A)Bird Species Generally Do Not Compete for Nesting Sites

BIOL 221

Exam 3

1. An ecologist recorded 12 white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, per square mile in one woodlot and 20 per square mile on another woodlot. What was the ecologist comparing?

A)density

B)dispersion

C)carrying capacity

D)quadrats

E)range

1. Which of the following statements is consistent with the principle of competitive exclusion?

A)Bird species generally do not compete for nesting sites.

B)The density of one competing species will have a positive impact on the population growth of the other competing species.

C)Two species with the same fundamental niche will exclude other competing species.

D)Even a slight reproductive advantage will eventually lead to the elimination of the less well adapted of two competing species.

E)Evolution tends to increase competition between related species.

1. During a field trip, an instructor touched a moth resting on a tree trunk. The moth raised its forewings to reveal large eyespots on its hind wings. The instructor asked why the moth lifted its wings. One student answered that sensory receptors had fired and triggered a neuronal reflex culminating in the contraction of certain muscles. A second student responded that the behavior might frighten predators. Which statement best describes these explanations?

A)The first explanation is correct, but the second is incorrect.

B)The first explanation refers to proximate causation, whereas the second refers to ultimate causation.

C)The first explanation is biological, whereas the second is philosophical.

D)The first explanation is testable as a scientific hypothesis, whereas the second is not.

E)Both explanations are reasonable and simply represent a difference of opinion

1. The sum total of an organism's interaction with the biotic and abiotic resources of its environment is called its

A)habitat.

B)logistic growth.

C)biotic potential.

D)carrying capacity.

E)ecological niche

1. You are observing a population of lizards when you notice that the number of adults has increased and is higher than observed just two months before. One explanation for such an observation would include

A)reduction in death rate.

B)increased immigration.

C)increased emigration.

D)decreased emigration.

E)increased birth rate

1. Which of the following best describes resource partitioning?

A)Competitive exclusion results in the success of the superior species.

B)Slight variations in niche allow similar species to coexist.

C)Two species can coevolve to share the same niche.

D)Differential resource utilization results in the decrease in species diversity

E)A climax community is reached when no new niches are available

1. The proximate causes of behavior are interactions with the environment, but behavior is ultimately shaped by

A)hormones.

B)evolution.

C)sexuality.

D)pheromones.

E)the nervous system

1. As you study two closely related predatory insect species, the two-spot and the three-spot avenger beetles, you notice that each species seeks prey at dawn in areas without the other species. However, where their ranges overlap the two-spot avenger beetle hunts at night and the three-spot hunts in the morning. When you bring them into the laboratory, their offspring behave in the same manner. You have discovered an example of

A)mutualism.

B)character displacement.

C)Batesian mimicry.

D)facultative commensalism.

E)resource partitioning

1. Which of the following groups would be most likely to exhibit uniform dispersion?

A)red squirrels, who actively defend territories

B)cattails, which grow primarily at edges of lakes and streams

C)dwarf mistletoes, which parasitize particular species of forest tree

D)moths in a city at night

E)lake trout, which seek out deep water

1. Which of the following is an example of cryptic coloration?

A)bands on a coral snake

B)brown color of tree bark

C)markings of a viceroy butterfly

D)colors of an insect-pollinated flower

E)a "walking stick" insect that resembles a twig

1. In the territorial behavior of the stickleback fish, the red belly of one male elicits attack from another male by functioning as

A)a pheromone.

B)a search image

C)a fixed action pattern.

D)a sign stimulus..

E)an imprint stimulus.

1. A table listing such items as age, observed number of organisms alive each year, and life expectancy is known as a (an)

A)life table.

B)mortality table.

C)survivorship table.

D)rate table.

E)actuarial table

1. Which of the following is an example of Müllerian mimicry?

A)two species of unpalatable butterfly that have the same color pattern

B)a day-flying hawkmoth that looks like a wasp

C)a chameleon that changes its color to look like a dead leaf

D)two species of rattlesnakes that both rattle their tails

E)two species of moths with wing spots that look like owl's eyes

1. Which of the following statements is (are) true of fixed action patterns?

A)They are highly stereotyped, instinctive behaviors.

B)They are triggered by sign stimuli in the environment and, once begun, are continued to completion.

C)An inappropriate stimulus can sometimes trigger them.

D)A and B only

E)A, B, and C

1. Animal communication involves what type of sensory information?

A)visual

B)auditory

C)chemical

D)A and C only

E)A, B, and C

1. Which of the following is an example of Batesian mimicry?

A)an insect that resembles a twig

B)a butterfly that resembles a leaf

C)a non-venomous snake that looks like a venomous snake

D)a fawn with fur coloring that camouflages it in the forest environment

E)a snapping turtle that uses its tongue to mimic a worm, thus attracting fish

Use the survivorship curves below to answer the following questions.

1. Which curve best describes survivorship in marine mollusks?

1. Which curve best describes survivorship in elephants?

1. Which curve best describes survivorship in humans who live in developed nations?

1. Which curve best describes survivorship that is independent of age?

1. A chemical produced by an animal that serves as a communication to another animal of the same species is called

A)a marker.

B)an inducer.

C)a pheromone.

D)an imprinter.

