Advanced Ecology

Species in the same guild tend to differ in body size by a factor

2

Which of the following formulas is Shannon Index?

=-SumS*Pi*lnPi

Which of the following formulas is Leven's niche breadth?

=1/SumPj2

Which of the following formulas is Jaccards index?

=A/A+B+C

Which of the following formulas is PSI?

=Sum*min*Pi

Dynamically robust

A community that is stable within a wide range of conditions.

Dynamically fragile

A community which is only stable within a very limited range of environmental conditions.

Mutualism

A pairwise interaction in which both organisms benefit

Facilitation

A pairwise interaction where one (typically) species benefits by the enhancement of habitat by the other species

Metacommunity

A set of local communities linked by the dispersal of one or more of their constituent species

Which of the following best describes a foundation species?

A species who is very abundant within a community and many species existence depends upon.

Which of the following best describes an ecosystem engineer?

A species who's activity modifies the environment

Which of the following best describes a keystone species?

A species who's importance to ecosystem function is disproportionately greater compared to its biomass.

Degradative succession

A temporal succession of species that occurs on a degradable resource.

May (1972) model of stability suggests "blank" decrease in community stability.

An increase in species diversity and connectance

Inter-specific Competition

An interaction between individuals of the different species

Intraspecific Competition

An interaction between individuals of the same species, density dependent interaction.

Commensalism

An interaction between organisms in which one benefits and the other does not benefit and is not harmed.

Symbiosis

An interaction between two organisms in which both benefits, and one lives in or on the other organism.

Community

Assemblage of spatially delimited species

What term best describes a form of competition when there is a true winner and loser?

Asymmetrical

What is physiological longevity?

Average longevity of individuals of a population living under optimal conditions.

What metacommunity pattern does negative coherence produce?

Checkerboards

Resistance

Describes the ability of the community to avoid displacement from a disturbance in the first place.

Resilience

Describes the speed with which a community returns to its former state after it has been displaced from the original state or disturbed.

Local stability

Describes the tendency of a community to return to its original state when subjected to perturbations.

Global stability

Describes the tendency of a community to return to something similar to what it was after a large perturbation.

Which of the following best describes the Dynamic Stability Hypothesis?

Disturbances should determine food chain lengths.

Which of the following best describes the Productive Space Hypothesis?

Ecosystem size and productivity act together to determine food chain length.

What term best describes a form of competition when a species uses a resource more efficiently before a competitor has a chance?

Exploitative

Which should be favored in a variable environment?

Generalists

What term best describes density of prey at which a predator will abandon prey type or area?

Give up density

Population

Group of interbreeding individuals of the same species

Guild

Groups of co-occurring species that use similar reasources

Fixed effort harvesting takes into account "Blank"?

Harvest efficiency, effort, and prey density.

Extinction rates should be "blank" on smaller islands.

High

What is the portfolio effect?

High biodiversity insures ecosystem against decline in stability because many species provide greater guarantees that some species will maintain stability.

The paradox of enrichment suggests a "blank" pattern between species richness and productivity.

Hump-shaped

What term best describes the following: minimal niche similarity allowed for coexistence?

Indicator of limiting similarity

Which of the following best describes the image to the right?

Indirect Mutulaism

Which of the following best describes the image to the right?

Indirect commensalism

Doubling time

Intrinsic rate of increase; per capita rate of increase; also Malthusian Parameter

How does high dispersal among patches influence beta diversity of these communities within a patch?

It homogenizes communities and lower beta diversity.

Food web

Many interconnected energy pathways of all species in a community

Rescue effect

Meta population not sustainable and only sustained through immigration.

For trophic networks, what topological feature(s) is important in promoting stability?

Modularity

What best describes the geographic area hypothesis?

More landmass is concentrated at the equator; therefore, more habitats and area for high species richness.

Polymorphisms

Multiple alleles maintained in a population

For mutualist networks, what topological features(s) is important for promoting stability?

Nestedness and connectance

Alpha diversity

Number of species within a given habitat.

Food chain

One energy pathway within a community.

Plasticity

One genotype capable of producing multiple phenotypes; response to environmental cues.

Ecotone

Where two or more biological communities meet

Edge effect

Where two or more habitats meet and change population and community structure through ecological mechanisms.

Secondary succession

succession that occurs due to a disturbance in a habitat

Extent

The overall area of the study

What is fecundity?

The physical capacity of reproduction

Grain

The size of the individual unit of observation

Phenology

The timing of reoccurring biological events

"y" diversity

Total biodiversity over a broad area (ecosystem level diversity)

Which of the following best describes the image to the right?

Trophic cascade

Why is alpha diversity low among patches within meta communities when dispersal is low?

Superior competitor within each patch.

Which is an advantage of being a generalist over a specialist?

Switching prey types based on density or size.

What is the difference between pattern and process?

Pattern is what we observe and see; whereas, process is what we want to understand.

Which will likely provide more functional insurance in a disturbed community?

Phylogenetic diversity

Which of the following does not explain why are communities so inefficient at transferring energy upwards through the food web?

Predators are inefficient at capturing and consuming prey.

What is Bergmann's rule in biography?

Range sizes are larger towards the poles.

Which is of the following is not an emergent property of a community?

Sex ratio

What scenario should immigration rates be the lowest?

Small islands further from the mainland

Metapopulation

Spatially separated populations of the same species that are connected via dispersal at some level

In figure C, which best describes the resource use of the two consumers?

Species 1 is more limited by R2, Species 2 is more limited by R1.

Which describes and explains the paradox of enrichment when productivity is high?

Species richness is low due to rapid competitive exclusion

What is the intermediate disturbance hypothesis?

Species richness will be high with intermediate frequency of disturbances.

Which species is the dominate competitor and what happens if the resources fall in region 1 in this zero net growth isocline

Species two and no consumer can exist.

Primary succession

Succession that occurs on newly formed habitats

Why is gamma and alpha diversity similar when dispersal is high among communities?

Superior competitor dominates at all scales