BIO 1M03 Population Ecology Exam Questions With Correct Answers

Population - Answer Group of individuals from the same species that live in the same area at the same time Population density - Answer Number of individuals per unit area - Vary throughout the range What are the types of distribution of population density? [3] - Answer - Random - Clumped - Uniformed Random distribution - Answer Positions of individuals independent of each other Clumped distribution - Answer Result from patchy habitat or social organisms Uniform distribution - Answer Organisms have negative interactions (food/competition) that span them evenly Metapopulation - Answer A population of a larger population connected by migration - Result of large range What are some methods for determining population size, density, & distribution patterns? - Answer - Quadrats - Transect lines - Mark recapture What are some assumptions we make about the mark-recapture methods? [5] - Answer - Individuals are not moving in & out of study area - Individuals mix between capture - No bias exists regarding which individuals are caught in each capture - Individuals do not learn to avoid/seek out after being caught once - Individuals do not change their behaviour, attract/deter predators or mates or die from being handled What are the 4 processes that population size is dependant on? - Answer - Birth - Death - Immigration - Emigration To predict future size of population, you need to know [4] - Answer - Number of individuals of each age (Nx) - Survivorship of each cohort (lx) - Fecundity of females at each age (mx) - How many individuals at each age immigrate/emigrate Generation length - Answer Average time between a mother's first offspring and that of her daughter What would happen to a population of mostly young individuals with high survival and reproductive rates? - Answer It would increase over time What would happen to a population of mostly old individuals with low survival and reproductive rates? - Answer It would decline overtime Life table - Answer Shows probability that an individual will survive & reproduce in any given time interval over the course of its lifetime It is hard to measure the life span of a long-lived species, what can we do about this and what is the pro/con of this? - Answer - Biologists can take a snap-shot of a population's age structure at a given time - Comparatively easier - Less info