Module 7, 8.1 & (8.2 unfinished)

Question 1

What is the phylogenetic hierarchy?

Answer 1

This is the organization of living organisms:

Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus

Question 2

Ecology is defined by what environmental factors and relationships?

Answer 2

External factors in the environment that influence survival, growth, and/or reproduction including abiotic habitat and biotic interactions.
Relationships or interactions with physical aspects of the environment and members of the same or different species.

Question 3

Ecology was coined by German zoologist ____ _____ and derived from the Greek ____ meaning house.

Answer 3

Ernest Haeckel; Oikos

Question 4

True or false? Darwin’s theory of natural selection was critical in the emergence of ecology as a science.

Answer 4

True

Question 5

What are the four main principles to the theory of natural selection?

Answer 5

Variation, overproduction (leads to competition), adaptation, decent with modification, and survival of the fittest (reproductive fitness)

Question 6

It took _______ theory to give impetus for ecology to develop formally as a science.

Answer 6

evolutionary

Question 7

What is the relationship between ecology and evolution that produces modern biodiversity?

Answer 7

Coevolution and convergent evolution

Question 8

Give an example of coevolution and convergent evolution.

Answer 8

Coevolution: North American cheetah and Pronghorn in the Pleistocene
convergent evolution: Smilodon vs Marsupials independently evolved saber-teeth to hunt megafauna

Question 9

Describe coevolution.

Answer 9

When two species exert reciprocal selection pressures and the responses are inherited

Question 10

Define convergent evolution.

Answer 10

The process where organisms not closely related independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological conditions

Question 11

Define ecosystem.

Answer 11

An environment in which organisms carry out their “struggle for existence”; a collection of parts that function as an integrated whole

Question 12

Ecosystems include ______ and _____ factors.

Answer 12

biotic and abiotic

Question 13

Describe trophic cascades.

Answer 13

Trickle down effect when a trophic level is reduced or removed.
Ex) how wolves change rivers

Question 14

What are the seven levels of the ecological hierarchy?

Answer 14

Individual, population, community (an interacting group of various species in a common location), ecosystem, landscape, biome, biosphere

Question 15

Ecosystem ecology emphasizes ______ and _______.

Answer 15

energy flow and chemical cycling

Question 16

What historic crises had to take place in order to aid the rapid development of ecology as a theoretically based science?

Answer 16

environmental crises of the 1900s

Question 17

Define conservation biology.

Answer 17

Study of human influences on biodiversity; applied ecology

Question 18

What is individual-level ecology?

Answer 18

Science that is concerned with causes and consequences of individual behaviours and traits involved interactions

Question 19

Movement behaviour, habitat, and resource selection are examples of what level of ecological analysis?

Answer 19

Individual-level

Question 20

In what way do individual interaction and population theory combine in the r-K continuum?

Answer 20

Larger, more competitive offspring vs more, highly reproductive, less competitive offspring
Slow growing and rapid growing population rates, respectively

Question 21

What is the trade-off associated with the r-K continuum?

Answer 21

If more energy is allocated to reproduce, less will be available for maintenance, growth, defence, and hence survival
Ex) the more energy put into cone production the less energy for width growth

Question 22

Natural selection favours individuals that produce the _______ number of reproducing offspring in a lifetime.

Answer 22

maximum

Question 23

Life history depends on what seven factors?

Answer 23

Degree of parental care/investment, age at first reproduction, longevity, # of offspring per reproductive event, size of offspring at birth, Gender allocation (more males or females), and habitat

Question 24

What is an example of antagonistic pleiotropy in humans?

Answer 24

in males the higher testosterone that benefits reproduction creates a higher risk of cancer

Question 25

How does predation lead to adaptations?

Answer 25

Interactions in the form of selective pressures lead to behaviours or physical traits better adapted for hunting or escape

Question 26

What is mutualism?

Answer 26

Interspecific interaction that benefits both species; also called mutualistic symbiosis

Question 27

Obligate mutualists….

Answer 27

cannot live without each other

Question 28

Define interspecific competition.

Answer 28

The major force behind species divergence and specialization; a relationship that affects the populations of two or more species adversely

Question 29

What is competitive exclusion?

Answer 29

The competitive exclusion principle states that “complete competitors” cannot coexist

Complete competitors are two species that live in the same place and have exactly the same ecological requirements

Question 30

A specie’s ______ niche is the full range of conditions and resources under which it can survive and reproduce.

Answer 30

fundamental

Question 31

The _____ niche is the portion of the fundamental niche that the species actually exploits

Answer 31

realized

Question 32

What is character displacement?

Answer 32

a shift in feeding niche that subsequently affects a specie’s morphology, behaviour, or physiology

Question 33

Describe predator-prey coevolution.

Answer 33

The exploitive ability of predators and the defense of prey combined create parallel adaptations

Question 34

What is apparent competition?

Answer 34

Interaction between two prey species, where the presence of one prey has a negative effect on the other

Question 35

Define keystone species.

Answer 35

A species that affects community structure disproportionately to their abundance