Answer Key for Test 1 (Regular

Sitting)
Multiple Choice Questions
The chapter of Why Ecology Matters that was assigned as required reading for Lecture 1
explains that ecologists test what limits a species’ distribution using transplant experiments.
Successful transplants indicate that a species’ distribution is limited by:
a) Competition
b) Climate
c) Nutrients
d) Dispersal

What is the difference between a resource and a condition?

a) Organisms consume resources, but do not consume conditions
b) Only resources (and NOT conditions) can limit a species’ geographic range
c) Conditions cause density-dependent reductions in population growth, while resources
cause density-independent reductions in population growth
d) Only conditions (and NOT resources) vary across space and time

What atmospheric circulation cells are directly involved in forming tropical

rainforests? Lecture 2
a) Hadley Cells
b) Ferrell Cells
c) Polar Cells
d) Eukaryotic Cells

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is located at roughly 40°S in latitude. Auckland,
New Zealand’s most populous city, is located at 36°S in latitude. Wellington is almost
directly south of Auckland (i.e., they are close in longitude). Fill in the blanks in this
sentence: As the Earth spins on its axis, Wellington is moving more ___ (slowly/quickly)
than Auckland, causing an air mass travelling directly south of Auckland to pass ______
(east/west) of Wellington.
a) slowly, east
b) quickly, east
c) slowly, west
d) quickly, west

If you cool down by jumping in a swimming pool on a hot summer’s day, this is an example
of heat loss by:
a) Convection
b) Conduction
c) Radiation
d) Redistribution

Why does temperature tolerance breadth change more with latitude in the northern
hemisphere than it does in the southern hemisphere? Remember that temperature tolerance
breadth is simply the difference between the maximum and minimum temperatures that a
species can tolerate.
a) There are more homeotherms in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere
b) Animals are larger in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere
c) Animals have smaller ears in the southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere
d) Oceans cover more of the Earth’s surface in the southern hemisphere than in the
northern hemisphere

What rule explains why a house sparrow that we see in Toronto is bigger than a house
sparrow found in Florida?
a) Allen’s Rule
b) Bergmann’s Rule
c) Gloger’s Rule
d) Frederickson’s Rule

Leaf size is an important adaptation in plants. What conditions select for large leaf size?
a) High temperature and high precipitation
b) High temperature and low precipitation
c) Low temperature and high precipitation
d) Low temperature and low precipitation
Which of the following kinds of plants are NOT expected to grow well in deserts?
a) Plants with small leaves
b) Plants that open their stomata at midday
c) Plants with CAM photosynthesis
d) Deciduous plants

Which of the following is TRUE at equilibrium for a population growing according to the
logistic model?

1.
I. N=K
II. N = K/2
III. dN/dt = 0

a) i
b) ii
c) i, iii
d) ii, iii

The exponential model of population growth predicts that a population will either 1) grow to
infinity, 2) decline to extinction, or 3) stay the same size forever. Which of the following
parameters determines whether the outcome of the exponential model is 1), 2), or 3)?
a) r
b) N
c) K
d) t

Which of the following scenarios can lead to extinction?

1.
I. A species with sustained > 1
II. A species growing according to the logistic model with N0 = 100, K =
500, and r = 0.3
III. A species experiencing strong Allee effects
IV. A species with a net reproductive rate, R0 < 1

a) i, ii
b) ii, iii, iv
c) ii, iii
d) iii, iv

Which of the following are reasons that real population growth curves do not match the
predictions of the logistic growth model?

