Suppose researchers marked 800 turtles and later were able to trap a total of 300 individuals in that population, of which 150 were marked. What is the estimate for total population size?
A) 200
B) 1050
C) 1600
D) 2100

C

Looking at the figure above, what is contributing significantly to stabilizing population size over time?
I) no migration
II) low migration
III) high migration

A) only I
B) only II
C) only III
D) only II and III

C

Which of the following assumptions have to be made regarding the mark-recapture estimate of population size?
I) Marked and unmarked individuals have the same probability of being trapped.
II) The marked individuals have thoroughly mixed with the population after being marked.
III) No individuals have entered or left the population by immigration or emigration, and no individuals have been added by birth or eliminated by death during the course of the estimate.

A) I only
B) II only
C) I and II only
D) I, II, and III

D

Which of the following is the most important assumption for the mark-recapture method to estimate the size of wildlife populations?
A) More individuals emigrate from, as opposed to immigrate into, a population.
B) Over 50% of the marked individuals need to be trapped during the recapture phase.
C) There is a 50:50 ratio of males to females in the population before and after trapping and recapture.
D) Marked individuals have the same probability of being recaptured as unmarked individuals during the recapture phase.

D

Use the survivorship curves in the figure below to answer the following questions.

Refer to the figure above. Which curve best describes survivorship in marine molluscs?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) E

D

Use the survivorship curves in the figure below to answer the following questions.

Refer to the figure above. Which curve best describes survivorship in elephants?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) E

A

To measure the population of lake trout in a 250-hectare lake, 400 individual trout were netted and marked with a fin clip, then returned to the lake. The next week, the lake was netted again, and out of the 200 lake trout that were caught, 50 had fin clips. Using the mark-recapture estimate, the lake trout population size could be closest to which of the following?
A) 200
B) 400
C) 1,600
D) 80,000

C

Long-term studies of Belding's ground squirrels show that immigrants move nearly 2 kilometers from where they are born and become 1%-8% of the males and 0.7%-6% of the females in other populations. On an evolutionary scale, why is this significant?
A) These immigrants make up for the deaths of individuals, keeping the other populations' size stable.
B) These immigrants provide a source of genetic diversity for the other populations.
C) Those individuals that emigrate to these new populations are looking for less crowded conditions with more resources.
D) Gradually, the populations of ground squirrels will move from a clumped to a uniform population pattern of dispersion.

B

A population is correctly defined as having which of the following characteristics?
I) inhabiting the same general area
II) belonging to the same species
III) possessing a constant and uniform density and dispersion

A) III only
B) I and II only
C) II and III only
D) I, II, and III

B

An ecologist recorded twelve white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, per square kilometer in one woodlot and twenty per square kilometer in another woodlot. What was the ecologist comparing?
A) density
B) dispersion
C) carrying capacity
D) range

A

Uniform spacing patterns in plants such as the creosote bush are most often associated with _____.
A) patterns of high humidity
B) the random distribution of seeds
C) competitive interaction between individuals of the same population
D) the concentration of nutrients within the population's range

C

Which of the following groups would be most likely to exhibit uniform dispersion?
A) red squirrels, who actively defend territories
B) cattails, which grow primarily at edges of lakes and streams
C) dwarf mistletoes, which parasitize particular species of forest tree
D) lake trout, which seek out cold, deep water high in dissolved oxygen

A

Which of the following examples would most accurately measure the density of the population being studied?
A) counting the number of times a one-kilometer transect is intersected by tracks of red squirrels after a snowfall
B) counting the number of coyote droppings per hectare
C) counting the number of moss plants in one-square-meter quadrants
D) counting the number of zebras from airplane census observations.

C

Which of the following scenarios would provide the most relevant data on population density?
A) Count the number of nests of a particular species of songbird and multiply this by a factor that extrapolates these data to actual animals.
B) Count the number of pine trees in several randomly selected 10-meter-square plots and extrapolate this number to the fraction of the study area these plots represent.
C) Use the mark-recapture method to estimate the size of the population.
D) Calculate the difference between all of the immigrants and emigrants to see if the population is growing or shrinking.

B

Which of the following is the best natural example of uniform distribution?
A) bees collecting pollen in a wildflower meadow
B) snails in an intertidal zone at low tide
C) territorial songbirds in a mature forest during mating season
D) mushrooms growing on the floor of an old growth forest

C

Use the survivorship curves in the figure below to answer the following questions.

