Test 1

Question 1

What is the most significant single contributor to increases in human populations over the past 100 years?

Answer 1

The development of industrial nitrogen fixation.

Question 2

Long-term trends in the human population growth are most associated with:

Answer 2

Developments in agriculture technology

Question 3

Which of the following has been shown to decrease fertility rates in developing nations?

Answer 3

increasing female literacy rates

Question 4

What is the current human population of the United States?

Answer 4

335 million

Question 5

What is the current global human population?

Answer 5

8.1 billion

Question 6

The top five countries currently ad approximately 40 million people a year to the world’s population which of the following countries is not one of these top five?

Answer 6

Italy

Question 7

Population regulation occurs when

Answer 7

density-dependent factors affect birth, death, and emigration rates.

Question 8

When did the world human population first reach 1 billion?

Answer 8

1804

Question 9

Which population would be expected to remain stable in size?

Answer 9

A population with a lambda of 1 or an r of 0

Question 10

A fictional animal from the Star Trek universe, the tribble, reproduces in synchrony at regular intervals. When the logarithm of a particular Tribble population was plotted against time by Dr. Spock, the result was a straight and increasing line. Which statement about the tribble population is false?

Answer 10

r = 0

Question 11

Which of the following is a likely reason for the decline in population growth at low population density in the figure above?

Answer 11

The Allee effect

Question 12

At low population densities, the flocking behavior of some species of birds is disrupted to the extent that the population growth rate is lower at very low densities than it is at somewhat higher densities. This is example of

Answer 12

An Allee effect

Question 13

Which of the following statements is a conclusion of Jones and Diamond’s studies of extinction in bird populations in the Channel Islands? Hint: which of the following statements best describes, meta-populations dynamics?

Answer 13

Larger populations are at less risk of going extinct than smaller ones are.

Question 14

Assuming that their average population growth rates and all other factors are equal, which population would most likely be at risk for extinction?

Answer 14

A small population with high variation in its growth rate

Question 15

Based on the data in the figure, which number is the best estimate of the carrying capacity in this environment?

Answer 15

highest point

Question 16

Consider a population of cute bunnies that colonize a pasture previously unoccupied by rabbits. Doing what rabbits do, their numbers rise exponentially until they reach a population of 1000 rabbits, after which their population crashes to 700 due to resource limitations, and the inherent sensitivity of bunnies (they are very delicate). Overtime, the population rises and falls until it stabilizes around the population of 850. What does this population size likely represent in terms of population growth?

Answer 16

Carrying capacity

Question 17

Which equation best describes density dependent population dynamics?

Answer 17

dN/dt = rN(1- N/K)

Question 18

What pattern population dynamics best describes the one exhibited by sheep introduced to the island of Tasmania depicted in the figure above?

Answer 18

Logistic growth

Question 19

One English ivy first arrived in Virginia in 1800, it had no natural competitors or herbivores to consume it. What initial growth type would you expect for this population?

Answer 19

Exponential increase

Question 20

A powerful ice storm in 1998 felled a large proportion of trees across much of northern New England, New York State, and southeast Canada. Although the storm led to declines in abundance for many species of birds, it created opportunities for other bird species. With regard to its effects on the abundance of bird species, the 1998 storm would be considered a

Answer 20

Disturbance effect

Question 21

In some trees and shrubs, competition among seedlings causes individuals to be spaced relatively evenly throughout the habitat. These plants exhibit a _______ type of dispersion pattern.

Answer 21

regular

Question 22

In a mark-recapture study to estimate the size of a rodent population, researchers catch and mark 180 individuals. Two days later, they again capture a number of rodents and find that 40% of the individuals are marked. Assuming that there have been no births, deaths, or migrations, the estimated size of the population is

Answer 22

450

Question 23

Which organism would be most likely to be K-selected?

Answer 23

Lions

Question 24

The term “r-selection” refers to selection

Answer 24

for high population growth rates.

Question 25

A species of turtle grows for several years before becoming sexually mature. It mates, reproduces, and dies soon afterward. The species of turtle would be best described as

Answer 25

Semelparous

Question 26

the 3/4 biomass-metabolism scaling law probably arises from

Answer 26

biophysical constraints on maintainging energy balance biophysical constraints on distributing nurients and energy through biological volumes the cube-square law (all answers)

Question 27

According to Bergman's rule, an arctic rodent species will be _______ relative to a related subtropical species.

Answer 27

Larger

Question 28

In cod fishing, older and larger fish are more likely to be retained in nets than younger and smaller fish. Despite the removal of these large breeders, the population is still reproducing. How do you think cod characteristics have changed due to the selection pressure from overfishing?

Answer 28

Selection has led to decreases in the size of fish at the age of maturity.

Question 29

The basal metabolic rate per unit of body mass is highest in a

Answer 29

small endotherm

Question 30

The regulation of an animal's body temperature, using external mechanisms is described as

Answer 30

Ectothermic

Question 31

What are the advantages of sex?

Answer 31

Increased variation in traits, due to genetic recombination

Question 32

Compared with large endotherm's, small endotherm's require _________ feeding rates, partly because they have a ________ surface area-to-volume ratio.

Answer 32

Higher; higher

Question 33

Assuming that the body shape of an animal is at least somewhat spherical, a considerable decrease in body size, would _________ the surface area to volume ratio, and the ability to exchange heat with the environment would _______

Answer 33

increase; increase

Question 34

Which type of organisms regulates its body temperature by internal metabolic processes?

Answer 34

Endothermic

Question 35

The process of allopatric speciation is best illustrated by:

Answer 35

The biogeography of salamanders in the Southern Appalachians

Question 36

For which organism would it be advantageous to allocate more resources to reproduction than to growth?

Answer 36

One with low adult survival rates

Question 37

The figure above illustrates___________ for a population of Darwin's Finches in the Galápagos Islands before and after a major drought.

Answer 37

Directional selection

Question 38

Fundamental evolutionary trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival are best illustrated by:

Answer 38

The general observation that small-bodied organisms tend to have a large number of small offspring with short life-expectancy

Question 39

Which of the following statements is not a requirement of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Predation does not occur Mating is random Mutations do not occur The population is large Migrations do not occur

Answer 39

Predation does not occur

Question 40

What evolutionary process is illustrated in the following figure showing the distribution in bill size for the Black-Bellied Seedcracker (Pyrenestes ostrinus)?

Answer 40

Disruptive selection

Question 41

Evolution is a change in _________ over time

Answer 41

gene frequencies

Question 42

The power law distribution illustrates the observation that in natural systems

Answer 42

A small number of types of observation are common, while a larger number of types of observations are uncommon or rare

Question 43

Evolution by natural selection requires

Answer 43

heritable variation in traits within a population

Question 44

The characteristics that give an organism an advantage in a given environment are called

Answer 44

Adaptations

Question 45

The mechanism of evolution on which Darwin focused The Origin of Species was

Answer 45

natural selection

Question 46

The term "ecology" is defined as the study of the

Answer 46

Relationships among organisms and their environment