Ecological Modeling Exam
Solutions
Course Introduction
Ecological Modeling is a course focused on the construction and analysis of mathematical models to represent ecological systems and processes. Students will explore how to formulate models for population dynamics, species interactions, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem functions, utilizing both deterministic and stochastic approaches. Through computational simulations and case studies, the course highlights the role of modeling in predicting ecological responses to environmental changes, managing natural resources, and guiding conservation efforts. Emphasis is placed on model design, validation, parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, and interpreting model outputs to inform real-world ecological decision-making.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Ecology 4th Edition by Michael Begon
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14 Chapters
702 Verified Questions
702 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Ecology and How to Do It
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50 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) To conduct a statistical test,you first need a ______.
A) P-value
B) A probability
C) A model
D) Null hypothesis
Answer: D
Q2) An ecologist wants to study what plants colonize a site after a volcano has erupted.She plans to compare what plant species were once there with what plant species begin to grow in a matter of a few months.What term best describes the process she is interested in studying?
A) Unnatural history experiment
B) Ecological succession
C) Organismal ecology
D) All of the above
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Ecologys Evolutionary Backdrop
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which term refers to speciation where there is both an ecological source of divergent selection and a means of reproductive isolation?
A) Allopatric speciation
B) Ecological speciation
C) Sympatric speciation
D) Ecological and sympatric evolution
Answer: B
Q2) A recent examination of two geographically isolated populations of mountain sheep indicates there has been long-standing separation between the two populations.An analysis shows that the two populations are actually different species.What type of speciation likely occurred?
A) Sympatric
B) Allopatric
C) Endemic
D) Syntopic
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Physical Conditions and the Availability of Resources
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Sample Questions
Q1) Conditions can affect disease dynamics.A grasshopper species will escape serious infection by a fungal pathogen by modifying what condition?
A) The amount of carbohydrates in its diet
B) Its body temperature, and it does so by basking
C) The percentage of water that it is comprised of, which it does by eating vegetation with a higher water content
D) It is not capable of preventing infection by this fungal pathogen
Answer: B
Q2) Oak tree species are quite abundant in the southern California landscape.These species are long-lived,even though they experience drought.What would you predict their root structure to be like?
A) They likely have shallow roots that spread out across wide areas
B) They likely have one single, shallow root
C) They likely have a very deep root structure that reaches through many layers of soil
D) They likely have a root structure that branches out but can move deeper into layers of soil when drought conditions occur.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Climate and the Worlds Biomes
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Sample Questions
Q1) The spinning of the Earth affects the motion of air masses.This effect is referred to as the ________________.
A) Coriolis Effect
B) Hadley Effect
C) Polar Cells
D) Ferrel Effect
Q2) You have to wade into a small pond to collect specimens of insects for a research project.You notice that when you wade into the pond,the water is warm on the surface,but as you move into deeper water it is much cooler.What term describes this rapid decrease in water temperature throughout the pond?
A) A thermocline
B) A watershed
C) A biome
D) Eutrophication
Q3) The formation of a savanna biome is largely due to the _______ cell.
A) Hadley
B) Ferrel
C) Polar
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6
Chapter 5: Birth, Death and Movement
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Q1) If you were studying the life history of a population of howler monkeys in Costa Rica,the survivorship curve would look most like Type _______.
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) I and III
Q2) You find a lake that is 50 meters in diameter while you are exploring part of a very arid environment in the southwest United States.You have surveyed 100's of kilometers of this habitat and found no other lakes.It appears to be fed by some underground seep.In it there are many small fish.Which of the following best describes these fish?
A) These fish are semelparous annual
B) The fish are a population
C) These fish are semelparous perennial
D) The fish are likely modular
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Chapter 6: Interspecific Competition
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a species is a weak competitor relative to another species that is a superior competitor,the weak competitor may be able to persist if:
A) It is a good colonizer and the environment homogenous.
B) It is a good colonizer and the environment is heterogeneous.
C) Only the environment needs to be heterogeneous.
D) The species needs only to be a good colonizer.
Q2) The Competitive Exclusion Principle allows researchers to assume A) That coexistence occurs because species have competed and formed different niches.
B) There is no need for proof of interspecific competition.
C) The species are still competing and always will until niche differentiation occurs.
D) None of the above.
Q3) Coexistence between a superior and inferior competitor can occur if
A) The two species have independent, aggregated distributions.
B) The superior is homogenous throughout the habitat.
C) Competition were directed most from the superior to the inferior competitor.
D) All of the above.
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8
Chapter 7: Predation, Grazing and Disease
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Q1) Which type of organism typically does not kill their prey,but consumes part of each prey item,and does not need a host?
A) True predator
B) Grazer
C) Parasite
D) Parasitoid
Q2) Optimal foraging theory is based on the following:
A) Handling times of prey items
B) Search time for prey items
C) Energy available in prey items
D) All of the above
Q3) Which term defines an organism that reduces the growth,fecundity,or survival of another living organism that it consumes?
A) Prey
B) Saprotroph
C) Predator
D) Producer
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Chapter 8: Molecular and Evolutionary Ecology
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Q1) What term would be used to describe the process whereby nitrogen is converted into molecules that plants can use?