Refer to the figure above. Which statement best explains survivorship curve B?
A) It is likely a species that provides little postnatal care, but lots of care for offspring during midlife as indicated by increased survivorship.
B) This curve is likely for a species that produces lots of offspring, only a few of which are expected to survive.
C) It is likely a species where no individuals in the cohort die when they are at 60-70% relative age.
D) Survivorship can only decrease; therefore, this curve could not happen in nature

D

In the figure above, which of the following survivorship curves applies to most plant species?
A) curve A
B) curve B
C) curve C

C

In July 2008, the United States had a population of approximately 302,000,000 people. How many Americans were there in July 2009, if the estimated 2008 growth rate was 0.88%?
A) 5,500,000
B) 303,000,000
C) 304,000,000
D) 2,710,800,000

C

In 2008, the population of New Zealand was approximately 4,275,000 people. If the birth rate was 14 births for every 1000 people, approximately how many births occurred in New Zealand in 2008?
A) 6,000
B) 42,275
C) 60,000
D) 140,000

C

In the figure above, which of the lines represents the highest per-capita rate increase (r)?
A) line A
B) line B
C) line C
D) line D

A

A population of ground squirrels has an annual per capita birth rate of 0.06 and an annual per capita death rate of 0.02. Calculate an estimate of the total number of individuals added to (or lost from) a population of 1000 individuals in one year.
A) 120 individuals added
B) 40 individuals added
C) 20 individuals added
D) 400 individuals added

B

Starting from a single individual, what is the size of a population of bacteria at the end of a two-hour time period if they reproduce by binary fission every twenty minutes? (Assume unlimited resources and no mortality.)
A) 16
B) 32
C) 64
D) 128

C

Which of the following graphs illustrates the population growth curve of single bacterium growing in a flask of ideal medium at optimum temperature over a two-hour period?
A) cliff
B) 2nd quadrant
C) upward trend
D) squiggle

C

During exponential growth, a population always _____.
A) grows at its maximum per capita rate
B) quickly reaches its carrying capacity
C) cycles through time
D) loses some individuals to emigration

A

Consider two old-growth forests: one is undisturbed while the other is being logged. In which region are species likely to experience exponential growth, and why?
A) Old growth, because of stable conditions that would favor exponential growth of all species in the forest.
B) Old growth, because each of the species is well established and can produce many offspring.
C) Logged, because the disturbed forest affords more resources for increased specific populations to grow.
D) Logged, because the various populations are stimulated to a higher reproductive potential.

C

Imagine that you are managing a large game ranch. You know from historical accounts that a species of deer used to live there, but they have been extirpated. After doing some research to determine what might be an appropriately sized founding population, you reintroduce them. You then watch the population increase for several generations, and graph the number of individuals (vertical axis) against the number of generations (horizontal axis). With no natural predators impacting the population, the graph will likely appear as _____.
A) a diagonal line, getting higher with each generation B) an "S" that ends with a vertical line
C) an upside-down "U"
D) a "J," increasing with each generation

D

In the figure above, which of the arrows represents the carrying capacity?
A) arrow A
B) arrow B
C) arrow C
D) Carrying capacity cannot be found in the figure because species under density-dependent control never reach carrying capacity.

C

Which statements about K are correct?
I) K varies among populations.
II) K varies in space.
III) K varies in time.
IV) K is constant for any given species.

A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only I, II, and III
D) only II, III, and IV

C

As N approaches K for a certain population, which of the following is predicted by the logistic equation?
A) The growth rate will not change.
B) The growth rate will approach zero.
C) The population will increase exponentially.
D) The carrying capacity of the environment will increase.

B

Which of the following causes populations to shift most quickly from an exponential to a logistic population growth?
A) favorable climatic conditions
B) removal of predators
C) decreased death rate
D) competition for resources

D

Which of the following graphs best illustrates the growth curve of a small population of rodents that has increased to a static carrying capacity?
A) 2nd quadrant
B) upward trend
C) squiggle
D) part parabola

D

According to the logistic growth equation, = rmaxN ,
A) the number of individuals added per unit time is greatest when N is close to zero.
B) the per capita growth rate (r) increases as N approaches K.
C) population growth is zero when N equals K.
D) the population grows exponentially when K is small.

