Biology 365 - Ecology Name_______________________________ Winter Quarter 1992 Final Exam Please answer each multiple choice question on the sheet provided for you. Choose the best answer. Each multiple choice question is worth three (3) points. Please answer the essay questions at the end of the exam. 1. What does an ecologist mean by the term "niche"? a. An indentation in a wall that holds a statue. b. The environmental conditions under which a species is able to survive. c. The habitat in which the species lives. d. The food a species eats. 2. Early successional trees usually have seeds that are dispersed by wind or birds. a. True b. False 3. What is the prediction of the Lotka-Volterra predator prey equations? a. Predators and prey will reach single equilibrium population numbers. b. Predators and prey will have stable limit cycles. c. Predators will eat prey until they go extinct. d. Prey will find refuges and predators will go extinct allowing prey to become abundant again. 4. Under what conditions would a poikilothermic organism have an advantage over a homeothermic one? a. Under cold, dry conditions. b. Under warm conditions where food resources are small. c. Under cool conditions with lots of food. d. Homeotherms are always superior to poililotherms. 5. Why would a biologist band birds? a. To determine survivorship. b. To determine food supplies. c. To understand competitive interactions. d. To determine what predators eat the birds. 6. What is a life table? a. A survivorship curve. b. A table showing age-specific mortality and age-specific fecundity. c. A mortality rate derived from banding or otherwise marking organisms. d. A table showing age-specific fecundity. 7. Why do Thrips imaginis numbers usually decline around December 1 to 15 in an Australian rose garden? a. Drought reduces the number of flowers. b. Predators become active. c. The weather becomes too cold. d. The Thrips all hibernate. 8. What is acid rain? a. Rain with pHC7.0. c. Rain with carbonic acid in it. b. Rain with pHC516. d. Rain with monomeric aluminum in it. 9. Park did experiments with four beetles. What were his results? a. Flour beetles show indeterminant result of competition. b. Flour beetles show time lags in the Verhulst-Pearl equations. c. Flour beetles show that the winner in competition depends strongly on environmental conditions. d. Flour beetles show stable-limit cycles. 10. What happens in Gause`s competition experiment between Paramecium aurelia and P. bursaria when Gause turned out the lights? a. P. aurelia won at competition. b. P. bursaria won at competition. c. Both species coexisted. d. P. bursaria ate up P. aurelia and then starved to death. 11. Open ocean waters may have very low primary productivities. Why? a. Nutrient levels are low there. b. There are more nutrients here because of recycling. c. There are more plants here. d. These waters are colder than the intertidal. 12. The hypolimnion of a lake is cold and frequently oxygen-free because: a. It gets cold from the earth b. It gets inputs of cold groundwater c. It is isolated from the air and sunlight because it contains water that is more dense than the epilimnion. d. Because trout fisherman have installed refrigeration units in the lakes 13. Phytoplankton get their needed mineral nutrients a. From their parents c. From their prey b. Directly from the water in which they float d. From the air 14. What is a prudent predator? a. A predator who takes all precautions not to get killed or injured by his struggling prey. b. A predator who takes only the surplus of prey individuals taking care to allow a reproducing stock of prey to survive. c. A predator that is also a good competitor. d. A predator that kills and eats his prey as quickly as possible. 15. Why should a predator reduce his capture rate of a particular prey item when that prey item becomes rare? a. He becomes satiated. c. He reduces his reproductive rate. b. He switches. d. He becomes r-selected. 16. When Sea Otters were exterminated form portions of the west coast of Nroth America, what happened to the kelp forests? a. The Kelp forests become very lush. b. The Kelp forests were reduced in area becuase of sea urchin grazing. c. The Kelp forests were exterminated by MacDonald`s restaurants for raw materials to put in milk-shakes. d. The Kelp forests remained unchanged. 17. Although predators can be very efficient, they can never influence the actual numbers of prey in a location. a. True b. False 18. Moose on Isle Royale seem to have greatest mortality when they are very young and very old. Why? a. These age classes are most vulnerable to starvation. b. Human hungers choose these age classes. c. Parasites are most effective killers in these age classes. d. Wolves choose these age classes because theya re easiest to kill. 19. What was Andrewartha and Birch`s objection to Lack and Hutchinson`s argument that competition orders all living communities? a. Predation orders some communities. b. Some populations of organisms are controlled by density independent factors. c. Some populations are controlled by density dependent factors. d. Food limitation is more important than previously thought. 