BIO 201 (Fall 2017) Assignment #1

1. Solving MCQs can be challenging, and students often resort to the method of
elimination, i.e., the process of rejecting options till only one remains. This is not an
uncommon tactic, and can be useful in several scenarios including assignments such
as this. Therefore, several philosophical principles employ this technique and are
aptly named as razors. Choose the correct name for the razor explained below:
All else being equal, the explanation with the fewest assumptions is likely to be the right one.
a. Hanlons razor
b. Alders razor
c. Hitchens razor
d. Occams razor

2. Vegetarianism exerts less pressure on the natural resources compared with non-
vegetarianism, as more resources are used up in producing a kg of chicken compared with a kg
of wheat.
In making the above claim, which ecological principle is being invoked?
a. Natural selection
b. Ten percent law
c. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
d. Competitive exclusion

3. An initial population of 10 bacterial cells growing in a glass flask reached a final

population of ~10,000 cells in 5 hours. Assuming that the resources were not limiting
during this period, what would have been the approximate number of bacterial cells
after the first hour of growth and before the last hour of growth, i.e., at t=1 h and t=4
h, respectively?
a. 100 and 9000
b. 40 and 4000
c. 40 and 2500
d. 100 and 5000

4. The term carrying capacity has several definitions. One of the common definitions
is:
It is the maximum population size that a given environment can support.
However, what is the exact definition of carrying capacity in the logistic model of
population dynamics?
a. The population size at which the population shows a negative growth rate
b. The population size at which the population shows a positive growth rate
c. The population size at which the per-capita population growth rate becomes zero
d. The population size at which the per-capita population growth rate is the highest
5. Within a population, organisms can be distributed in several ways. For immobile
organisms such as plants, these distributions can persist for a reasonably long time.
Consider three plant species: A, B and C. The seeds of species A are dispersed by
wind, and those of species B fall to the ground near the parent tree. In contrast,
species C is an agricultural crop and its seeds are planted by humans in a farmland.
What kind of distributions are species A, B and C most likely to exhibit, respectively:
a. Random, clumped and uniform
b. Clumped, uniform and random
c. Clumped, random and uniform
d. Random, uniform and clumped

6. Allee effects refer to phenomena of positive density-dependent growth in a

population, i.e., with increasing population size, the per-capita growth rate of the
population increases. The following factors could be invoked as mechanisms for
Allee effects, except:
a. Greater social protection against predation
b. Decreased mate limitation
c. Greater per-capita resource availability
d. Decreased inbreeding effects

7. In the presence of strong Allee effects, on a spatial scale, a group of populations in an

area is expected to exhibit:
a. Clumped distribution
b. Random distribution
c. Uniform distribution
d. Normal distribution

8. At N0 = 30, K = 60 and r = 4, the Ricker map would show:

a. Chaos
b. 4-point cycles
c. 3-point cycles
d. 2-point cycles

9. Butterfly effect is a commonly used phrase in sci-fi related to time travel. It finds
its origin in chaos theory, and is otherwise known as:
a. Spontaneous order
b. Sensitivity to initial conditions
c. Lattice effect
d. Oscillatory damping
10. Provided below is the return map for the discrete logistic equation:
xn+1 = r * xn (1 xn)
In addition, a straight line at an angle of 45 to the x-axis is drawn.

What is the value of point A in the graph?

a. r + 1
b. r - 1
c. (r + 1) / r
d. (r - 1) / r