Biology 423 – Exam # 1. Answer all the questions. There are more than 20 extra points on this exam, on the off chance that you are not perfect.
Name (1 point if printed neatly) ______
Multiple choice (2 pts each)
1. What technological innovations were responsible for the demise of the passenger pigeon?
a) high quality firearmsb) the railroadc) a+bd) neither a nor b
2. What does acetylcholinesterase do for the rainbow trout?
a) it synthesizes acetylcholineb) it breaks down acetylcholine
c) it promotes the transmission of acetylcholine to the postsynaptic nerve cell
d) none of the above
3. Which of the following describe heat flow between a solid body and a moving fluid?
a) Hcb) Hsc) Hmd) Hcde) Hcvf) Hrg) He
4. Which of the following is surprisingly important in the natural history of skunk cabbage?
a) Hcb) Hsc) Hmd) Hcde) Hcvf) Hrg) He
5. Which generally have the broadest thermal neutral zones?
a) tropical animalsb) temperate zone animalsc) polar animals
6. Batesian mimicry is very costly to the model when
a) the model is commonb) when the mimic is rarec) a+bd) neither a nor b
7. Mullerian mimicry is very costly to the model when
a) the model is commonb) when the mimic is rarec) a+bd) neither a nor b
8. What biome is associated with the following
climate diagram?a) desertb) tropical rain forest
c) tropical dry forestd) tropical savanna
e) temperate shrublandf) temperate grassland
g) temperate foresth) boreal foresti) tundra
9. What biome is associated with the following
climate diagram?a) desertb) tropical rain forest
c) tropical dry forestd) tropical savanna
e) temperate shrublandf) temperate grassland
g) temperate foresth) boreal foresti) tundra
10. Which of the following favors the evolution of hermaphroditism?
a) high mobilityb) high overlap in resource demands by female and male structures and functions c) a+b d) neither a nor b
11. Why do new males that take over a pride kill the existing lion cubs?
a) to demonstrate to females their dominanceb) because they need to replenish their food reserves after fighting with the previous males c) to bring the females into estrus
d) none of the above
12. Eusocial insects do not have which of the following traits
a) sterile castesb) cooperative care of youngc) only one generation is alive at any one point in time d) all of the above are traits of eusocial insects.
13. Which is true of Tilman and Cowan's study on plants?
a) shoot/root ratios decreased as soil nitrogen levels increased
b) high nitrogen led to reduced investment in shoots
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
14. Who is likely to have a lower degree of relatedness?
a) you and your motherb) sisters in a eusocial ant colonyc) naked mole rats
15. Where is it more likely that unrelated males will team up to form a coalition in lions?
a) small group of malesb) large group of malesc) there is no correlation between male group size and degree of relatedness
16. What did Marshall’s research on radishes reveal?
a) radishes mate randomly with each otherb) there may be interference competition between pollen grains c) a+b d) neither a nor b
17. Randy Thornhill did the following: he put 12 male scorpionflies in an aquarium with 6 crickets. Six scorpionflies took the crickets and 6 scorpionflies exude saliva as a nuptial gift for the females. He then removed the 6 cricket takers. What happened to the 6 saliva exuders?
a) they all became cricket ownersb) they all remained saliva exuders
c) some became cricket owners and some remained saliva exuders
d) this never happened because no sane person would do this experiment
18. Which of the following treatments resulted in increased coloration in male guppies in Endler’s greenhouse experiment?
a) pike cichlidb) Rivulusc) guppies onlyd) a+be) a+cf) b+c
g) all treatments resulted in increased male coloration
19. Which of the following is true about pumas?
a) they are larger near the equator than they are near the arcticb) larger pumas eat larger prey
