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Question 1

What is ecology?

Answer 1

The study of the relationships between organisms and their environments, including abiotic and biotic factors.

Question 2

What are examples of abiotic factors?

Answer 2

Temperature, water, sunlight, soil pH.

Question 3

What are examples of biotic factors?

Answer 3

Prey availability, competition, predation.

Question 4

What are short-term responses organisms have to their environment?

Answer 4

Physiological, morphological, and behavioral responses.

Question 5

What is an example of a physiological response to the environment?

Answer 5

Sweating or increased erythrocyte production.

Question 6

What is an example of a morphological response to the environment?

Answer 6

Seasonal coats in mammals (winter/summer coats).

Question 7

What is an example of a behavioral response to the environment?

Answer 7

Habitat selection or adjusting foraging behavior.

Question 8

What is Allen’s Rule?

Answer 8

Mammals in colder climates have shorter limbs and ears to minimize heat loss.

Question 9

Define a population in ecology.

Answer 9

A group of individuals of the same species living in the same place at the same time.

Question 10

What are the three characteristics of population ecology?

Answer 10

Population range, dispersion, and population dynamics.

Question 11

What are the three types of dispersion patterns?

Answer 11

Random, clumped, and uniform.

Question 12

What is a metapopulation?

Answer 12

A regional group of connected populations, separated by unsuitable habitat.

Question 13

What are source and sink populations?

Answer 13

Source populations produce excess individuals that disperse; sink populations rely on immigrants to maintain their numbers.

Question 14

What is demography?

Answer 14

The quantitative study of populations, focusing on births, deaths, and growth rates.

Question 15

How does sex ratio affect population growth?

Answer 15

Because females are the reproductive unit, the number of females impacts growth rates.

Question 16

What is generation time?

Answer 16

The average time between the birth of an individual and the birth of its offspring.

Question 17

What is a cohort?

Answer 17

A group of individuals born around the same time.

Question 18

Define fecundity.

Answer 18

The number of offspring produced in a given period.

Question 19

Define survivorship.

Answer 19

The percentage of an original population that survives to a given age.

Question 20

What are the three types of survivorship curves?

Answer 20

Type I (low early mortality), Type II (constant mortality), Type III (high early mortality).

Question 21

What is life history in biology?

Answer 21

Traits that affect an organism’s schedule of reproduction and survival.

Question 22

What is the cost of reproduction?

Answer 22

The trade-off between current reproductive effort and future survival/reproduction.

Question 23

What is viability selection?

Answer 23

Natural selection favoring offspring survival over simply producing many offspring.

Question 24

Contrast r-selected and K-selected species.

Answer 24

r-selected species produce many offspring with low survival; K-selected species produce fewer, high-survival offspring.

Question 25

How does age at first reproduction correlate with life span?

Answer 25

Long-lived species delay reproduction; short-lived species reproduce early.

Question 26

What is carrying capacity (K)?

Answer 26

The maximum number of individuals an environment can support.

Question 27

What happens to population growth as N approaches K in logistic growth?

Answer 27

Growth slows down and eventually stops when N = K.

Question 28

What are density-dependent factors?

Answer 28

Factors that affect a population more as population size increases, like disease or competition.

Question 29

What are density-independent factors?

Answer 29

Factors affecting populations regardless of size, like natural disasters.

Question 30

What is the Allee effect?

Answer 30

When population growth rates increase with population size.

Question 31

What factors limit snowshoe hare populations?

Answer 31

Food availability and predation by lynx.

Question 32

What is the difference between r-selected and K-selected life history strategies?

Answer 32

r-selected: early reproduction, short lifespan, many small offspring; K-selected: late reproduction, long lifespan, few large offspring.

Question 33

What are key traits of human populations in terms of life history?

Answer 33

Small brood size, late reproduction, high parental care.

Question 34

Why has human population grown exponentially since the 1700s?

Answer 34

Death rates decreased significantly while birth rates stayed high.

Question 35

What does a population pyramid show?

Answer 35

The number of people in different age groups in a population.

Question 36

What is the ecological footprint?

Answer 36

The amount of productive land needed to support an individual's lifestyle.

Question 37

What is R0 in epidemiology?

Answer 37

The basic reproduction number; R0 > 1 means disease spreads, R0 < 1 means it declines.

Question 38

What is herd immunity?

Answer 38

When enough individuals are immune to stop disease spread, usually around 70%.

Question 39

How did COVID-19 variants differ in R0?

Answer 39

Each successive variant (Alpha, Delta, Omicron) had higher R0 values, with BA.5 estimated at 18.6.