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Sample questions for examination II |
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Note. These are sample questions. Use these questions as only one of many study aids for the examination! These questions for you to guide your studies and cover the materials presented class, the textbook, and the course internet site. Be sure your answers for these questions are scientifically sound and presented in the technically appropriate terminology and concepts used in ecology.
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What are the major ways to graphically describe climate? What are the major climatic types of the world? What are the principal characteristics of the following types of climate: Mediterranean, arctic tundra, continental, cold desert, hot desert, monsoonal, tropical? Summarize the physiological and ecological principal differences among C3, C4, and CAM plants. Why do C4 plants have a higher water use efficiency than C3 plants? What do CAM plants have the highest water use efficiencies? What parameter is used to describe the availability of water in the soil? What determines whether soil water is available to a plant? What are the three principal components that comprise the total water potential of plants?
Which component of the soil water potential would be changed the
most by the addition of salts to a soil? What is the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, and what is the ecological significance of this continuum? During your walk in the forest you observe many plant species that appear to be facultative sciophytes. What is a facultative sciophyte? Would you expect to find an obligate heliophyte in the understory of a dense forest? What is demography, and what are some important analyses used by demographers? How does a population change in size? What are the different ways that a population is regulated? How do population regulatory mechanisms change as the population size increases toward carrying capacity? What are the principal characteristics of r-selected species? What are some examples of r-selected species? What are some characteristics of a k-selected species? What are some examples of k-selected species? What are the different categories of life-spans of plants? What are the ecological consequences of each type life span? Define and give one example of a protocooperative interaction. Define and give one example of a mutualistic interaction. How does parasitism differ from a predation? Define competition and explain how this fundamentally differs from allelopathy. What is logistic growth? What different types of growth curves occur in nature, and how is each type of growth regulated? What are the major types of survivorship curves found in nature? What are life tables and what are they used for? What are the different types of interactions among organisms? What is evolution and how is natural selection involved in this process? What is carrying capacity? What is the intrinsic rate of increase? What is natural selection and who first formulated this theory? Explain how the experiments of Gause related to predator and prey populations. Explain how the experiments of Huffaker related to the predator prey populations. What were Lotka and Volterra's contributions to understanding population growth and decline? What are populations pyramids and how do they relate to the understanding of populations? How do annuals, perennials, and biennials differ in their allocation of carbohydrates? Explain the mechanism and consequences of stratospheric ozone depletion. Explain the mechanism and consequences of global climate change. What are the principal global environmental problems? Explain the causes and effects of each global environmental problem. Since species extinction occurs naturally, why are ecologists so concerned about species extinction? What is coevolution? Give two examples of coevolution. How do new genotypes arise in a population? What are the advantages and disadvantages of mimicry? How do mimics develop in nature? |
