources decreases the resources available for reproducetion… this is what makes the population follow K

this is exacerbated by GAS- General Adaptation Syndrome

Question 4

GAS- General Adaptation Syndrome

Answer 4

a physiological-based response system where short-term gains of survival in high population density situations are paired with long term costs

basically, the short term benefit of “fight or flight,” when experienced frequently, carries with it the costs of decreased immunity and reproductive potential in the individual

Question 5

Niche

Answer 5

• summarizes the environmental factors that influence the growth, survival, and reproduction of a species
• consists of all the factors necessary for its existence approximately when, where, and how a species makes its living

Question 6

Hutchinson’s Niche Paper

Answer 6

• defined the niche as an n-dimensional hypervolume (n=#of environmental factors important to the survival and reproduction of the species)
• fundamental niche: defines the physical conditions under which a species might live, in the absence of interactions with other species (the abiotic environment)
• realized niche: the actual niche of a species that is resticted through its interactions (competition, predation, disease, etc) with other species

Question 7

Competitive Exclusion Principle

Answer 7

• states that two species with identical niches cannot coexist in that niche indefinitely
• says the costs (in both competition itself and the loss of potential resources) of competition are great enough that the better competing species will exclude the lesser competitor from the niche
• The species that is out-competed will likely go extinct from the area

Question 8

adaptive radiation

Answer 8

the evolution to fill available niche space

Question 9

resource partitioning

Answer 9

describes the differentiation of niches, both in space and time that enables similar species to coexist in the same community

Question 10

scramble/exploitative competition

Answer 10

the competing individuals target the resource, and there may be no direct interaction between the two

Question 11

interference competition

Answer 11

individuals target the competitor and not necessarily the resource

Question 12

succession

Answer 12

gradual change in an area over time

Question 13

Why is vegetative succession the primarily talked-about type of succession?

Answer 13

• it is one of the more well-studied forms of succession, and we are at the point where we can make generalizations about succession based on data from vegetative succession studies
• vegetative succession tends to be more predictable than other forms of succession
• changes in vegetation typically get predictable changes in other areas as well