20. One result of speciation is: a. The mixing of genetic material from the two species b. The evolution of anti-competition mechanisms between the two species c. Convergence of morphological characters between the two species d. Evolution of the two species to use the same resource 21. Cone shells have toxins whose mode of action is strongly dependent on the type of prey that they take. How would this relate to niche segregation? a. It doesn`t. b. It allows them to take many different types of food. c. It shows how specialized they are for particular prey. 22. Five species of warbler live in the Maine woods. How can they coexist? a. They use different resources. b. They forage in different parts of the trees. c. They behave differently. d. All of the above. 23. What are fugitive species? a. Species in an environment where conditions are constantly changing. b. Species which are poor competitors, but which rely on good dispersal for their persistence. c. Species in an old-growth forest. d. The phytoplankton. 24. If two species compete for the same limiting resource, what is the likely outcome? a. One will harvest the resource better and cause the other to go extinct. b. They will occupy different parts of the environment where each is better fitted and is the better competitor. c. They will evolve mechanisms that reduce the competition between themselves. d. All of the above in different times and in different places. 25. What real world case best explains the result of the Gause Competition Equations where the species with the highest number of individuals at the start of the experiment wins? a. Toxin production by the competitors. b. Use of two separate resources by the competitors. c. More efficient use of the resource by one of the species. 26. In larger, more complex organisms, lag times between conception and birth cause problems with the applicaiton of the Verhulst-Pearl logistic. What are these problems. a. r cannot be determined b. The populations tend to cycle around K c. The populations inevitably die out d. All of the above 27. What happens if a population exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment? a. It grows even faster. c. It remains constant. b. It dies back to the carrying capacity. d. It dies back to zero. 28. In Slobodkin`s study of Daphnia, what happened when he increased the supply of algae? a. The Daphnia all died off. b. The growth rate of Daphnia increased. c. r increased. d. The carrying capacity increased. 29. Which equation is correct? (N = Net Primary Productivity; G = Gross Primary Productivity; R = Respiration) a. N = G + R c. R = N + G b. G = N + R d. G = N - R 30. What is krummholz? a. Bent vegetation in tropical forests. b. Vegetation with bent stems near the treeline in mountains. c. Boreal forest vegetation. d. A special vegetation type caused by prairie fires. 31. Mt. Wilhelm is a high mountain located on the island of New Guinea (2' from the equator). What kind of climate would you expect at the mountain`s summit. a. Cold c. Warm and dry b. Warm and tropical d. Unknown, there is not enough information 32. Under what conditions would you expect to find r-selected organisms? a. An unpredictable environment b. A very predictable environment c. An environment with lots of density-dependent mortality d. An environment with lots of intraspecific competition 33. What is an appropriate measure of primary productivity in a terrestrial environment? a. Kcal/M2/yr c. mg P/L b. Kcal/L/yr d. Kcal/M2 34. Wrens defend a large territory around their nests in spring. What is the likely purpose of this territory? a. Male advertisement only b. Protection of females and young c. Population control d. Assurance of a food source for the young 35. Minnesota pine forests are made up of trees that are not climax species. Why? a. Soils are poor b. People cut down the climax forest c. Periodic fires prevent the climax forest from surviving d. There has not been enough time for the climax community to be established 36. Why is a dark bottle provided in light/dark bottle primary productivity studies? a. To correct for respiration. b. To allow the calculation of net primary productivity. c. To balance the light bottle on the rope. d. To provide a check on the oxygen produced in the light bottle. 