1.
I. Demographic stochasticity
II. Allee effects

a) i
b) ii
c) Neither i or ii
d) Both i and ii

Some individual plants make thousands of seeds, but only a few of those seeds ever become
adult plants. What kind of survivorship curve do these plants have?
a) Type I
b) Type II
c) Type III
d) Type IV

Why are survivorship curves often plotted as the log of survivorship, lx, against age class x?
a) Constant mortality across age classes produces a linear decline in log(lx) with
increasing age
b) High mortality in early age classes produces a linear decline in log(lx) with increasing age
c) Accelerating mortality in late age classes produces a linear decline in log(l x) with
increasing age
d) Increasing survivorship across age classes produces a linear decline in log(lx) with
increasing age

Professor Frederickson showed you this slide describing the results of Gause’s experiments
on competition between Paramecium species. If Species 1 = Paramecium caudatum (red
line), Species 2 = Paramecium aurelia (yellow line), and Species 3 = Paramecium
bursaria (green line), which of the following statements is FALSE?
a) Species 2 outcompetes Species 1
b) Species 1 and Species 3 coexist at equilibrium
c) a12 is less than a21
d) Species 1 and Species 2 have similar carrying capacities

The graphs below plot population size (N) over time (t) for two species (each line represents
one species). Which of the following graphs represents a scenario in which intra-specific
competition is stronger than inter-specific competition?

The answer is Graph a

Character displacement could result in which of the following?

a) Two species of Darwin’s finches evolving similar beak depths when they live on the same
island
b) Two species of Darwin’s finches evolving different beak depths when they live on
different islands
c) Two species of Darwin’s finches evolving different beak depths when they live on the
same island
d) One species of Darwin’s finches colonizing new islands to avoid competition with another
finch species

Recall from Lecture 7 on competition that the ecologist Joseph Connell studied two species
of barnacles competing for space on rocks in the marine intertidal zone. He removed Species
1 (Balanus balanoides) and observed that Species 2 (Chthalamus stellatus) moved into the
area that had been occupied by Species 1. But when he removed Species 2, Species 1 did not
move to occupy the area that was left vacant. What limits the distribution of Species 1?
a) Exploitative inter-specific competition with Species 2
b) Interference inter-specific competition with Species 2
c) Dispersal
d) Abiotic conditions
Which of the following graphs best represents the relationship between latitude (x-axis) and
species richness (y-axis) for vertebrates? Note: the x-axis plots latitude from -90 degrees to
+90 degrees, not absolute latitude.

The answer is Graph d

Under what conditions are predator-prey population cycles most likely?

1.
I. In simple ecological communities with low species richness
II. When a predator eats only one prey species
III. Under controlled lab conditions

a) i
b) i, ii
c) ii, iii
d) iii

If the enemy release hypothesis is acting on an invasive species, the invasive species will:
a) Have lagged, coupled population cycles with its enemies in its introduced range
b) Have few enemies in its introduced range
c) Undergo reciprocal adaptation with its enemies in its introduced range
d) Reduce competition among its enemies in its introduced range

The following two questions refer to the life table below:

Age, x Survivorship, lx Fecundity, mx

0 1 0

1 0.75 0

2 0.5 0

3 0.25 100
What is generation time, T?
a) 0
b) 1
c) 2
d) 3

Assume that this life table refers to a plant species. Which of the following terms correctly
describes this plant?

1.
I. Annual
II. Biennial
III. Monocarpic
IV. Perennial

a) i, iii
b) ii
c) iii
d) iii, iv

Short Answer Questions

Why is there a desert, the Atacama desert, on the Pacific (i.e., west) coast of South
America in Chile? Explain TWO factors that make this location a desert.
Any two of the following three factors:

