Bio 370 Exam 2 questions with verified
answers
Disturbance - correct answer ✔✔ Any change in community composition caused by a discrete
physical event. (e.g. fire; hurricane; volcano; human clearcutting)
Sere - correct answer ✔✔ A plant species or community that forms a distinct stage in a
successional sequence. (Adj. = seral)
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis - correct answer ✔✔ species richness is maximized at
intermediate levels of disturbance in space and time.
Succession - correct answer ✔✔ A repeatable change in community composition through time
following a disturbance. (e.g. soil building; nitrogen fixation; canopy development)
community - correct answer ✔✔ An ecological community is the association of species within a
defined area that actually or potentially interact with each other. The nature of the interactions
between those species and the influence they have on each other bind the community together
and determine the community's properties. Community interactions include predation,
competition, and symbiosis.
Serotinous - correct answer ✔✔ an ecological adaptation exhibited by some seed plants, in
which seed release occurs in response to an environmental trigger, rather than spontaneously at
seed maturation.
Grass - correct answer ✔✔ more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually
herbaceous plants, having jointed stems, sheathing leaves, and seedlike grains.
, Forb - correct answer ✔✔ herbaceous (as opposed to woody) flowering plants other than
grasses, sedges, or rushes. Roses, sunflowers, daisies and bluebells are all forbs.
Sedge - correct answer ✔✔ plants in the family Cyperaceae, which superficially resemble
grasses or rushes. They can be distinguished from grasses by their triangular stems, which sport
edges. Their leaves are spirally arranged in three ranks, whereas grasses have laternate leaves in
two ranks.
Autogenic - correct answer ✔✔ means internally produced or generated independently of
external influence. In autogenic succession the members of the community generate the
changes that drive succession.
Allogenic - correct answer ✔✔ means exogenous: to have an external cause or source. In
allogenic succession the principal forces driving succession are from outside the system.
Climax community - correct answer ✔✔ An ecological community in which populations of
plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A
climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until
destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
Disturbance regime - correct answer ✔✔ a concept that describes the pattern of disturbances
that shape an ecosystem over a long time scale. Typically defined in terms of timing, magnitude
(potentially including both severity and spatial extent), frequency, and predictability.
Food Chain - correct answer ✔✔ a description of how food or energy moves through
populations in a community or ecosystem.
Trophic Level - correct answer ✔✔ The position that an organism occupies in a food chain. Food
chains start at trophic level 1 with primary producers such as plants, move to herbivores at level
2, predators at level 3 and typically finish with carnivores or apex predators at level 4 or 5.
answers
Disturbance - correct answer ✔✔ Any change in community composition caused by a discrete
physical event. (e.g. fire; hurricane; volcano; human clearcutting)
Sere - correct answer ✔✔ A plant species or community that forms a distinct stage in a
successional sequence. (Adj. = seral)
Intermediate disturbance hypothesis - correct answer ✔✔ species richness is maximized at
intermediate levels of disturbance in space and time.
Succession - correct answer ✔✔ A repeatable change in community composition through time
following a disturbance. (e.g. soil building; nitrogen fixation; canopy development)
community - correct answer ✔✔ An ecological community is the association of species within a
defined area that actually or potentially interact with each other. The nature of the interactions
between those species and the influence they have on each other bind the community together
and determine the community's properties. Community interactions include predation,
competition, and symbiosis.
Serotinous - correct answer ✔✔ an ecological adaptation exhibited by some seed plants, in
which seed release occurs in response to an environmental trigger, rather than spontaneously at
seed maturation.
Grass - correct answer ✔✔ more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually
herbaceous plants, having jointed stems, sheathing leaves, and seedlike grains.
, Forb - correct answer ✔✔ herbaceous (as opposed to woody) flowering plants other than
grasses, sedges, or rushes. Roses, sunflowers, daisies and bluebells are all forbs.
Sedge - correct answer ✔✔ plants in the family Cyperaceae, which superficially resemble
grasses or rushes. They can be distinguished from grasses by their triangular stems, which sport
edges. Their leaves are spirally arranged in three ranks, whereas grasses have laternate leaves in
two ranks.
Autogenic - correct answer ✔✔ means internally produced or generated independently of
external influence. In autogenic succession the members of the community generate the
changes that drive succession.
Allogenic - correct answer ✔✔ means exogenous: to have an external cause or source. In
allogenic succession the principal forces driving succession are from outside the system.
Climax community - correct answer ✔✔ An ecological community in which populations of
plants or animals remain stable and exist in balance with each other and their environment. A
climax community is the final stage of succession, remaining relatively unchanged until
destroyed by an event such as fire or human interference.
Disturbance regime - correct answer ✔✔ a concept that describes the pattern of disturbances
that shape an ecosystem over a long time scale. Typically defined in terms of timing, magnitude
(potentially including both severity and spatial extent), frequency, and predictability.
Food Chain - correct answer ✔✔ a description of how food or energy moves through
populations in a community or ecosystem.
Trophic Level - correct answer ✔✔ The position that an organism occupies in a food chain. Food
chains start at trophic level 1 with primary producers such as plants, move to herbivores at level
2, predators at level 3 and typically finish with carnivores or apex predators at level 4 or 5.