C

Looking at the data in the figure above, what can be said about survival and clutch size?
A) Animals with low survival tend to have smaller clutch sizes.
B) Large clutch size correlates with low survival.
C) Animals with high survival tend to have larger clutch sizes.
D) Probability of survivorship does not correlate with clutch size.

B

What is the primary limiting factor that determines why no female animal can produce a very large number of very large eggs?
A) Time is limited.
B) There are energy constraints.
C) Temperature constraints will prevent females from carrying too many eggs.
D) There will be an increase in predation pressure if the females carry too many large eggs.

B

You observe two female fish of the same species breeding. One female lays 100 eggs and the other female lays 1000 eggs. Which one of the following is LEAST likely given the limits of fitness trade-offs?
A) The female laying 100 eggs breeds more often than the female laying 1000 eggs.
B) The female laying 100 eggs lives longer than the female laying 1000 eggs.
C) The eggs from the female laying 1000 eggs have larger yolks than the yolks of the eggs from the female laying 100 eggs.
D) The female laying 1000 eggs is larger than the female laying 100 eggs.

C

Based on the figure above, which of the following statements correctly interprets the data?
A) As female density increases, clutch size increases.
B) As female density increases, survivorship decreases.
C) Clutch size decreases as female density increases.

C

Which pair of terms most accurately describes life history traits for a stable population of wolves?
A) semelparous; r-selected
B) semelparous; K-selected
C) iteroparous; r-selected
D) iteroparous; K-selected

D

Natural selection involves energetic trade-offs between _____.
A) choosing how many offspring to produce over the course of a lifetime and how long to live
B) producing large numbers of gametes when employing internal fertilization versus fewer numbers of gametes when employing external fertilization
C) increasing the number of individuals produced during each reproductive episode and a corresponding decrease in parental care
D) high survival rates of offspring and the cost of parental care

D

Which of the following is characteristic of K-selected populations?
A) offspring with good chances of survival
B) many offspring per reproductive episode
C) small offspring
D) a high intrinsic rate of increase

A

In which of the following situations would you expect to find the largest number of K- selected individuals?
A) a recently abandoned agricultural field in Ohio
B) a shifting sand dune community of south Lake Michigan
C) an old-growth forest
D) South Florida after a hurricane

C

Graph (b) in the figure above shows the normal fluctuations of a population of grouse. Assuming graph (a) in the figure above is the result of some experimental treatment in the grouse population, what can be concluded?
A) The experimental treatment exacerbated the population cycling.
B) The experimental treatment did not affect population cycling in this species.
C) The experimental treatment has most likely identified the cause of population cycling.
D) None of the other responses is true.

C

What conclusion can you draw from the figure above?
A) Hares control lynx population size.
B) Lynx control hare population size.
C) Lynx and hare populations are independent of each other.
D) The relationship between the populations cannot be determined only from this graph.

D

Looking at the data in the figure above from the hare/lynx experiment, what conclusion can you draw?
I) Food is a factor in controlling hare population size.
II) Excluding lynx is a factor in controlling hare population size.
III) The effect of excluding predators and adding food in the same experiment is greater than the sum of excluding lynx alone plus adding food alone.

A) only I
B) only II
C) only III
D) I, II, and III

D

Often the growth cycle of one population has an effect on the cycle of another. As moose populations increase, for example, wolf populations also increase. Thus, if we are considering the logistic equation for the wolf population,
dN/dt = rN ,
which of the factors accounts for the effect of the moose population?
A) r
B) N
C) rN
D) K

D

Which of the following graphs illustrates the growth over several seasons of a population of snowshoe hares that were introduced to an appropriate habitat also inhabited by predators in northern Canada?
A) cliff
B) second quadrant
C) upward
D) squiggle

D

The figure above represents the dynamics of _____.
A) metapopulations
B) extinction
C) emigration
D) both extinction and emigration

A

Use the following abstract from Theoretical Population Biology to answer the question.

