Ecology Final

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14. Which of the following concepts of community organization suggests that a community is much more than the sum of its individual parts?

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holistic concept

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15. Which of the following concepts of community organization suggests that a community is merely a fortuitous association of species whose adaptations and requirements enable them to live together under the physical and biological conditions of a particular place? i

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individualistic concept

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17. Many European ecologists use a complex taxonomy of communities, based on a rigidly defined method of sampling plant species composition, which places each community in a hierarchy of types organized by their similarity. After whom is this system named?

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j Braun blanquet

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18. As discussed in the previous question, much effort has been devoted to classification of natural communities, and this effort continues today. Which American ecologist would have found the "pigeonholing" of natural communities into discrete classes most satisfying from a philosophical perspective?

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F.E. Clements

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19. Which of the following correctly pairs related concepts?

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holistic concept, closed community
individualistic concept open community
answer both B and C

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20. Which of the following factors exhibits one of the most striking changes as one crosses the ecotone between communities on serpentine and nonserpentine soils in southwestern Oregon?

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C) soil chromium

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21. Examine Figure 18.5. Which of the following species would you characterize as seemingly unresponsive to changes in soil conditions across the ecotone between serpentine and nonserpentine soils in southwestern Oregon?

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hawkweed

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22. Examine Figure 18.5. Which of the following species would you characterize as restricted to nonserpentine soils in southwestern Oregon?

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black oak

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23. Examine Figure 18.5. Which of the following species would you characterize as restricted to serpentine soils in southwestern Oregon?

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fireweed

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24. Examine Figure 18.5. Which of the following species would you characterize as restricted to the ecotone between serpentine and nonserpentine soils in southwestern Oregon?

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ragweed

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25. Which of the following factors may be directly responsible for maintaining a sharp edge between prairies and forests in the midwestern United States?

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fire

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26. The broadleaved deciduous forests of eastern North America contain many species of trees. Which of the following statements best describes the geographic distributions of these species?

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C) Each species has a different geographic range, but these ranges overlap to some extent.

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27. The tendency of certain forest species to occur in certain habitats (ridge tops or moist river bottoms, for example) is convincing evidence for the closed community concept.

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false

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28. An animal ecologist interested in gradient analysis would:

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A) measure the abundance of animal species and physical conditions at a number of locations and then plot the abundance of each species as a function of one or more physical conditions.

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29. Robert H. Whittaker, in a study of plant distributions in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, provided considerable support for:

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A) the concept of open communities.

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30. Under which conditions in Great Smoky Mountains National Park would you seek communities containing red oak, white oak, and beech? Refer to Figure 18.8.

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high elevation, dry

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31. Biologists have catalogued all the species on earth, except for a few rare species in remote tropical areas.

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false

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32. You are walking through a forest, and you soon discover that every other individual tree belongs to a different species. Based on this fact alone, in which of the following countries are you likely to be walking?

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ecuador

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33. You have been maintaining a list of the bird species that frequent your property. At the end of the year you have tallied eight seed eaters, one nectar sipper, three woodpeckers, six insectivores, two frugivores, four predators, and one carrion feeder. Which term best describes each of the categories you have used in your tally?

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guild

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34. Which of the following food web properties is independent of the species richness of the community?

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A) number of feeding links per species

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35. Robert Paine conducted studies of rocky intertidal communities on the coast of Washington and in the Gulf of California. Paine showed that removal of __________ consumers could result in reduction of the number of their resource species.

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both predator and herbivore

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36. In the construction of food webs, much information can be obtained through simple observation of feeding relationships within communities. Which of the following types of food web could you construct from such observations, without further measurement or experimentation?

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connectedness web

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37. Constructing which of the following types of food web would require an experimental approach?

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functional web

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38. In a microcosm experiment, Chris Steiner and colleagues showed that resilience was positively related to the number of species present, but only in __________-productivity microcosms.

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low

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39. When Hairston, Smith, and Slobodkin suggested that the earth is green because carnivores depress the populations of herbivores that would otherwise consume most vegetation, they were focusing on __________ control of community structure.

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top down

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40. Hairston, Smith, and Slobodkin suggested that the earth is green because carnivores depress the populations of herbivores that would otherwise consume most vegetation. Is this the only possible explanation for the "earth is green" phenomenon?

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B) No, perhaps the earth is green because most plants resist consumption through various deterrents to herbivory.

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41. In a study conducted by Matthew Liebold and colleagues, the abundance of zooplankton was positively correlated with the abundance of phytoplankton across a large number of natural lakes, indicating __________ control by plant production of the abundance of organisms feeding at higher trophic levels in aquatic systems.

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bottom up

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42. In the study referred to in the previous question, Matthew Leibold and colleagues added predatory fish to experimental lakes. When fish were added, the abundance of zooplankton decreased, and the abundance of phytoplankton increased, indicating __________ control by predators of the abundance of organisms feeding at lower trophic levels in aquatic systems.

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top down

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43. In a study of ponds and nearby terrestrial ecosystems, Tiffany Knight and colleagues showed that the presence of fish in ponds had indirect, positive effects on the seed set of terrestrial plants. In particular, fish exerted this influence through their direct, negative effects on which organisms?

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larval dragonflies

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44. Boundaries between communities in which there is rapid replacement of species belonging to one community by those belonging to another are called __________.

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ecotones

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45. Proponents of the __________ concept cite the continuous replacement of plants and animals, one by another, along environmental gradients, as evidence supporting this concept.

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individualistic

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46. Herbivores, large and small, are all referred to as __________ consumers.

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primary

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47. Energy and nutrients follow many different, interconnected paths through the ecosystem, collectively referred to as a __________.

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food web

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48. __________ means feeding on more than one trophic level.

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omnivory

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49. A consumer that promotes diversity by manipulating competitive relationships at a lower trophic level is called a __________ consumer.

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keystone

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50. A(n) __________ web emphasizes flux of energy as a means of defining interconnections among species.

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energy flow

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51. __________ is a measure of the ability of a system to resist change in the face of outside influences.

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constancy

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52. Ecologists tend to refer to the indirect effects of consumer-resource interactions as they extend through additional trophic levels of the community as a __________.

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trophic cascade

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53. Ecosystems with high levels of primary productivity tend also to have greater productivity of higher trophic levels, a compelling piece of evidence supporting the existence of __________ effects in ecosystems.

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bottom up