Biology 122-101 Exam #4

A marine ecologist counts the number of crabs in three different intertidal regions that are each two hectares. The crab counts are 7, 2, and 6, respectively. What is the best estimate of population density per hectare for this particular species of crab?

5

Which of the sentences best supports the claim that natural selection has shaped a species-specific behavior?

A male responds to a female-produced pheromone.

Imagine that a researcher has discovered a leaf fossil from the Cambrian Period that is 500 million years old. He notices that the leaf had very few stomata compared to present-day leaves. What does this tell the researcher about atmospheric CO2 levels during the Cambrian Period?

Atmospheric CO2 levels were higher during the Cambrian Period than today.

A researcher is measuring Earth's atmospheric CO2 levels, gathering data on CO2 levels in northern and then southern hemispheres. What do you expect that she will find? Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button.

Because atmospheric CO2 measurements represent global amounts, measurements in the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere will be approximately the same.

The majority of carbon stored in abiotic reservoirs is in the form of:

CaCO3.

A woman observes a hawk perched in the branches of a pine tree. Suddenly, the hawk swoops down and catches a chipmunk that has been eating sunflower seeds at the woman's bird feeder. The hawk returns to its nest, which is in a nearby oak tree. Through this scenario, what can you tell about the niches of the organisms involved?

Chipmunks serve as food sources for hawks, Hawks prey on chipmunks, Oak trees or pine trees can serve as suitable shelter for hawks, Chipmunks feed on seeds in their environments.

A commercial tuna fisherman is very concerned that overfishing will result in a decrease in tuna population size, thus affecting his catches in future years. What strategy can he employ to make sure that the tuna population can be sustained in the long term?

He should only catch young, non-reproducing fish.

Imagine that you have a cat that is purring on your lap. Which question would Niko Tinbergen ask about this behavior?

How many genes—if any—direct purring behavior in cats? Do cats learn to purr from their maternal parent? Their paternal parent? Do cats that purr have a greater rate of survival than those that don't?, Does purring in cats serve any reproductive purpose? Why did purring first evolve in cats? Was this behavior initially used by cat ancestors to attract mates? To communicate between female cats and their kittens?

The common mud turtle experiences relatively uniform mortality rates throughout its life. It exhibits Type _____ survivorship.

II

Which statement about the navigational ability of homing in birds is accurate?

If a homing pigeon is fitted with a magnetic helmet, it would still find its way on a cloudy day.

Refer to the figure shown. Which of the statements about sex-specific behaviors in Anolis carolinensis lizards is false?

If the courtship stimulus is not present, then ovarian development rate increases in Anolis carolinensis lizards.

Which statement about the behavioral effects governed by for S and for R in Drosophila is true?

In the presence of food, sitters remain stationary and eat, whereas rovers move all around the food and eat.

Differences in mating patterns of Montane and Prairie Voles (promiscuous and monogamous, respectively) can be attributed to expression of a specific hormone receptor in certain cells of the brain. If researchers inserted this receptor's gene and regulatory regions from a Prairie Vole so it was expressed in appropriate cells of the Montane Vole, which scenario would most likely occur?

Montane Voles would become monogamous, because they would be able to receive and respond to hormone signals in the same way as prairie voles.

Which statement provides evidence that some insects are capable of learning?

Philanthus wasps can locate their underground hive entrance through recognition of local landmarks.

Imagine that scientists have discovered a new planet that is apparently devoid of life but has ice caps located at the poles. These ice caps reveal that the planet's atmospheric O2 levels sharply increased about 1,000,000 years ago but then quickly dropped 50,000 years ago. What could account for these changes in atmospheric O2 levels?

Photosynthetic organisms evolved on the planet 100,000 years ago but went extinct 50,000 years ago.

Which of the statements explains how an oxygen-rich atmosphere became possible on Earth?

Rates of oxygen consumption are lower than rates of photosynthesis.

A gardener treats his plants with pesticides, killing all the aphids that are on the plants. Once the aphids die, what likely happens to the mutualistic bacteria inhabiting their digestive tracts?

The bacteria would likely die without their mutualistic aphids, as this is an example of an obligate relationship.

Which of the statements is true regarding subduction?

The carbon it removes is eventually returned to the atmosphere by volcanism.

Which statement about behavior shaped by experience is correct?

The central nervous system of even simple animals is capable of information processing.

A scientist is studying a population of feral cats in his city. After ten years, he notes the growth of the population of feral cats as (K-N)/K = 0. Based on this information, what can he deduce about the logistic growth curve for the population at this point in time?

The curve has plateaued at K.

A researcher is studying a population with a unique age structure. An age-structured histogram he has developed over the course of several decades has undergone transformations in shape, from a pyramid shape to a roughly rectangular shape to an inverted pyramid shape (where the base is narrower than the top). How has this population changed over time?

The population first grows, then stabilizes, and then declines.

Many closely related species of ducks have different courtship dances that are performed to solidify a pair-bond. If you were to cross individuals from each of these species what would you expect to see in the hybrid offspring if behaviors related to pair-bond formation were completely due to genetics?