E)an agonistic chemical

1. Which of the following is an example of aposematic coloration?

A)stripes of a skunk

B)eye color in humans

C)green color of a plant

D)colors of an insect-pollinated flower

E)a katydid whose wings look like a dead leaf

1. Which scientist formulated four questions that motivate the modern study of animal behavior?

A)E. O. Wilson

B)Jane Goodall

C)J. B. S. Haldane

D)Niko Tinbergen

E)William Hamilton

1. Logistic growth of a population is represented by dN/dt =

A)rN/K

B)rN

C)rN (K + N)

D)rN (K-N)/K

E)rN (N-K)/K

1. Dwarf mistletoes are flowering plants that grow on certain forest trees. They obtain nutrients and water from the vascular tissues of the trees. The trees derive no known benefits from the dwarf mistletoes and may be harmed by them. Which of the following best describes the interactions between dwarf mistletoes and trees?

A)mutualism

B)parasitism

C)commensalism

D)facilitation

E)competition

1. The time during imprinting when specific behaviors can be learned is called the

A)window of imprinting.

B)major period.

C)sensitive period.

D)timing imprint.

E)significant window.

1. In order to construct a reproductive table for a sexual species, you need to

A)assess sperm viability.

B)keep track of all of the offspring of a cohort.

C)keep track of the females in a cohort.

D)keep track of all of the offspring of the females in a cohort.

E)keep track of the ratio of deaths to births in a cohort

1. The species richness of a community refers to the

A)complexity of the food web.

B)number of different species.

C)the bottom-heavy shape of the energy pyramid.

D)relative numbers of individuals in each species.

E)total number of all organisms

1. Evidence shows that some grasses benefit from being grazed. Which of the following terms would best describe this plant-herbivore interaction?

A)mutualism

B)commensalism

C)parasitism

D)competition

E)predation

1. A type of learning that can occur only during a brief period of early life and results in a behavior that is difficult to modify through later experiences is called

A)insight.

B)imprinting.

C)habituation.

D)operant conditioning.

E)trial-and-error learning.

1. In a tide pool, 15 species of invertebrates were reduced to eight after one species was removed. The species removed was likely a(n)

A)community facilitator.

B)keystone species.

C)herbivore.

D)resource partitioner.

E)mutualistic organism

1. Sow bugs become more active in dry areas and less active in humid areas. This is an example of

A)taxis.

B)tropism.

C)kinesis.

D)cognition.

E)net reflex

1. The dominant species in a community is

A)characterized by very large individuals with long lives.

B)the best competitor in the community.

C)the best predator in the community.

D)the species that contributes the most biomass to the community.

E)the most energetically efficient species in the community.

1. Demography is the study of

A)the vital statistics of populations and how they change over time.

B)death and emigration rates of a population at any moment in time.

C)the survival patterns of a population.

D)life expectancy of individuals within a population.

E)reproductive rates of a population during a given year.

1. Loss of responsiveness to stimuli that convey little or no new information is called

A)adapting.

B)spacing.

C)conditioning.

D)imprinting.

E)habituation.

1. Natural selection involves energetic trade-offs between

A)choosing how many offspring to produce over the course of a lifetime and how long to live.

B)producing large numbers of gametes when employing internal fertilization versus fewer numbers of gametes when employing external fertilization.

C)the emigration of individuals when they are no longer reproductively capable or committing suicide.

D)increasing the number of individuals produced during each reproductive episode with a corresponding decrease in parental care.

E)high survival rates of offspring and the cost of parental care.

1. Learning in which an associated stimulus may be used to elicit the same behavioral response as the original sign stimulus is called

A)concept formation.

B)trial-and-error.

C)classical conditioning.

D)operant conditioning.

E)habituation.

1. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning differ in that

A)classical conditioning takes longer.

B)operant conditioning usually involves more intelligence.

C)operant conditioning involves consequences for the animal's behavior.

D)classical conditioning is restricted to mammals and birds.

E)classical conditioning is much more useful for training domestic animals

1. Animals tend to maximize their energy intake-to-expenditure ratio. What is this behavior called?

A)agonistic behavior

B)optimal foraging

C)dominance hierarchies

D)animal cognition

E)territoriality

1. As N approaches K for a certain population, which of the following is predicted by the logistic equation?

A)The growth rate will not change.

B)The growth rate will approach zero.

C)The population will show an Allee effect.

D)The population will increase exponentially.

E)The carrying capacity of the environment will increase

ESSAY:

Choose and answer only 3 of the following…. (5pts ea.)

1. What term defines the role of the sea otter? Describe how the loss of sea otters affects the communities in which they are a part? Include other important species in this dynamic.

2. Diagram a potential food web including cougars, foxes, eagles, grass, voles, fungi. Include indications of trophic levels (primary producers, primary/secondary/tertiary consumers, decomposers) for the organisms involved.

3. What is a cross-fostering study? How does it work? What is being tested? Provide an example of a cross-fostering study (real or imagined).

4. Describe the differences between type I, type II, and type III survivorship curves. Diagram each and provide an example organism for each type.

5. What type of growth curve results from exponential growth? What effect on that curve does carrying capacity impose? When carrying capacity is considered, exponential growth shift to what type of growth? Provide graph examples of each type.