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
20. Pirt’s study on bioremediation with bacteria did which of the following?
a) developed techniques for breaking down horse manure
b) used thermophilic bacteria and bacteria active at 37 degrees
c) converted almost all of the organic matter to water and oxygen
d) none of the above
21. Which prediction of the prey choice model was supported by Krebs’s study on great tits?
a) never ignore the highest ranking (in terms of profitability) prey
b) less profitable prey should be ignored when its profitability is low
c) animals should shift from random foraging to foraging on the more profitable prey at a specific encounter rate with the more profitable prey
22. Park’s study on water acquisition by plants indicated that
a) Eleusine grew on coastal dunes but Digitaria didn’t
b) Unwatered Eleusine’s mass increased more rapidly than Digitaria’s
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
23. Which of the following is not true of Toolson’s study on cicadas?
a) at 100% relative humidity, the cicada body temperature in an environmental chamber was equal to the air temperature
b) water movement measured by sensors mounted above the cuticle increased at high temperatures
c) the rate of water loss by Diceroprocta is among the lowest ever reported for a terrestrial insect
d) plugging holes on the dorsal surface inhibited Diceroprocta from being able to cool itself
24. What is true about most marine bony fish?
a) they are strongly hyperosmotic to the surrounding medium
b) they tend to lose water across their gillsc) they need to pump in extra sodium to their cells
d) they have a very high quantity of urine
25. What do studies of thermoregulation reveal in relation to hummingbirds?
a) hummingbird enter torpor when they arrive at breeding sites when flowers are abundant
b) when nectar per flower increases from high visitation rates
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
26. Which are true about desert-adapted plants?
a) they have low values of Hcv to windb) they have high values of Hcd from the ground
c) they reduce Hr by orienting their leaves perpendicular to sunlightd) none of the above
27. Which is the top soil horizon?a) ab) bc) cd) o
28. Which has the highest human population density among tropical forests of Central America?
a) rainb) wetc) moistd) dry
29. What type of ecological zone was modeled by Bruce Milne?
a) ecotoneb) lithosolc) caliched) taigae) tundra
30. Kerner’s transplant experiments in the Alps demonstrated which of the following:
a) differences in growth form are morphological adjustments to environmental variation
b) differences in growth form are due to genetic factorsc) a+bd) neither a nor b
31. Studies by Case and Tracey on the chuckwalla, Sauromalus obesus show
a) variation in winter rainfall increases with elevation
b) Chuckwallas grow to larger size where winter rainfall is lower
c) in a “common garden” both males and females from lower elevation populations are larger
d) none of the above
32. Research by Carrol and Boyd on soapberry bugs indicates which of the following?
a) there is an inverse relationship between fruit radius and beak length
b) there is a genetic basis for differences in beak length
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
33. Research on darters by Turner and Trexler indicate that
a) large female darters produce fewer eggsb) darters that produce larger eggs lay fewer
c) darters producing larger eggs have higher gene flow
d) darters producing more eggs have less gene flow
34. Which of the following is inversely related?
a) seed mass and seedling recruitmentb) see mass and seedling dry mass
c) seed mass and seedling heightd) none of the above
35. Which has a higher degree of polymorphism?a) reptilesb) birdsc) rodents
d) marine invertebrates
36. Which type(s) of natural selection tend to increase variation within a population?
a) disruptive selectionb) directional selectionc) a+bd) neither a nor b
Short Answers
1. (5 points) Here are the population sizes over five generations: 100, 80, 10, 100, 90.
a) What is the algebraic mean population size?
b) What is the effective population size?
2. (10 points) You are doing research in the tropics and discover a new species of beetle which is found in two morphs. Morph 1 has enlarged mandibles that you discover is used in fighting. Morph 2 has normal sized mandibles. After months of research, you are able to show that these differences result from the action of 1 gene with normal mandibles being dominant over enlarged mandibles. Thus M is the allele for normal mandibles and m is the allele for large mandibles. Using advanced molecular technique you discover that in your population of 100 beetles, 61 are MM, 38 are Mm and 1 is mm.
a) What are the genotype frequencies?
b) What are the allele frequencies?
c) Given the allele frequencies from (b) what would be the genotype frequencies under Hardy Weinberg equilibrium?
d) Given that the population is not in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium, what would you investigate next about the beetles?
3. (5 pts) a) How many tropical insects are there according to Terry Erwin’s estimate?
b) Describe in detail (include the math) the methods that Terry Erwin used to estimate the number of tropical insects?
4. (6 pts) a) How does a research project differ from a research program?
b) Use any research program of your choosing to highlight how these two differ from each other.
5. (6 pts) When Likens and Bormann deforested part of Hubbard Brook Watershed, there were some interesting effects. In particular, (a) describe how the net output of Ca+, NH4, NO3 and S changed. (b) What are some possible explanations for these changes? (one of them we weren’t able to figure out in class).