There would be a mix of elements from the courtship dances from each parental species.

Which question is one of Tinbergen's four questions?

What is the cause of a certain behavior, How does a certain behavior develop (i.e., through learning or genes), Does a behavior have any adaptive function, and What is the evolutionary history of a behavior?

Which of the results from a mark-recapture study done on mice would reflect a larger population size?

When taking the second sample, 200 individuals are caught and 20 are marked from the first sample.

Individual behavior that includes sacrifices made for the good of others is called:

altruism

Which statement regarding learning is true?

animals can learn from members of the same species

In a metapopulation, source populations are species that are likely to have more individuals immigrating to habitat patches than other species. This means that source populations:

are likely to occupy the largest suitable ecological patch.

In the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, there are many populations of the checkerspot butterfly Euphydryas editha. Females of each population lay their eggs on different regions of their host plants. The young hatch as caterpillars, and they live on the host plant and eat its leaves. Consider two of the populations, population A and population B. The host plant used by population A grows over a single season, with new leaves, which are the most nutritious, appearing at the tip of the stem. The host plant of population B lives for many seasons, with new leaves appearing at the base of the stem. Where do you expect females from population B to lay their eggs?

at the base of the plant stem

When two species compete for resources the fitness of:

both species will decline.

A scientist studying a material has determined that 12C, 13C, and 14C occur in the material in a ratio of 1000:10:1. How did he most likely differentiate between these forms of carbon?

by the number of neutrons in 12C, 13C, and 14C

Refer to the figure, which shows levels of for mRNA in honeybees (graphs a and b), and the results of treating honeybee nurses with cGMP (graphs c and d): the for gene encodes a cGMP-dependent kinase. Which statement about foraging behavior and its relation to the for gene expression is not correct?

cAMP was capable of activating a kinase that increased nurse bee behavior in foragers.

The maximum number of individuals in a population that the environment can support is the environment's _____ for that population.

carrying capacity

What are the units of per capita growth rate (r)?

change in individuals per unit time/individuals at starting time

The equation CaSiO3 + CO2 → CaCO3 + SiO2 takes into account which of these processes associated with the long-term carbon cycle?

chemical weathering

When both participants in a species' interaction develop adaptations in direct response to one another, this could progress into all of the following except:

coevolution

If a scientist recorded the size, birth rate, and age structure of an owl population over the last 20 years, he is most likely a(n):

demographer

In terrestrial ecosystems, nitrogen is returned to the atmosphere by:

denitrifying bacteria

Which of the choices would be considered density-independent factors that could affect the growth of a population?

droughts

You decide to plant a garden in your backyard. You dig up a strip of grass in a sunny spot. When you have finished digging up the grass, but you haven't planted anything, you have created a(n) _____ in the lawn.

ecological disturbance

Examining the relationship between primary producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers is one way to track the flow of _____ through a system.

energy contained in organic compounds

A male cricket creates sounds that we call "chirps" by rubbing one wing against the other. When is this considered an act of communication?

every time the chirp is heard by some other organism and that organism changes its behavior in response to the signal

An increased rate of photosynthesis is the most likely explanation as to why atmospheric CO2 levels appear lowest during glacial periods of Earth's history. Please choose the correct answer from the following choices, and then select the submit answer button.

false

An individual E. coli bacterium, much like a population of E. coli, can evolve antibiotic resistance.

false

Courtship displays are behaviors that will not be performed if members of a species have been raised in isolation.

false

Decline of a predator population in an area affects only the prey population on which it feeds.

false

Exponential growth depends on the per capita growth rate (r) of a population gradually increasing over time.

false

K-strategists tend to inhabit "unpredictable" environments and also have population densities near the carrying capacity of an environment.

false

Many facultative mutualisms probably began as obligate relationships.

false

Most human behaviors are a product of both nature and nurture, but this does not apply to organisms that are relatively simple neurologically, such as the fruit fly.

false

Rats can learn to make any kind of association if repeated for a sufficient length of time.

false

Song in White-Crowned Sparrows is learned by imprinting, and even if deprived of hearing the adult male song during the sensitive period, the young males will always sing the father's song.

false

The diverse array of Anolis lizards in Hispaniola is the result of several different species of lizards originally colonizing the island. Very little diversification occurred after these colonists arrived at Hispaniola.

false

The sequence of types of species that colonize a recently disturbed area through succession is unpredictable.

false

Stimulus recognition is often carried out by specialized sensory receptors called _____ detectors.

feature

A species' fundamental niche:

has the necessary resources and conditions for survival.

Which of the answer choices is not considered a photosynthetic organism and, therefore, does not remove atmospheric CO2?

humans

A severe drought is an example of a density-_____ factor that can influence population size. The availability of nest sites is an example of a density-_____ factor.

independent; dependent

A population that is decreasing in size will have an age-structure histogram shaped like a(n):

inverted pyramid, with a narrow base representing a small number of young individuals.

If B = the benefit of a behavior to a recipient, C = the cost of the behavior of the donor, and r = the degree of relatedness between the recipient and donor, then if rB ___ C, altruism can evolve.

is greater than (>)

The "Anthropocene Period":

is so named to reflect the impact of humans on the planet.