37. What did Huffaker do to increase the stability of predator-prey interactions in the laboratory? a. He made the environment more complex. b. He sprayed the predators with diazinon. c. He provided a new predator which ate the former predator. d. He provided refuges for prey. 38. What limits the length of food chains in nature? a. Primary production c. Predation b. Low ecological efficiencies d. Competition 39. Burning of forests and of fossil fuels has increased CO2 in the atmosphere. Where will the CO2 ultimately wind up? a. The atmosphere. b. New primary production. c. Production of new coal and oil reserves. d. In the ocean floor as CaCO3 40. Atmospheric CO2 levels fluctuate strongly from year to year. What causes this? a. Burning of fossil fuels. b. The slow uptake of CO2 by the ocean. c. The seasonal changes in primary production. d. The burning of the tropical rainforests. 41. If CO2 levels of the atmosphere were decreasing, what would happen? a. More primary production would occur. b. CO2 would come out of the ocean to re-establish the atmospheric equilibrium. c. Organic matter on the earth would burn spontaneously. d. Respiration of plant would increase. 42. On some islands, bird species occupy a broader range of habitats than they do on the mainland. Why does this happen? a. They are avoiding predators on the mainland. b. Because competitors are fewer on the island they can expand their niches. c. The genotypes on the islands are more diverse. d. Fewer individuals can reach the islands. 43. What is permafrost? a. Permanently frozen ground b. Muskeg c. Glacial moraines formed in the arctic d. Sphagnum bogs in the arctic 44. Paine removed the starfish Pisaster from a stretch of rocky intertidal coast. What was the result of this experiment? a. The Pisaster that were left grew in size. b. The mussels from the high intertidal moved down lower into the lower intertidal because of low predation. c. The mussels that were the prey of Pisaster were reduced in abundance. d. The sea otters that ate Pisaster were reduced in numbers. 45. The concept of the climatic climax is: a. That every site has a climax community associated with it b. That climax communities are controlled only by climate c. That climax communities are controlled not only by climate, but also by edaphic factors d. That fires can cause different climax communities to occur 46. Which of the following is an early successional species in our part of Illinois? a. Ragweed (Ambrosia) c. Hickory (Carya) b. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) d. Dryas 47. The exponential growth model fits most populations early in their growth, but does not later. Why? a. It does not take into account predation. b. It does not take into account limited resources. c. It does not take into account competition from other species. d. it does not take into account diseases. 48. What was the main point of Connel`s experiment with barnacles? a. That predators control species distributions. b. That competition can control species distributions. c. That physiological controls are responsible for all of the species ranges we see. d. That the Gause Hypothesis is false. 49. What characteristics are shared by plants that colonize sites immeidately after disturbance? a. long life b. poor seed dispersal c. rapid growth and good seed dispersal d. Slow growth with lots of root sprouting 50. A limnologist put the following nutrients in bottles of lake water and incubated them. Which is the limiting nutrient? Added Nutrient Ending O2 Conc. Light Dark Start O2 a. HCO3- 10.5 5.5 7.2 b. NO3- 15.0 5.0 7.0 c. PO4--- 11.1 4.8 7.1 d. Trace Metals 10.4 4.9 7.0 51. What did Schindler`s experiment with the dumbbell-shaped lake show? a. That PO4--- was the controlling nutrient in eutrophication. b. That NO3- was the controlling nutrient in eutrophication. c. That the controlling nutrient in eutrophication varies from lake to lake. d. That CO2 limits phytoplankton production. 52. Lake Erie became eutrophic and died. a. True b. False 53. Why does Dryas colonize the earliest successional sites at Glacier Bay? a. It is shade-tolerant. b. It lives only in Sphagnum moss muskeg. c. It is dispersed by small mammals. d. It is a nitrogen fixer that lives well on mineral soil. 54. What makes nitrogen so difficult for plants to obtain? a. There are just not enough nitrogen fixing bacteria around. b. The triple bond between the N atoms in the nitrogen molecule is difficult to break. c. Most nitrogen compounds are easily washed from soils. d. Nitrogen is not an atmophil element. 55. What brings PO4--- back from the floor of the ocean and distributes it in terrestrial environments? a. Recycling of phosphine gas. b. Ocean currents. c. Geological processes (volcanoes and uplift of ocean floors). d. Sea spray. 56. An entrepreneurial friend of mine has proposed that we go into the mink farming and cat gut business. He proposes to raise minks, skin them, sell the skins and process the remains to cat food. He will feed the cats, raise them, make cat- gut guitar strings from their guts and feed the remains to the minks. Ignoring market forces on mink pelts and cat gut, is this a reasonable proposition? My friend will not add more food. Judge the scheme on ecological grounds. a. Yes, reserve me some stock in his company. b. No, this is ecologically unsound. 