Exam 43: Population Ecology

The distribution of a plant is likely to be influenced by

In the environment of an organism, temperature is a factor that is

A stochastic model of population growth uses

A fishery that harvests wild, migrating salmon has a carefully calculated MSY and annually takes a catch that is below this limit. The fishery maintains a consistent catch for many years and monitors conditions in the catch area which they use to adjust their MSY accordingly. However, despite no changes in the catch area, there is a sudden and sharp decline in fish stocks. What could explain this observation?

Predictions about which areas of Australia may be colonised by a new species of marine pest would best be made by

The most appropriate method of estimating the abundance of large, highly mobile animals would be

A group of organisms of the same species living in a geographically distinct area is defined as a

Population ecologists study the factors affecting the distribution and abundance of

Transplant experiments show that an endangered species of Banksia has the potential to grow in many areas of eastern Australia; however, it is only found in Western Australia. This is probably because of

A national park houses a rare population of Helmeted Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus melanops cassidix). The park rangers need to understand the dynamics of the population in order to effectively develop conservation policies. Specifically, the rangers need to describe the effect of age on the survival of the population, as earlier studies have revealed that many of the fertile individuals are well into adulthood. What is a useful tool that could be employed to describe this?

Population dynamics are determined by looking at population growth over discrete time intervals. However in the continuous-time model of population growth,

The Department of Fisheries wishes to know how many blue fin tuna can be caught without endangering the population. Fisheries biologists would attempt to estimate

Male marsupial mice (Antechinus stuartii) die after mating in the spring. Death is therefore

The potential distribution of a native tussock grass in central Victoria would best be determined by

Density-dependent population growth is likely to be a constant factor for populations of

A closed population showing density-independent growth contained ten seasonally breeding females. If the geometric mean growth factor (R) for the population is two, then when the ecologist returns at the end of five years she would expect to count approximately

Potential distribution may be determined by

Which of the following relationships is described by the -3/2 self-thinning rule?

How does the realised distribution of a plant population correlate with its potential distribution?

A small quantity of bacteria is placed in a jar containing an abundant food supply. Initially you would expect growth to be