Exam 8: Life Histories

Fecundity is the

For some organisms, warmer spring temperatures have led to

Explain how human fishing for larger individuals from a population of fish can reduce the average maturation time in the population.

Which panel best illustrates the most direct effect of predation?

Which life history type do mammals exhibit?

What type of reproduction will be favored if adult plant survival is low because of a disturbance such as fire?

Many animals undergo a dramatic metamorphosis from larval to adult form. Poorly nourished animals cannot grow as fast as well-nourished animals and therefore do not reach a given mass as quickly as their well-nourished counterparts. If metamorphosis occurs when a specific minimum body mass is reached, which of the following costs is most likely incurred by a poorly nourished animal?

Some marine snails (species L) produce large numbers of small eggs that are shed into the sea, hatch at an early stage of development, and feed on microscopic plants. Other marine snails (species S) produce few eggs that are retained for a long time within the body of the mother snail in a brood pouch, hatch at an advanced stage of development, and immediately begin to feed on the surfaces of large plants like the adults. A biologist discovers approximately equal numbers of adults of species L and S in the same area over many generations. While studying the two species of snails, the biologist hypothesizes that the two species expend approximately the same amount of energy producing young. What assumption is the biologist making?

The principle of allocation states that life history traits are adapted to maximize

A mature female sockeye salmon swims up to 5,000 km from her Pacific Ocean feeding ground to the mouth of a coastal river in British Columbia and then another 1,000 km upstream to her spawning ground. Once there, she lays thousands of eggs in her single reproductive event and promptly dies. The salmon's reproductive life history is

Birds and mammals tend to have shorter times to sexual maturity as compared to reptiles and fish. Why?

Which plant life history type, fast or slow, would best describe a weed species that is a good invader of new habitats?

Which does NOT have fast life history attributes?

Describe the difference between an organism that displays determinate growth and an organism that displays indeterminate growth. Provide examples of organisms that display each growth type.

Which of the following does NOT apply to indeterminate growth?

A gradual decrease in fecundity and increase in the probability of mortality is known as

What environmental factor would likely lead to later maturation with an iteroparous reproductive strategy?

What is meant by the principle of allocation and how is this concept related to fitness?

The number of chicks fledged in a brood may not be independent of the number of eggs produced. How might researchers test these variables independently to determine whether there is a relationship between them?

The amount of light that occurs each day and changes as the seasons progress is termed