6. (3 pts) Given the following values of , what is the water potential of fluids near the top of a tree?
solutes = - 0.4
matric = -1.3
pressure= -2.2
air = - 55.0
7. (6 pts) Here are some temperature and precipitation data for two locations in the United States. For each location, predict the appropriate biome based on Neilson’s model
Month / Tempat A / Precip
at A / Temp
at B / Precip
at B
Jan. / 3 / 70 / 15 / 100
Feb. / 5 / 90 / 17 / 150
Mar. / 8 / 110 / 20 / 200
Apr. / 14 / 110 / 24 / 50
May / 19 / 90 / 28 / 30
June / 24 / 80 / 30 / 20
July / 26 / 80 / 31 / 15
Aug. / 25 / 75 / 30 / 10
Sep. / 20 / 90 / 27 / 20
Oct. / 15 / 95 / 22 / 30
Nov. / 9 / 100 / 18 / 50
Dec. / 6 / 80 / 16 / 150
A = ______
B = ______
8. For each of the following, put an A if it refers to C3 photosynthesis, B if it refers to C4 photosynthesis, C if it refers to CAM photosynthesis, and a 0 if it refers to none of them. Some statements may have more than one correct answer. You get 1 point for each correct answer, and –1 point for each wrong answer.
______carbon fixation occurs at night
______Calvin cycle occurs in mesophll cells
______uses PEP carboxylase
______oxaloacetate is formed in bundle sheath cell
9. (4 pts) Imagine you spend your summers watching mongooses hunting snakes. You discover the following: The mongoose takes on average 90 minutes to find a snake. The handling time is 60 minutes (the snakes put up a very good fight). The mongoose get 1000 calories for each snake he subdues (on average).
a) What value will the mongoose be maximizing with its behavior (I need a number for both a and b)?
b) What is the profitability of snakes to mongooses?
10. (6 pts) In some species of birds, female egg production is almost unlimited, because they spend their mating season in an area that has tremendous amounts of food available to them. How might you expect the social behavior and morphology of males and females in these species to differ from the more usual pattern in birds?
Name (8 points) ______Ecology – Exam # 2
Please answer the following multiple choice questions. There is only one correct answer per question. There are many extra credit points embedded in the exam, so you can mess up a bit and still do fine (not that I’m recommending you mess up on purpose).
1. Honeyguides have a mutualistic interaction with
a) humansb) beesc) bearsd) raccoonse) none of these
2. In Nancy Johnson's study on mycorrhizae and the effects of fertilization, which plants had the highest flower production?
a) plants without mycorrhizaeb) plants with mycorrhizae from unfertilized soil
c) plants with mycorrhizae from fertilized soil
3. Which of the following is true regarding the yucca/yucca moth mutualism?
a) there is a negative correlation between number of eggs and flower retention
b) intermediate number of oviposition scars has the highest level of flower retention
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
4. Which of the following are fungal energy storage organs within root cortex cells?
a) vesiclesb) hyphaec) arbuscles
5. Research on darters by Turner and Trexler indicate that
a) large female darters produce fewer eggsb) darters that produce larger eggs lay fewer
c) darters producing larger eggs have higher gene flow
d) darters producing more eggs have less gene flow
6. Which of the following is inversely related?
a) seed mass and seedling recruitmentb) seed mass and seedling dry mass
c) seed mass and seedling heightd) none of the above
7. Which is associated with r-selectiona) low value of rmb) weak competitive ability
c) slow developmentd) iteroparous reproduction
8. Ruderals are dominant under conditions of
a) low disturbance and low stressb) low disturbance and high stress
c) high disturbance and low stressd) high disturbance and high stress
9. Regarding Bertschy and Fox’s study on pumpkinseed sunfish
a) each population was a data pointb) each species was a data point
c) they did a comparison of two species in different environments
10. What was Peters’s recommendations regarding slash and burn agriculture?
a) it should be banned because it is a significant contributor to air pollution and global warming
b) it should be banned because it causes serious soil erosion
c) long range efforts should be directed toward determining optimum cycles of slashing and burning d) none of the above
11. In the ant/aspen sunflower mutualism studied by Dan Janzen, did the sunflowers provide housing for the ants? a) always b) under restricted conditions c) never
