Exam 43: Global Ecology and Conservation Biology

Please use the following information to answer the question(s) below. The contamination of soils with heavy metals has become more common as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, industrial activities, and agricultural fertilizer application. These heavy metals can be toxic depending on the concentrations that accumulate in an organism. A scientist hypothesizes that biological magnification of heavy metals in fragment-dwelling, insect-eating birds should be greater in forest fragments with relatively more edge habitat because edge-dwelling bird species may forage for insects in contaminated areas outside of the forest. Forest fragments with more interior habitat would not have as much biological magnification because insect-eating interior bird species would have less exposure to insects that contain heavy metals. -How should the scientist draw a graph of the data to best address the hypothesis?

Which of the following conditions is the most likely indicator of a population in an extinction vortex?

Which of the following is true about the current research regarding forest fragmentation?

Please use the following information to answer the question(s) below. Three forest areas are being considered for a conservation reserve. Each area contains the same number of trees and is the same cumulative size. The area surrounding the forest patches is a mix of agricultural land and residential homes. -The American lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis) inhabits only forest edges and does not disperse well across unsuitable habitat. Which of the following area(s) would support the highest numbers of this butterfly?

Which of the following provides the best evidence of a biodiversity crisis?

Figure 43.3 Use the graph in Figure 43.3 and the information provided in the paragraph below to answer the following questions. Flycatcher birds that migrate from Africa to Europe feed their nestlings a diet that is almost exclusively moth caterpillars. The graph in Figure 43.3 shows the mean (peak) dates of bird arrival, bird hatching, and caterpillar season for the years 1980 and 2000. -Suppose you attend a town meeting at which some experts tell the audience that they have performed a cost-benefit analysis of a proposed transit system that would probably reduce overall air pollution and fossil fuel consumption. The analysis, however, reveals that ticket prices will not cover the cost of operating the system when fuel, wages, and equipment are taken into account. As a biologist, you know that if ecosystem services had been included in the analysis the experts might have arrived at a different answer. Why are ecosystem services rarely included in economic analyses?

Figure 43.1 Figure 43.1 shows five patches that can potentially serve as quail habitat. Each patch contains four plots, and the types of cover that are available in each plot are listed in each row of the patch. Assuming that only one quail can occupy a plot where all cover requirements are met, what is the maximum number of quail that could inhabit all of the patches?

If the sex ratio in a population is significantly different from 50:50, then which of the following will always be true?

Please use the following information to answer the question(s) below. The contamination of soils with heavy metals has become more common as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, industrial activities, and agricultural fertilizer application. These heavy metals can be toxic depending on the concentrations that accumulate in an organism. A scientist hypothesizes that biological magnification of heavy metals in fragment-dwelling, insect-eating birds should be greater in forest fragments with relatively more edge habitat because edge-dwelling bird species may forage for insects in contaminated areas outside of the forest. Forest fragments with more interior habitat would not have as much biological magnification because insect-eating interior bird species would have less exposure to insects that contain heavy metals. -To test this hypothesis, the scientist conducts an experiment. Which of the following designs would be most informative?

The difference between an endangered species and a threatened one is that

The concept of sustainable development emphasizes

Estimates of current rates of extinction