rq questions Flashcards
Which of the following is NOT an example of a life history tradeoff?
i. Offspring produced in large numbers have fewer defenses against environmental stresses.
ii. Investing in parental care increases survivorship of juveniles.
iii. Smaller individuals produce fewer offspring than larger individuals.
iv. Small seeds disperse further but have fewer resources for germination.
ii, iii
Why does reproductive value (vx) increase rather than decrease after birth?
newborns have many reproductive years ahead
the reproductive strategy referred to as seed masting involves:
producing more seeds than a predator can consume in one season
In Robert Paine’s 1966 experiment, mussels became the dominant species because of the removal of:
Their microbiome
The tidal environment
Their parasites
Their predator
their predator
Natural populations are typically below K because:
Natural enemies act in density-independent ways.
Few species have no natural enemies.
Pathogens are rare in nature.
Many species have overlapping generations.
few species have no natural species
What is NOT a possible outcome of the Lotka-Volterra competition model?
Species 1 outcompetes Species 2.
Both species stably co-exist with their population sizes remaining above K.
Species 2 outcompetes Species 1.
Species 1 or Species 2 wins out, depending on the initial advantage
both species stably co-exist with their pop sizes remaining above K
A metapopulation is:
A population made up of more than one species.
All populations of different species in a given area.
A group of spatially separated populations of the same species.
A population that fits the predictions of theoretical models.
a group of spatially separated populations of the same species
If the migration stopped between a source and sink population, how would this affect the population size of the sink population?
It would decrease, but not by much.
It would not change at all.
It would decrease, until the point of extinction.
It would increase.
it would decrease, until the point of extinction
Based on Peers et al. (2020), how might climate change alter the balance between lynx and coyotes as predators of snowshoe hares?
Coyotes will likely benefit from reduced snow depth, as they are more capable than lynx of hunting hares in shallow snow.
According to Peers et al. (2020), how might lengthy periods of shallow snow impact the peak amplitudes of snowshoe hare population cycles?
reductions in snow depth are predicted to lower the peak amplitudes of hares by decreasing winter survival
Based on Peers et al. (2020), how do the authors think the effects of reduced snow depth will affect hares and lynx across the boreal forest?
The demographic processes driving hare population cycles are consistent across the boreal forest, so reduced snow depth will likely lead to similar impacts on predator-prey dynamics throughout the region.
How do snow conditions affect the mobility of snowshoe hares?
Hares are less mobile when snow is soft no matter the depth, which increases their predation risk from coyotes.
What methodology is currently considered to be “state-of-the-art” for quantifying which trophic level an organism occupies?
measuring the ratio of stable isotopes in tissue
Studies of trophic cascades in natural populations have led to some generalizations. One of them is:
Trophic cascades are more likely to occur in aquatic systems.
What would be good evidence of a trophic cascade?
removing a tertiary consumer alters the structure of the food web
