Exam 4: Adaptations to Variable Environments　

Explain a difference between hibernation and aestivation.

What form of dormancy do mammals use to conserve energy and survive seasons during which they are unable to obtain food?

Describe how a desert iguana can survive high summer temperatures.

This figure shows the tail shape developed by three tadpole genotypes (M, N, and O) when raised in an environment with predators and an environment without predators. In the presence of predators, tadpoles with large tails have high fitness and tadpoles with small tails have low fitness. When predators are not present, tadpoles with large tails have low fitness and tadpoles with small tails have high fitness. Which genotype(s) would have the highest average fitness across both environments?

Different species of birds found feeding in different parts of the same forest canopy at the same time may be an example of

The time required to subdue and consume a prey item is called

The average annual rainfall measured in a desert over 10 years is which type of variation?

Some individuals exhibit adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to competition from members of their own species. Why would food availability probably be a more reliable cue than the number of conspecifics about the amount of competition for food?

Desert tortoises shut down metabolic processes for long periods during very hot and dry summer conditions. What form of dormancy is this?

A heron, a large wading bird, is hunting in a pond that contains three types of prey: fish, frogs, and snakes. All three types of prey are abundant and provide the same amount of energy to the heron. The heron has the highest handling time capturing fish, an intermediate handling time capturing snakes, and the lowest handling time capturing frogs. What prey item would foraging theory predict that the heron should catch most frequently?

Which shows the order of phenotypically plastic traits from those that typically respond most rapidly to those that typically respond least rapidly?

Which statement about predator and prey phenotypic plasticity is accurate? I. Prey can change morphology to avoid predators. II. Predators can change morphology to capture prey. III. Both predators and prey exhibit phenotypic trade-offs.

A type of dormancy found in insects in response to unfavorable environmental conditions is called

Describe the difference between a plastic and nonplastic genotype.

An ecologist is studying the relationship between a beetle species and a flower species. She examines six plants and counts the number of beetles and the number of flowers on each plant. Number of flowers Number of beetles 1 1 2 4 3 9 4 16 5 25 6 36 What can we conclude from the data?

When humans move from low elevations to high elevations, it typically takes one or more weeks for their bodies to improve their ability to carry oxygen. This is an example of

An active hummingbird maintains its resting body temperature at approximately 40°C, while a torpid hummingbird maintains its resting body temperature at approximately 20°C. Explain how torpor allows hummingbirds to survive cold periods with little available food.

The phenotypic plasticity that allows a copepod to survive being moved from salt water to fresh water is similar to the phenotypic plasticity of a human moved from low elevation to high elevation because both are

A fox that catches prey in several fields but brings the prey back to a single den to feed its young is an example of

Consider an area in which plants change from one group of species to another group of species over a distance of 20 cm. How might this scale of variation affect two herbivores-aphids (very small insects) and moose (large mammals)?