Ecology Concepts and Applications 8th
Edition Test Bank Comprehensive Study
Guide with Detailed Solutions and
Rationales September 17, 2025 A comprehensive resource with over
200 questions, answers, and detailed rationales for studying ecology concepts.
,Contents
1 Introduction to Ecology 6
1.1 Question 1: What is ecology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Question 2: Define the biosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Question 3: What are the levels of ecological organization from smallest to
largest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Question 4: Explain the role of abiotic factors in ecology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Question 5: What is a habitat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Question 6: What is an ecosystem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.7 Question 7: Define niche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.8 Question 8: What is a biome? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.9 Question 9: Explain the concept of biodiversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.10 Question 10: What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors? . . . . . 7
2 Adaptation and Evolution 7
2.1 Question 11: What is natural selection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Question 12: Define fitness in an ecological context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Question 13: What is genetic drift? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Question 14: Explain stabilizing selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Question 15: What is directional selection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.6 Question 16: What is gene flow? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.7 Question 17: Define mutation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8 Question 18: What is adaptive radiation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.9 Question 19: Explain sexual selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.10 Question 20: What is allopatric speciation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Genes and Genetic Information 8
3.1 Question 21: What is an allele? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Question 22: Define phenotype. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Question 23: What is the Hardy-Weinberg Principle? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4 Question 24: Explain disruptive selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 Question 25: What are allozymes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.6 Question 26: What is a genotype? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.7 Question 27: Define genetic variation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.8 Question 28: What is heterozygosity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.9 Question 29: Explain polygenic traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.10 Question 30: What is epistasis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4 Population Processes 9
4.1 Question 31: What is a population? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Question 32: Define natality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3 Question 33: What is immigration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 Question 34: Explain emigration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.5 Question 35: What is carrying capacity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.6 Question 36: What is mortality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.7 Question 37: Define age structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.8 Question 38: What is a population pyramid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9 Question 39: Explain sex ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1
, 4.10 Question 40: What is dispersal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5 Life Histories 11
5.1 Question 41: What is a life history? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 Question 42: Define r-selected species. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.3 Question 43: What are K-selected species? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.4 Question 44: Explain semelparity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.5 Question 45: What is iteroparity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.6 Question 46: What is fecundity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.7 Question 47: Define longevity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.8 Question 48: Explain reproductive effort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.9 Question 49: What is parental investment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.10 Question 50: What is a trade-off in life history? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6 Population Distribution and Abundance 12
6.1 Question 51: What is population density? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.2 Question 52: Define clumped distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.3 Question 53: What is uniform distribution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.4 Question 54: Explain random distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.5 Question 55: What factors influence abundance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.6 Question 56: What is a metapopulation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.7 Question 57: Define range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.8 Question 58: What is a quadrat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.9 Question 59: Explain mark-recapture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.10 Question 60: What is habitat fragmentation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7 Population Growth and Regulation 13
7.1 Question 61: What is exponential growth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.2 Question 62: Define logistic growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.3 Question 63: What is density-dependent regulation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.4 Question 64: Explain density-independent factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.5 Question 65: What is a population cycle? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.6 Question 66: What is intrinsic rate of increase? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.7 Question 67: Define Allee effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.8 Question 68: What is overshoot? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.9 Question 69: Explain time lag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.10 Question 70: What is demographic stochasticity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8 Social Relations 14
8.1 Question 71: What is behavioral ecology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.2 Question 72: Define sexual selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.3 Question 73: What is inclusive fitness? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.4 Question 74: Explain eusociality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.5 Question 75: What is cooperative breeding? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.6 Question 76: What is a dominance hierarchy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.7 Question 77: Define territoriality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.8 Question 78: What is optimal foraging? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.9 Question 79: Explain kin selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.10 Question 80: What is reciprocity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2
Edition Test Bank Comprehensive Study
Guide with Detailed Solutions and
Rationales September 17, 2025 A comprehensive resource with over
200 questions, answers, and detailed rationales for studying ecology concepts.
,Contents
1 Introduction to Ecology 6
1.1 Question 1: What is ecology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2 Question 2: Define the biosphere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3 Question 3: What are the levels of ecological organization from smallest to
largest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Question 4: Explain the role of abiotic factors in ecology. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Question 5: What is a habitat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Question 6: What is an ecosystem? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.7 Question 7: Define niche. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.8 Question 8: What is a biome? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.9 Question 9: Explain the concept of biodiversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.10 Question 10: What is the difference between biotic and abiotic factors? . . . . . 7
2 Adaptation and Evolution 7
2.1 Question 11: What is natural selection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Question 12: Define fitness in an ecological context. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Question 13: What is genetic drift? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Question 14: Explain stabilizing selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Question 15: What is directional selection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.6 Question 16: What is gene flow? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.7 Question 17: Define mutation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.8 Question 18: What is adaptive radiation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.9 Question 19: Explain sexual selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.10 Question 20: What is allopatric speciation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Genes and Genetic Information 8
3.1 Question 21: What is an allele? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 Question 22: Define phenotype. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Question 23: What is the Hardy-Weinberg Principle? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4 Question 24: Explain disruptive selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 Question 25: What are allozymes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.6 Question 26: What is a genotype? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.7 Question 27: Define genetic variation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.8 Question 28: What is heterozygosity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.9 Question 29: Explain polygenic traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.10 Question 30: What is epistasis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4 Population Processes 9
4.1 Question 31: What is a population? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Question 32: Define natality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3 Question 33: What is immigration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 Question 34: Explain emigration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.5 Question 35: What is carrying capacity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.6 Question 36: What is mortality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.7 Question 37: Define age structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.8 Question 38: What is a population pyramid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.9 Question 39: Explain sex ratio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1
, 4.10 Question 40: What is dispersal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5 Life Histories 11
5.1 Question 41: What is a life history? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 Question 42: Define r-selected species. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.3 Question 43: What are K-selected species? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.4 Question 44: Explain semelparity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.5 Question 45: What is iteroparity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.6 Question 46: What is fecundity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.7 Question 47: Define longevity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.8 Question 48: Explain reproductive effort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.9 Question 49: What is parental investment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.10 Question 50: What is a trade-off in life history? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6 Population Distribution and Abundance 12
6.1 Question 51: What is population density? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.2 Question 52: Define clumped distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.3 Question 53: What is uniform distribution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.4 Question 54: Explain random distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.5 Question 55: What factors influence abundance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.6 Question 56: What is a metapopulation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.7 Question 57: Define range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.8 Question 58: What is a quadrat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.9 Question 59: Explain mark-recapture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.10 Question 60: What is habitat fragmentation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7 Population Growth and Regulation 13
7.1 Question 61: What is exponential growth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.2 Question 62: Define logistic growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.3 Question 63: What is density-dependent regulation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.4 Question 64: Explain density-independent factors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.5 Question 65: What is a population cycle? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.6 Question 66: What is intrinsic rate of increase? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.7 Question 67: Define Allee effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7.8 Question 68: What is overshoot? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.9 Question 69: Explain time lag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7.10 Question 70: What is demographic stochasticity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8 Social Relations 14
8.1 Question 71: What is behavioral ecology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.2 Question 72: Define sexual selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.3 Question 73: What is inclusive fitness? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.4 Question 74: Explain eusociality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.5 Question 75: What is cooperative breeding? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.6 Question 76: What is a dominance hierarchy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.7 Question 77: Define territoriality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.8 Question 78: What is optimal foraging? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.9 Question 79: Explain kin selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8.10 Question 80: What is reciprocity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2