57. R.A. Fisher proposed a reason for the occurrence of senescence in organisms. What is it? a. Predators eat every individual. b. Animals fall prey to accident. c. Deleterious genes are not selected against very strongly if their effects appear late in life. d. Length of life is determined by body size. 58. A lake that is normal in every other way (i.e. pH = 7.0) is dominated by rotifers in its zooplankton. What does this mean? Remember that most rotifers are very small. a. competition in the zooplankton is strong. b. Phytoplankton are unpalatable for crustacea. c. pH is too high for crustacea to survive. d. Fish predation is strong. 59. The atmosphere is 70% N2, but I must add nitrogen fertilizer to my lawn to increase its growth. Why? a. The nitrogen in the atmosphere is unavailable to grasses. b. Grasses are nitrogen fixers. c. NO3- is present in the soil but unavailable to the grass because it cannot use this form of nitrogen. d. Denitrification is occurring very quickly in my lawn. 60. What is Holling`s functional response? a. A change in predation resulting from changes in predator behavior in response to changes in prey density. b. A change in the number of predators in response to changes in prey density. c. Switching. d. A cessation of predation due to satiation. 61. Predator-prey interactions, like competitive interactions, can organize communities. a. True b. False 62. Which of the following characteristics should result in a stable and nearly constant number of predators and prey? a. If the prey limit the predators and the predators limit the prey. b. If the prey and predators both have no other controls on their populations. c. If the prey have refuges. d. If the predators are very efficient. 63. In swifts clutch size varies between 2 and 3 depending on the genome of the female. What is the selective mechanism that maintains the polymorphism? a. There is none. b. Three clutch broods produce more fledged young in bad years and two clutch broods produce more young in good years. c. Three clutch broods produce more fledged young in good years and two clutch broods produce more young in bad years. d. Three clutch broods are always more successful because they have more babies. 64. I have suggested that the term "biome" is no longer used by plant ecologists. What term has replaced it? a. Plant associations c. Vegetation groups b. Plant societies d. Vegetation formations 65. When is altruism likely to evolve? a. Among members of the same group of unrelated individuals. b. Among kin. c. Among members of the same species. d. Among members of the same variety. 66. When the California Department of Agriculture introduced the three wasps that are parasitic on scale insects, what happened? a. The wasps ate each other. b. The wasps totally eliminated scale insects. c. The wasps competed with one another and split their Southern California range among each other. d. The wasps died out. 67. Hutchinson viewed an organism`s niche as a space in many dimensions where each dimension measured a resource or environmental condition necessary for life. What is this niche called? a. The Eltonian Niche c. The Realized Niche b. The Habitat Niche d. The Niche Hypervolume 68. What is the vegetationof the prairie penninsula? a. Prairie grasslands. b. Prairie grasslands near streams and oak forest on hills. c. Prairie grasslands on flat lands but oak forest near streams. d. Prairie grasslands and maple forest. 69. When W. J. Edmondson found the blue green alga Oscillatoria rubescens in Lake Washington, what did he conclude? a. Lake Washington was getting less eutrophic. b. Lake Washington was acidifying. c. Lake Washington was becoming eutrophic. d. There was no change. Lake Washington always has Oscillatoria. 70. Why don`t lakes in Illinois show the effects of acid rain? a. They are too eutrophic. b. They have a high buffer capacity. c. The species in the lakes are especially resistant. d. The levels of acid in Illinois rain are not high enough. 72. (15 pts) The wrens in my backyard are tiny birds which defend very large territories. In contrast the prairie chicken in restored Illinois prairies defends small areas. It is a large chicken-like bird. Why does each species defend a territory? What aspects of their biology causes the differences in the territories they defend? 73. (15 pts) Many species in danger of extinction are said to have "narrow" niches. Many pest species (like rats) have "broad" niches. Why should this be so? Why should these characteristics predispose a species to pest status or to extinction?  should this be so? Why should these characteristics predispose a species to pes