Exam 8: Life Histories

The data in the figure show a relationship between the mean flowering date for many plant species around Concord, New Hampshire, and the mean spring temperature over a time span exceeding 150 years. However, there is a lot of scatter around the best-fit line in panel b. What information in the chapter might suggest the source of this scatter, and what does it imply about the plant species' cues for flowering?

Red foxes mature after their first year of life and may live for 5 to 10 years. Foxes often reproduce many times over their life. The term to describe this aspect of their life history is

Which variable best summarizes the response to increased predation mortality for adults and suggests that putting more energy into reproduction provides an improved fitness benefit?

Using Grime's categories, describe the general environment in which one is likely to find competitors, stress tolerators, and ruderals.

Which of the following is NOT a potential benefit of increased resource availability?

Bet hedging (spreading reproduction over both good and bad years) has been proposed as an advantage to