A) Nitrogenation
B) Nitrogen fixation
C) Nitrogen recovery
D) Nitrogen flux
Q2) A bird feeds on the fruit of a plant.The bird will later regurgitate the seed.However,in the process of digesting the fruit and regurgitating the seed,the embryo is made non-viable.This is ___________.
A) An example of a mutualism because the bird disperses the plants seeds.
B) An example of a coevolutionary relationship because both are specialized.
C) Not an example of a mutualism because the bird destroys the seed and so it is never actually benefiting the plant.
D) None of the above
Q3) Which of the following is not a modular organism?
A) Creosote bush
B) Streptococcus bacteria
C) Quercus spp. oak tree
D) Baetis spp. mayfly
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Page 10
Chapter 9: From Populations to Communities
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Q1) Food webs appear to be most controlled by what process?
A) Density-dependent selection
B) Bottom-up control
C) Top-down control
D) Metapopulations
Q2) In highly agricultural areas,fencerows provide habitat and refugia for wildlife.You might assume:
A) Metapopulation analysis is more appropriate now than before land modification to agriculture.
B) Some species may go extinct in some fencerows but not others.
C) Smallest fencerows may see the most frequent species extinctions
D) For it to be a metapopulation organisms must be able to go from one fencerow to other fencerows.
Q3) What term describes structured analyses that use large numbers of data sets to discern consistent trends?
A) A metapopulation
B) A meta-analysis
C) A meta-index
D) A metaphore
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Chapter 10: Patterns in Species Richness
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Q1) Medium sized intertidal boulders are tumbled about by waves less than small boulders but more than large boulders.They also show the greatest diversity of intertidal invertebrates inhabiting them compared to small and large boulders.This illustrates the ____________________________ hypothesis.
A) Cascade effect.
B) Predator mediated coexistence.
C) Niche width
D) Intermediate disturbance
Q2) An organism has been discovered that appears to forego metabolizing phosphorous to instead metabolize arsenic.Phosphorous is essential to all living things.Why might this organism have evolved a way to metabolize arsenic in place of phosphorous?
A) Because they differentiated and randomly mutated a way to exploit a resource all other organisms were not consuming.
B) The organism experienced a bottleneck event.
C) The organism evolved in a harsh environment that selected for this biochemical mechanism.
D) It is a morphological trait that protects it from predators since many organisms will die if they eat arsenic.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: The Flux of Energy and Matter Through Ecosystems
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following are variables that determine the relative importance of energy pathways?
A) Consumption efficiencies
B) Production efficiencies
C) Stimulation efficiencies
D) Assimilation efficiencies
Q2) You have been informed that terrestrial plants produce 45-60 petragrams of carbon per year,and that this figure accounts for respiratory heat lost from the environment by autotrophs.What then is this 45-60 petragrams of carbon per year a measure of?
A) Biomass
B) Standing crop
C) Rauto
D) Net primary productivity
Q3) If the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorous is slightly below 10:1 then _______.
A) It is below the Redfield ratio
B) It is at the Redfield ratio
C) It is above the Redfield ratio
D) None of the above
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Chapter 12: Global Biogeochemical Cycles and Their Alteration by Humans
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Q1) Phosphorus cycles within ecosystems,but the vast majority of phosphorus is stored where?
A) Land plants
B) Ocean Sediments
C) Mineable rock
D) Animals
Q2) You are researching a biotic process that controls the chemistry of the environment and your colleague is studying how the structure and function of that same ecosystem is controlled by geochemical processes.What field of science are you both working in?
A) Community ecology
B) Population biology
C) Biogeochemistry
D) Molecular ecology
Q3) The greatest contribution to the total human input of nitrogen per year in is
A) Fossil fuels burning
B) Nitrogen fixation associate with agricultural crops
C) Manufacturing of synthetic fertilizer
D) Deforestation
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Chapter 13: Conservation Ecology
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Q1) With regard to the size of a marine protected area (MPA),you would expect a MPA that is 50% of the size of an adjacent MPA to be __________ at protecting a fish population.
A) Less effective
B) More effective
C) Just as effective as a larger MPA
D) 50% less effective
Q2) The introduction of brown tree snakes to Guam reduced the visits per tree per day of insect and bird pollinators.Which of the following choices explains what happened as a result of this reduced pollinator activity?
A) Recruitment of new trees increased
B) There was no effect on to the species or community as a result of this reduced pollinator activity
C) There was low recruitment of new mangrove trees on Guam relative to non-invaded islands
D) There was high recruitment of new mangrove trees on Guam relative to non-invaded islands
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Chapter 14: The Ecology of Human Population Growth, Disease,
and Food Supply
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Sample Questions
Q1) Changing global patterns have affected patterns of infection.Even in countries with sophisticated sanitation,there are still thousands of fatalities and hospitalizations due to what?
A) Heat stroke
B) Smog poisoning
C) Sports injuries
D) Food-borne illness
Q2) Like many environmental issues the solutions are complex.While aquaculture provides much needed additional food it also __________
A) Releases excess nutrients and antibiotics into the environment
B) Requires jobs that few are interested in taking
C) Produces excess food that goes to waste
D) Will put fisheries out of business
Q3) Growing organic crops _________ the environment because _________.
A) Benefits; it produces better food
B) Destroys; it produces more nitrogen in agricultural runoff
C) Benefits; it reduces the amount of nitrogen in agricultural runoff
D) Destroys; it reduces the amount of nitrogen in agricultural runoff
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