12. Why do grasses easily establish themselves on the forest savannah border following a burn?
a) because fierce winds dry the soil and make it less conducive to forest
b) because annual fires keep trees from reestablishing themselves
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
13. Which type of distribution pattern is typically observed in populations of plants and animals on a large scale? a) random b) regular (uniform) c) clumped d) all of the above
e) none of the above
14. Which of the following species is most vulnerable to extinction?
a) extensive geographic range, narrow habitat tolerance, and small local population
b) restricted geographic range, narrow habitat tolerance, and small local population
c) restricted geographic range, narrow habitat tolerance, and large local population
d) extensive geographic range, narrow habitat tolerance, and large local population
e) extensive geographic range, broad habitat tolerance, and large local population
15. If Ro = 0.8, what is the fate of the population?a) increaseb) remain stable
c) decreased) become highly dynamice) none of the above
16. The tunicate Thalia democratica shows what type of growth rate in response to phytoplankton blooms? a) geometric b) logistic c) exponential
17. Which of the following is a density independent factor?
a) diseaseb) competitionc) hurricanesd) all are density dependent
18. An index of dispersion of 1.0 would imply what type of distribution
a) randomb) regular (uniform)c) clumped
19. Which of the following is true?
a) on a per unit area basis, extinction rates of molluscs, birds and mammals are higher on islands than on continents
b) not taking area into account, extinction rates of molluscs, birds and mammals are higher on islands than on continents
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
20. At carrying capacity, the birth rate of a species of bacteria = 2 per hour. What is the death rate?
a) 2 per hourb) less than 2 per hourc) greater than 2 per hour
d) need more information to answer this question
21. Which of the following is a reasonable graph of (k-N)/k vs. N?
22. Assuming that the carrying capacities of two competing species are somewhat different, which values of the competition coefficients are least likely to lead to stable coexistence?
a) both = .01b) both = 0.1c) both = 1.0 d) both = 10
23. In Grant's study of character displacement in the Galapagos
a) The beaks of Geospiza fortis are smaller on Santa Cruz, where it is sympatric with G. fuliginosa than on Daphne Major
b) The beaks of G. fuliginosa are smaller on Santa Cruz, where it is sympatric with G. fortis, than on Los Hermanos c) a+b d) neither a nor b
24. Which of the following are true regarding Gause's experiments on paramecia?
a) at full-strength food concentration, Paramecium aurelia declined but exclusion was not complete
b) at half-strength food concentration P. aurelia was competitively excluded by P. caudatum
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
25. Which of the following is true about the age distribution in Rwanda in comparison to Hungary?
a) Rwanda has a much greater proportion of people in the prereproductive age classes
b) Rwanda has a much greater proportion of people in the reproductive age classes
c) Rwanda has a much greater proportion of people in the postreproductive age classes
d) none of the above is true
26. What was assumed by the life-table study on mud turtles?
a) the fertility rate is constantb) only females are produced
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
27. In Joe Connel’s study of competition in barnacle
a) in the upper intertidal, removing Balanus had a significant effect on survival by Chthamalus
b) In the middle intertidal, removing Balanus has no significant effect on survival by Chthamalus
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
28. Which is a +/0 interaction?
a) mutualismb) amensalismc) commensalismd) parasitism
29. The greatest variation in r among populations of Daphnia magma exposed to DCA was due to
a) variation in concentration of DCAb) variation due to the genotype of Daphnia
c) variation due to interaction between the genotype and the environment
30. After adjusting for body size, which group of animals lives at the highest population densities?
a) aquatic invertebratesb) terrestrial invertebratesc) mammalsd) birds
e) vertebrate poikilotherms
31. What is true of creosote bushes?
a) very young plants show a clumped distribution b) mature plants show a regular distribution
c) a+bd) neither a nor b
32. What is true about swidden fires?
a) they are intentionally setb) they have very little impact on temperature a few cm below the soil c) a+b d) neither a nor b
33. Which of the following is not an assumption of the logistic model
a) effect of density on rate of increase is instantaneousb) environment is constant
c) no immigration or emigrationd) all of the above are assumptions of the logistic model