 0.5pt for stating it is near 30 degrees South or the descending arm of Hadley Cell,
0.5pt for explaining that at 30 degrees South the dry, descending air of the Hadley
Cell generates very little rain
 0.5 pt for stating it is inland of a cold ocean current
0.5 pt for explaining cold ocean currents generate little water vapour that can fall
as rain on adjacent land masses
 0.5 pt for stating the Atacama desert is in the rain shadow of the Andes
0.5 pt for explaining that the prevailing winds are easterlies, and as air rises up the
eastern slope of this mountain range, it condenses and falls as rain, meaning the
air is dry on the other side of the mountain, and there is a dry, descending rain
shadow on the west side of the Andes
Professor Frederickson used Arctic hares and Desert hares as an example in her lecture
on Animal Ecophysiology (Lecture 3).
(a) Which has a lower surface area-to-volume ratio, Arctic or Desert hares? Describe
TWO traits that contribute to their surface area-to-volume ratio.
(b) Which species, Arctic or Desert hares, should take advantage of countercurrent
circulation to regulate its body temperature and why?
(a) 0.5 pt for stating Arctic hares have a lower surface area-to-volume ratio than Desert hares
0.5 pt for explaining this is because of (any 2 out of 3 traits): their rounder shape, smaller
ears, and shorter appendages
(b) 0.5 pt for stating Arctic hares should take advantage of countercurrent circulation to
regulate their body temperature
0.5 pt for explaining because they live in cold climates

(a) How do rainforest plants stay cool?

(b) Why don’t desert plants use the same strategy as rainforest plants to stay cool?
(a) 1 pt for explaining that rainforest plants stay cool by opening their stomata [0.5 pt] to let
off water vapour (i.e., they transpire)/ take advantage of evaporative cooling [0.5 pt]
(b) 1 pt for explaining that evaporative cooling requires a lot of water, and there is not
enough water in the desert for desert plants to use the same strategy as rainforest plants to
stay cool
For this question, we also accepted: (a) rainforest plants grow in the shade to keep cool [1
point] and (b) desert plants can’t grow in the shade because there is very little shade because
there is no overstory/forest canopy

In lecture, Professor Frederickson discussed how bacteria grow in culture in her lab.
(a) What population growth model best describes their population growth?
(b)Describe the shape of their growth curve.
(c) At what point along their growth curve is a bacterial population in lab culture
growing the fastest?
(d) At what point along their growth curve is a bacterial population in lab culture
growing the slowest?
(a) 0.5 pt for stating the logistic growth model
(b) 0.5 pt for stating they have a S-shaped curve
(c) 0.5 pt for stating they are growing the fastest at (any one of): at half of their carrying
capacity, at K/2, or at the inflection point
(d) 0.5 pt for stating they are growing the slowest when they reach (any one of): at their
carrying capacity, or at equilibrium, or at their equilibrium population density
In Lecture 6, Professor Frederickson showed you these fecundity schedules from
Statistics Canada for the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan (the blue line) and
Ontario (the red line).

(a) If Saskatchewan and Ontario have the same survivorship schedule, which province
has the higher net reproductive rate, R0? Briefly explain your answer.
(b) Which province has a longer generation time? Briefly explain your answer.
(a) 0.5 pt for stating Saskatchewan has a higher R0 than Ontario
0.5 pt for explaining the reason that Saskatchewan has a higher R0 than Ontario is because
fecundity, mx (or bx), is higher in the early age classes in Saskatchewan compared to Ontario,
while other age classes have similar mx. Higher fecundity, or having babies earlier, should
increase R0
(b) 0.5 pt for stating Ontario has a longer generation time, T, than Saskatchewan
0.5 pt for explaining that Ontario has a longer generation time because females have babies
later on average in Ontario than in Saskatchewan and generation time T is the average age at
which females give birth

(a) Under what TWO conditions do populations grow exponentially?

(b) Using words (not equations), describe TWO reasons why populations growing
according to the Lotka-Volterra model of interspecific competition do not keep growing
exponentially forever.
(a) 0.5 pt for stating populations grow exponentially when resources (e.g., food) are abundant
0.5 for stating populations grow exponentially when enemies (e.g., predators, competitors)
are rare
(b) 0.5 pt for explaining in the Lotka-Volterra model of interspecific competition, populations
don’t grow exponentially forever because of intraspecific competition for resources
0.5 pt for explaining in the Lotka-Volterra model of interspecific competition, populations
don’t grow exponentially forever because of interspecific competition for resources