Population Biology
This type of distribution is characteristic of wolves, which live and travel in packs.
Clumped
This survivorship curve has very high mortality at young ages
Type III
Competition between different species is called?
Interspecific competition
What are ways for animal prey to avoid being eaten by predators?
Mimicry, crypsis, warning coloration, large size, body armor, being able to run/fly fast, etc.
What is a pathogen?
Parasite that induces disease
Which type of population growth levels off over time and has an S-shaped graph?
Logistic growth
Low to no parental care, many offspring, and single reproduction events are characteristic of which life history?
r-selection
Which would be considered "smaller": the fundamental niche or the realized niche?
Realized niche
What type of dietary preferences do carnivores typically have?
Generalist diets
Which parasite strategy makes dispersal easier?
Ectoparasitism
What does r represent in the equation N=N0e^rt?
Intrinsic rate of increase
What does the K in K-selection come from?
Carrying capacity (K) in the logistic growth equation, as K-selected species have populations close to or at their carrying capacities
When living together, two morphologically similar bird species exhibit very different beak sizes. However, if living alone, the two species actually have very similar beak sizes. What concept describes the first scenario?
Character displacement
What differentiates a predator from a parasite?
Predators kill their prey, while parasites simply reduce fitness. Parasites must also live on/in their hosts.
What are some defenses against parasitism?
Skin/exoskeleton barrier, immune system, resistance genes, eating medicinal plants that prevent or treat infections, defensive symbionts
What is it called when several populations are connected through gene flow?
Metapopulation
What is lx in a life table?
Survivorship: The proportion of the initial population still alive (Nx/N0)
If individuals from two different species physically fight over a food source, what type of competition is this?
Interference competition
What two species closely follow the Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model?
Lynx and Snowshoe Hare
In the host-parasite model, what is m?
death and recovery rate
What is the difference between exponential and geometric growth?
Continuously breeding populations can exhibit exponential growth, while those that have distinct breeding seasons can exhibit geometric growth
At what value of R0 will a population be stable?
1.0 (indicates that births and deaths are balanced, so no population growth or decrease)
When drawing the zero growth isoclines of the Lotka-Volterra competition model, what is the outcome if species 2 is "above" species 1 and the lines do not intersect?
Species 2 will eventually drive species 1 to extinction
Why do plants tend to have specialist predators?
Many produce toxic compounds unique to the plant that herbivores must evolve resistance to in order to eat them. Other plant defenses (i.e., thorns) also require adaptation to bypass.
How can the threshold density of a population be raised to prevent the spread of disease?
Increase recovery rate of infected individuals who then have immunity
Quarantine infected individuals or change behaviors to reduce disease transmission