BIO 252 COMPREHENSIVE EXAM FULL
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS VERIFIED
REVIEW MATERIAL
●● Functional group
Answer: A subset of a community that includes species that function in
similar ways but may or may not use similar resources.
●● Food web
Answer: a representation of the trophic or energetic connections among
species within a community.
●● Trophic Levels
Answer: groups of species that have similar ways of interacting and
obtaining energy.
●● Horizontal Interactions
Answer: non-trophic interactions, such as competition and positive
interactions.
●● Species Diversity
,Answer: a measure that combines species richness (number of species)
and their abundances compared with those of the other species (species
evenness).
●● Species richness
Answer: Easiest metric to determine; simply counts all the species in the
community.
●● Species Evenness
Answer: Tells us the commonness or rarity of species; need to know
abundance of each species in a community.
●● What equation do we use to find a number of species diversity
indices?
Answer: Shannon Index
●● Shannon Index Equation
Answer: H= the Shannon index value
Pi= the proportion of individuals found in the -ith species
Ln= natural log
s= number of species in the community.
●● Species Composition
, Answer: the identity of the species present in the community.
●● Trophic Cascade
Answer: When the rate of consumption at one trophic level results in a
change in species abundance or composition at lower trophic levels.
Example: When sea otters consume urchins which allows for the kelp
forests to grow.
●● Trophic Facilitation
Answer: Occurs when a consumer is indirectly helped by a positive
interaction between its prey and another species.
Example: When Juncus was removed, Iva growth rate decreased. But
when Iva was removed, Junca was not affected.
●● Foundation Species
Answer: The total affect of the species is proportionate to the size and
abundance of the species.
Example: Trees are big and abundant, their affect is also great.
Song birds are small and less abundant, they have little affect on the
environment.
QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS VERIFIED
REVIEW MATERIAL
●● Functional group
Answer: A subset of a community that includes species that function in
similar ways but may or may not use similar resources.
●● Food web
Answer: a representation of the trophic or energetic connections among
species within a community.
●● Trophic Levels
Answer: groups of species that have similar ways of interacting and
obtaining energy.
●● Horizontal Interactions
Answer: non-trophic interactions, such as competition and positive
interactions.
●● Species Diversity
,Answer: a measure that combines species richness (number of species)
and their abundances compared with those of the other species (species
evenness).
●● Species richness
Answer: Easiest metric to determine; simply counts all the species in the
community.
●● Species Evenness
Answer: Tells us the commonness or rarity of species; need to know
abundance of each species in a community.
●● What equation do we use to find a number of species diversity
indices?
Answer: Shannon Index
●● Shannon Index Equation
Answer: H= the Shannon index value
Pi= the proportion of individuals found in the -ith species
Ln= natural log
s= number of species in the community.
●● Species Composition
, Answer: the identity of the species present in the community.
●● Trophic Cascade
Answer: When the rate of consumption at one trophic level results in a
change in species abundance or composition at lower trophic levels.
Example: When sea otters consume urchins which allows for the kelp
forests to grow.
●● Trophic Facilitation
Answer: Occurs when a consumer is indirectly helped by a positive
interaction between its prey and another species.
Example: When Juncus was removed, Iva growth rate decreased. But
when Iva was removed, Junca was not affected.
●● Foundation Species
Answer: The total affect of the species is proportionate to the size and
abundance of the species.
Example: Trees are big and abundant, their affect is also great.
Song birds are small and less abundant, they have little affect on the
environment.