Abstract:
We derive measures for assessing the value of an individual habitat fragment for the dynamics and persistence of a metapopulation living in a network of many fragments. We demonstrate that the most appropriate measure of fragment value depends on the question asked. Specifically, we analyze four alternative measures: the contribution of a fragment to the metapopulation capacity of the network, to the equilibrium metapopulation size, to the expected time to metapopulation extinction and the long-term contribution of a fragment to colonization events in the network. The latter measure is comparable to density-dependent measures in general matrix population theory, though some differences are introduced by the fact that "density dependence" is spatially localized in the metapopulation context. We show that the value of a fragment depends not only on the properties of the landscape but also on the properties of the species. Most importantly, variation in fragment values between the habitat fragments is greatest in the case of rare species that occur close to the extinction threshold, as these species are likely to be restricted to the most favorable parts of the landscape. We expect that the measures of habitat fragment described and analyzed here have applications in landscape ecology and in conservation biology.
Copyright © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (Otso Ovaskainen and Ilkka Hanski. 2003. How much does an individual habitat fragment contribute to metapopulation dynamics and persistence? Theoretical Population Biology 64:481-95.)

One measure for the value of the patch was given by the long-term contribution of a fragment to colonization events in the network. How do the properties of a landscape and the properties of a species affect the value of a patch? The value of the fragment depends _____.
A) on the properties of the landscape and the properties of the species
B) only on the properties of the landscape and not on the properties of the species
C) not on the properties of the landscape but only on the properties of the species
D) on neither the properties of the landscape nor on the properties of the species

A

A population of white-footed mice becomes severely overpopulated in a habitat that has been disturbed by human activity. Sometimes intrinsic factors cause the population to increase in mortality and lower reproduction rates to occur in reaction to the stress of overpopulation. Which of the following is an example of intrinsic population control?
A) Owl populations frequent the area more often because of increased hunting success.
B) Females undergo hormonal changes that delay sexual maturation, and many individuals suffer depressed immune systems and die due to the stress of overpopulation.
C) Clumped dispersion of the population leads to increased spread of disease and parasites, resulting in a population crash.
D) All of the resources (food and shelter) are used up by overpopulation, and much of the population dies of exposure and/or starvation.

B

Based on the diagrams in the figure above and on the large population of baby boomers in the United States, which graph best reflects U.S. population in twenty years?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

B

Which of the following statements regarding the future of populations in developing countries are correct?
I) The fecundity is predicted to increase.
II) Survivorship will increase.
III) Overall population size will increase dramatically.
IV) The number of offspring each year is predicted to remain high.

A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only II, III, and IV
D) only I, II, and III

C

Why does the 2009 U.S. population continue to grow even though the United States has essentially established a zero population growth (ZPG)?
A) emigration
B) immigration
C) baby boomer reproduction
D) the 2007-2009 economic recession

B

What is a logical conclusion that can be drawn from the graphs above? Developed countries have _____.
A) lower infant mortality rates and lower life expectancy than developing countries
B) higher infant mortality rates and lower life expectancy than developing countries
C) lower infant mortality rates and higher life expectancy than developing countries
D) higher infant mortality rates and higher life expectancy than developing countries

C

A recent study of ecological footprints concluded that _____.
A) Earth's carrying capacity would increase if per capita meat consumption increased
B) current demand by industrialized countries for resources is much smaller than the ecological footprint of those countries
C) it is not possible for technological improvements to increase Earth's carrying capacity for humans
D) the ecological footprint of the United States is large because per capita resource use is high

D

Which of the following statements about human population in industrialized countries are correct?
I) Life history is r-selected.
II) The population has undergone the demographic transition.
III) The survivorship curve is Type III.
IV) Age distribution is relatively uniform.

A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only I, II, and IV
D) only II, III, and IV

B

The following questions refer to the figure below, which depicts the age structure of three populations.

Which population(s) appear(s) to be stable?
A) I
B) III
C) I and II
D) II and III

B

Based on the figure above and given the populations of the following countries, which country uses the most oil overall?
A) United States (population = 320 million)
B) Canada (population = 36 million)
C) China (population = 1.33 billion)
D) Russia (population = 144 million)

A

A population of squirrels on an island has a carrying capacity of 350 individuals. If the maximum rate of increase is 1.0 per individual per year and the population size is 275, determine the population growth rate (Round to the nearest whole number).
A) 59 squirrels per year
B) -34 squirrels per year
C) 75 squirrels per year
D) 15 squirrels per year

A