(I)8.3 - 8.5 Ecology Quiz

What is your first name?

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Which of the following describes a Type II survivorship curve?

• A) flat at the start, then dropping steeply as death rates increase
• B) dropping sharply at the start, then flattening out as death rates decline
• C) a constant decline with a constant death rate over the life span
• D) flat at the start, then rising steeply as death rates decrease

A population of ground squirrels has an annual per capita birth rate of 0.06 and an annual per capita death rate of 0.02. Calculate an estimate of the number of individuals added to (or lost from) a population of 1,000 individuals in one year.

• 120 individuals added
• B) 40 individuals added
• C) 20 individuals added
• D) 400 individuals added
• E) 20 individuals lost

Which of the following are important biotic factors that can affect the structure and organization of biological communities?

• A) precipitation, wind
• B) nutrient availability, soil pH
• C) predation, competition
• D) temperature, water
• E) light intensity, seasonality

In models of logistic population growth,

• A) the population growth rate slows, eventually becoming zero as N approaches K.
• B) new individuals are added to the population most rapidly as K approaches N.
• C) new individuals are added to the population most rapidly as N approaches K.
• D) only density-independent environmental factors affect the rate of population growth.
• E) carrying capacity is the number of additional individuals the environment can support.

Carrying capacity is

• A) seldom exceeded in most real populations as resources are always abundant.
• B) the maximum population size that any one particular environment can support.
• C) fixed for almost all species over most of their range the majority of the time.
• D) determined by density and dispersion data obtained through population studies.
• E) the term used to describe the stress a population undergoes due to limited resources.

Which of the following causes populations to shift most quickly from an exponential to a logistic population growth?

• A) increased birth rate
• B) removal of predators
• C) decreased death rate
• D) competition for resources
• E) favorable climatic conditions

In which of the following situations would you expect to find the largest number of K-selected individuals?

• A) a recently abandoned farm field
• B) a shifting sand dune community
• C) an old-growth (virgin) forest
• D) a coastline after a hurricane
• E) a newly emergent volcanic island

A population of snowshoe hares was introduced to an appropriate habitat also inhabited by their natural predators in northern Canada. Which of the following graphs illustrates the growth over several seasons of the snowshoe hares?

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