ST.

XAVIER’S COLLEGE
KOLKATA
(AUTONOMOUS)

8th SEMESTER EXAMINATION

APRIL – MAY 2022
B.M.B.T.
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
MBTCR8191T 1:00 PM to 4.00 PM
3 hours
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Full Marks : 80

PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU START WRITING:

1. Of the questions attempted, the answers to only the first required number of questions (as stipulated in
the question paper) will be evaluated. So please do not attempt extra questions.

2. Use fountain pen or ball-point pen of blue or black ink.

3. Write (not type) the answers legibly, in your own words as far as practicable, on A4 size sheets.
4. Save the pages of your answer sheets (hand-written document) to a single PDF file and name the
document accurately i.e. Roll No_Paper Code.PDF (example: 147_PH36141T).
5. Send the PDF file to the following email address (in REPLY mode) within 30 minutes of the
completion of the examination: mbtcr8191t2122@sxccal.edu
6. The scanned answer scripts should have enough clarity to enable evaluation.
7. On top of each page handwrite the following information: Name, Roll Number, Paper Code , Date,
and Page Number
8. No multiple submissions would be allowed.

The marks are given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

The question paper consists of 3 pages.

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 Of the questions attempted, the answers to only the first required number of
questions (as stipulated in the question paper) will be evaluated.
So, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT EXTRA QUESTIONS.

MODULE A
(27 marks)

Answer ANY THREE of the following questions.

1. a) How can you explain diffuse co-evolution in the light of grassland biome formation during Tertiary
period?
b) What is the view of Gleason regarding the composition of a biological community? How would you
support this view with any experiment?
c) Distinguish between aspect and layer society. [4+(1+3)+1=9]

2. a) What are the different criticisms of Darwinian concept?

b) What are the principal characters of climax community? Compare and contrast monoclimax vs
polyclimax theory in regulating climax formation. [4+5=9]

3. a) Discuss the different marine and terrestrial life forms that existed between Ordovician and Devonian
period.
b) What is meant by importance value and how can it be best represented? [5+4=9]

4. a) Discuss with examples the different types of isolating mechanisms that maintain species distinctness.
b) Elucidate the impact of wind and fire as climatic factors on biotic community. [4+5=9]

5. a) How did heterospory contribute towards the evolution of seed habit in phanerogams?
b) Distinguish between mor humus and mull humus. What is meant by gleization? [4+(4+1)=9]

MODULE B
(27 marks)

Answer ANY THREE of the following questions.

6. a) Discuss how intraspecific scramble competition can regulate population density and comment on
whether intraspecific contest competition would regulate population density in a similar manner.
b) Explain the phenomenon of defensive mutualism with reference to the interactions between
Pseudomyrmex ants and bull’s horn acacia plants. [5+4=9]

7. a) Discuss the hypotheses regarding the evolution of vertebrates from cephalochordates and
urochordates.
b) Comment on the usage of tools by Homo habilis and Homo erectus with reference to fossil
evidences. [6+3=9]

8. a) Explain how sustained oscillations can be maintained in predator and prey populations with
reference to suitable experiments and comment on why predators rarely cause extinction of a prey
species in nature.
b) Distinguish between Type I and Type III survivorship curves and explain how the evolutionary
strategy of a species can be determined from its survivorship curve. [5+4=9]

9. a) Briefly describe the Miller experiment on abiotic origin of biomolecules and analyse its importance
with reference to the Oparin hypothesis.
b) Comment on the importance of the IUCN Red List in conservation biology. [5+4=9]

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10. a) Discuss Levin’s model of metapopulation, stating whether you would consider this model as
spatially implicit or spatially explicit and explain how a metapopulation is different from a deme.
b) Briefly discuss the possible mechanisms by which multicellularity could have evolved in eukaryotes.
[5+4=9]
MODULE C
(26 marks)

Answer Question 11 or 12 and any two of the following questions.

11. a) Explain, with suitable examples, the role of ecosystem dynamics in the maintenance of ecological
network structure.
b) Discuss the relevance of phylogenetic tree in the study of evolutionary relationships. [4+4=8]

12. a) Establish the ecological relationship among food chain, food web and trophic levels, with suitable
illustrations.
b) “Orthologs and paralogs are evolutionary concepts that are well-defined from a phylogenetic
perspective." Explain the statement with suitable illustrations. [4+4=8]

13. a) Comment on the current alarming issues of global warming process, citing suitable examples.
b) Explain the role of protected areas as complementary area-based conservation measures. [5+4=9]

14. a) “Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a global environmental problem”. Discuss the significance
of the given statement.
b) Explain the keystone role of apex predators as ecosystem regulators. [5+4=9]

15. a) Explain, citing examples, the implication of restoration ecology in biodiversity conservation.
b) Explain the relevance of competitive exclusion principle in natural environmental settings, with
suitable examples. [5+4=9]

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