BSC 2011 Final Exam 4 Study Guide
Questions With all Actual Answers 2026-
2027 Updated.
ecology - Answer the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment
abiotic - Answer nonliving chemical and physical factors (ex. physical: temperature, humidity,
light, wind, soil substrate structure, fire, topography/physical structure; chemical: water, oxygen,
pH, salinity, minerals, nutrients)
biotic - Answer living components (ex. predation, competition, density, disease, parasitism)
competition - Answer interactions within a species
predation - Answer interactions BETWEEN DIFFERENT species
population ecology - Answer what factors affect population size, age structure, and
distribution through space and time?
population - Answer a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular area
community ecology - Answer how do interactions between populations of different species
affect the structure and organization of a community?
community - Answer all the organisms living in a particular area (i.e. ALL the species)
ecosystem ecology - Answer what are the interactions between a biotic community and its
abiotic (physical) environment? How do nutrients and energy flow through an ecosystem?
ecosystem - Answer the biotic and abiotic components of a particular environment (ex. coral
reef)
demography - Answer the study of population's vital statistics and the factors that influence
these
vital statistics - Answer tool to study population growth (ex. size, density, dispersion)
, population size - Answer absolute number of individuals
population density - Answer number of individuals/area or volume
population dispersion - Answer how individuals are distributed in a population
population dispersion patterns - Answer clumped, uniform, random
age structure - Answer the distribution of different age classes in a population; even: trees in a
planted plantation or odd: trees in a natural forest
age structure of population - Answer function of birth rate and death rate and how these vary
with age
broad base - Answer rapid population growth
narrow base - Answer zero population growth
energy allocation - Answer an organism has a limited amount of E to allocate to enhance its
"fitness" (enhance survival and reproduction); energy spent on survival is taken away from
reproduction
"tradeoff" - Answer exists between E spent on survival vs. reproduction; ex: there is a cost of
parental care on a parents' survival such as in Kestrals (bird)
tradeoff in the sparrow - Answer less E invested in survival and more E into reproduction
(reproduce earlier and at a higher rate annually to produce enough offspring to perpetuate the
species)
tradeoff in albatross - Answer more E into survival than annual reproduction; by living longer,
can produce enough offspring to maintain the species
life-history strategy - Answer of energy tradeoffs of a species evolves over time to maximize
fitness
semelparity - Answer big bang reproduction; reproduce once and die; usually many offspring
with low chance of survival (ex. salmon, century plants, many annuals, dandelions); adaptation
to more variable environment.
Questions With all Actual Answers 2026-
2027 Updated.
ecology - Answer the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment
abiotic - Answer nonliving chemical and physical factors (ex. physical: temperature, humidity,
light, wind, soil substrate structure, fire, topography/physical structure; chemical: water, oxygen,
pH, salinity, minerals, nutrients)
biotic - Answer living components (ex. predation, competition, density, disease, parasitism)
competition - Answer interactions within a species
predation - Answer interactions BETWEEN DIFFERENT species
population ecology - Answer what factors affect population size, age structure, and
distribution through space and time?
population - Answer a group of organisms of the same species living in a particular area
community ecology - Answer how do interactions between populations of different species
affect the structure and organization of a community?
community - Answer all the organisms living in a particular area (i.e. ALL the species)
ecosystem ecology - Answer what are the interactions between a biotic community and its
abiotic (physical) environment? How do nutrients and energy flow through an ecosystem?
ecosystem - Answer the biotic and abiotic components of a particular environment (ex. coral
reef)
demography - Answer the study of population's vital statistics and the factors that influence
these
vital statistics - Answer tool to study population growth (ex. size, density, dispersion)
, population size - Answer absolute number of individuals
population density - Answer number of individuals/area or volume
population dispersion - Answer how individuals are distributed in a population
population dispersion patterns - Answer clumped, uniform, random
age structure - Answer the distribution of different age classes in a population; even: trees in a
planted plantation or odd: trees in a natural forest
age structure of population - Answer function of birth rate and death rate and how these vary
with age
broad base - Answer rapid population growth
narrow base - Answer zero population growth
energy allocation - Answer an organism has a limited amount of E to allocate to enhance its
"fitness" (enhance survival and reproduction); energy spent on survival is taken away from
reproduction
"tradeoff" - Answer exists between E spent on survival vs. reproduction; ex: there is a cost of
parental care on a parents' survival such as in Kestrals (bird)
tradeoff in the sparrow - Answer less E invested in survival and more E into reproduction
(reproduce earlier and at a higher rate annually to produce enough offspring to perpetuate the
species)
tradeoff in albatross - Answer more E into survival than annual reproduction; by living longer,
can produce enough offspring to maintain the species
life-history strategy - Answer of energy tradeoffs of a species evolves over time to maximize
fitness
semelparity - Answer big bang reproduction; reproduce once and die; usually many offspring
with low chance of survival (ex. salmon, century plants, many annuals, dandelions); adaptation
to more variable environment.
