Exam 38: Animal Ecology

In tidal pools,a food pyramid is inverted with a small base of phytoplankton supporting zooplankton consumers.How can this be explained?

The maximum number of individuals of a species that an area can support is the

How does mutualism differ from commensalism? How would you experimentally determine if two species are living in a commensal or mutualistic relationship?

Identify the following terms: r,K,N.Why does the term (K-N)/K approach zero (no slope)as N approaches the value of K?

Some conditions that can limit population size are severe cold,drought,fire,etc.; such conditions are regarded as density ____________.

A series of steps in which plants are eaten by consumers,which are themselves eaten by other consumers,is called the ______ ______.

When adding sterilized screw-worm flies to populations in an attempt to eradicate them from the United States,scientists found that not all of the adult screw-worm flies,often from different areas,were mating with each other.Each of the internally mating populations constituted a

Discuss the paradox of biodiversity concerning species isolation and potential for both speciation and extinction.

For a population experiencing logistic growth,what is the most likely result when N very closely approaches the value of K?

The term "ecology" was first introduced by whom?

Commensalism differs from mutualism by the fact that in commensalism,

An animal population is a group of animals that form which of the following?

The sponge constitutes an animal that is

Discuss how the extinction of a keystone species can affect an ecosystem.

Discuss how the following terms are interrelated: niche overlap,competitive exclusion,character displacement,and guild.How do all these terms relate to the concept of competition?

What is the role of decomposers in the cycling of carbon? What would eventually occur if decomposers lost the ability to break down plant and fungal matter?