Refer to the figure shown. The human age-structure histogram of India is shaped like a pyramid. What does this tell you about India's population? (small at the top big at the bottom)

it is growing

Which of these relationships best depicts the amount of carbon stored in the atmosphere, sedimentary rocks, living organisms, and soil?

living organisms < the atmosphere < soil < sedimentary rocks

The _____ cycle deals with geological processes and carbon reservoirs, some of which have been built up or take place over a period of millennia. In contrast, the _____ cycle involves biological processes that are carried out on a daily and/or seasonal basis.

long-term carbon; short-term carbon

Some bacteria in the human intestine aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients, while utilizing these nutrients themselves as well. This is an example of:

mutualism

Which of these is most likely to lead to resource partitioning?

niche overlap

Which statement is true regarding altruism?

none of the answers are correct

The value of r is constant:

only in exponential growth

Which biogeochemical cycle does not include oxidation and reduction reactions that provide energy to microorganisms?

phosphorus

The movement of Earth's crust, plate tectonics, contributes to the long-term carbon cycle through all of the answer choices except:

photosynthesis

Which of the answer choices are not geological processes that drive the long-term carbon cycle?

photosynthesis and respiration

In a pond, tadpoles eat algae and fish eat the tadpoles. Around the pond, grasshoppers eat grass and, at night, are preyed upon by bats. Other bats eat the fish that eat the tadpoles. In this community, the tadpoles are:

primary consumers

Which of the answer choices is expected to reduce competition among individuals of different species?

resource partitioning

Which of the choices would be considered a density-dependent factor that could affect population growth?

resources

Enhancement of a response to a stimulus by first presenting a strong or novel stimulus is called:

sensitization

Overlap of niches can be minimized through:

species evolving adaptations through selective pressure on competitive ability.

_____ is the proportion of individuals of an initial cohort that survives to each successive age or stage of the life cycle.

survivorship

A scientist is studying a population of feral cats in his city. He notes that the per capita growth rate (r) of this population is 1. What does this mean if he is evaluating the population size on a yearly basis?

that the population of feral cats doubles in size each year

Which of the answer choices is a reservoir of carbon?

the atmosphere organisms oceans soil

Which of these might be expected to increase as a result of predation?

the availability of resources

Refer to the figure shown. Click to view full size. Based on the data provided in the table and graph, which stage of the Lime Swallowtail life cycle is the shortest?

the egg stage

Which of these factors likely contributed to the accumulation of O2 within Earth's atmosphere?

the fact that O2 is also cycled during the carbon cycle the fact that photosynthesis releases O2 as a product the evolution of cyanobacteria

Imagine that a population of meerkats exhibits exponential growth. What does this tell you about the intrinsic growth rate (r) of the meerkat population?

the growth rate has remained constant

A researcher knows the geographic range of a population of butterflies. Given only this information, what else can she deduce about this butterfly population?

the parasites/predators that these butterflies may encounter

The life history of an organism takes into account:

the resource trade-offs that the organism makes during its lifetime.

A scientist is researching a population of blue jays in her city. In order to completely define this blue jay population, she must determine:

the size, range, and density of the blue jay population.

Communication has often evolved through co-opting and modifying behaviors used in another context. For example, the elimination of wastes can also be used:

to advertise to other individuals in order to attract mates, to let an intruder know where an individual's territory is in order to avoid a costly fight, and to strategically mark "ownership" of particular locations.

Energy flow through ecosystems can be depicted using a(n):

trophic pyramid

A biological clock is a set of molecular mechanisms that cycles on its own and thus keeps a regular rhythm.

true

Competition can occur over resources such as space, mates, and nesting sites, not just over food.

true

In order to find a mate, sensory hairs on antennae of male silkworm moths of the genus Bombyx have receptors that bind to airborne pheromones released by females of the same species. The presence of these receptors reflects the ultimate causation of male flight towards females for mating.

true

Like Drosophila larva, the feeding behavior of honeybees also depends on the expression of the for gene. This suggests that this gene has been evolutionarily conserved.

true

Primary consumers obtain carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus through ingestion of primary producers.

true

The evolution of biodiversity on the planet can be linked to patterns in the carbon cycle over time.

true

The long-term and short-term carbon cycles are connected by the fact that some of the carbon contained in C6H12O6 (or other organic molecules) in plants is incorporated into sedimentary rocks or oil; carbon in sedimentary rock and oil is not immediately cycled back to the atmosphere.

true

The size of a population of frogs is significantly below the population size that the environment can support. This could be the result of frog parasites and/or predators.

true

Your body, your house, and your pets are all considered carbon reservoirs.

true

As human mortality is greatest during later life stages and most children survive into adulthood, humans demonstrate a _____ survivorship curve.

type I

Which type of survivorship curve can be depicted as a straight line, where mortality rates are roughly equivalent at all life stages?

type II

Mice produce several offspring that do not normally survive into adulthood, and mortality rates are highest during the first few months of life. These animals exhibit a:

type III survivorship curve