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Chapter 8: Life Histories
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Fecundity is
a. the number of reproductive episodes of an organism.
b. the amount of overall energy expended to reproduction over the life of an organism.
c. the number of offspring produced by an organism per reproductive episode.
d. the period in the life of an organism when it can produce offspring.
Answer: c
Grime proposed that combinations of life history traits in plants are mainly determined by three
factors. Which is NOT one of these factors?
a. disturbance
b. herbivory
c. competition
d. stress
Answer: b
SHORT ANSWER
Explain why life history variables, such as number of offspring, size of offspring, and degree of
parental care, are often correlated.
Answer: Species cannot maximize all of these traits. For example, if many offspring are
produced, they will probably be smaller than if few are produced. Parental care is much more
effective with few offspring.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
The principle of allocation states that life history traits are adapted to maximize
a. fitness.
b. frequency of reproduction.
c. number of offspring in the population.
d. ability of offspring to start populations in new habitats.
e. fecundity.
Answer: a
How does having a large number of offspring affect a parent’s fitness for subsequent breeding
seasons?
a. It could limit the number of offspring the adult produces in its life.
b. The increased energy needed to feed many offspring may lower adult survival in the following
breeding season.
c. The energy required to feed many offspring could trigger smaller broods in the future.
d. Competition with offspring for food could reduce energy for future reproduction.
Answer: b
15. Topic: growth versus age of sexual maturity and life span
Level: easy
16. Topic: growth versus age of sexual maturity and life span
Level: easy
Which of the following does NOT apply to indeterminate growth?
a. growth in body size throughout life
b. cessation of growth upon maturation (adulthood)
c. flexible age of maturation
d. characteristic of plants and insects
e. semelparity
Answer: b
20. Topic: growth versus age of sexual maturity and life span
Difficulty: medium
For birds, age at maturity
a. varies directly with annual survival rates of adults.
b. varies inversely with annual survival rates of adults.
c. varies with the productivity of the environment.
d. is not related to annual survival rates of adults.
Answer: a
23. Topic: growth versus age of sexual maturity and life span
Level: medium
Which variable has the smallest proportional difference among the low and high levels of
predation risk?
a. mature male guppy size
b. offspring volume (percent of adult mass)
c. number of offspring
d. embryo weight
Answer: a
SHORT ANSWER
For seed-producing trees, what conditions might favour production of few relatively large seeds?
What conditions might favour production of many relatively small seeds?
Answer: Trees of closed forests with little opportunity to disperse seeds into new habitats might
be expected to produce relatively few large seeds. Each seed could be supplied with substantial
reserves of food and nutrients, giving the developing seedling an opportunity to compete
successfully for limited resources. Trees of open forests with opportunities to disperse seeds into
new habitats might be expected to produce larger numbers of lighter seeds. Such seeds might be
more readily dispersed by wind, water, or small animals into open habitats. The larger numbers
of seeds would also increase the chances that some seeds will land in favourable sites, and
opportunities for rapid population expansion could be readily exploited.
Tropical songbirds tend to lay fewer eggs in each clutch than birds nesting at higher latitudes.
David Lack of Oxford University first placed this observation in a life-history context. To what
relation did Lack attribute this pattern?
Answer: Lack recognized that life-history traits vary in predictable ways with environmental
factors and constraints. He hypothesized that clutch size was commensurate with availability of
resources (food, in this case), which tend to decrease with latitude.
We might expect natural selection to favour organisms that produce more offspring. Why is this
not the case for species with a high degree of parental care?
Answer: When parental care requirements are high, parents are not able to provide adequate care
for larger broods, and survival rates will be lower than if they had fewer offspring.
The number of chicks fledged in a brood may not be independent of the number of eggs
produced. How might researchers test these variables independently to determine whether there
is a relationship between them?
Answer: Researchers can add or subtract the number of eggs in a nest to see whether this
influences the number of chicks fledged.
31. Topic: growth versus age of sexual maturity and life span
Level: difficult
Compare the relative influence of determinate and indeterminate growth patterns on natural
selection for adult size.
Answer: An indeterminate growth pattern is more likely to influence adult size, especially that of
females, than determinate growth patterns. Since females with determinate growth stop growing
at maturation, the fitness of offspring should be due to other factors. Females with indeterminate
growth will vary greatly in size and thus fecundity. Since few species with indeterminate growth
exhibit a high level of parental care, there is no negative consequence for producing more
offspring.
32. Topic: fecundity and parental care versus parental survival
Level: medium
How would fecundity and age at maturity be influenced by adult and juvenile survival rates?
Answer: If the ratio of adult to juvenile survival is high, then either adults should not put much
energy into reproduction, or maturation should be delayed, or both. In the opposite situation, the
ratio of adult to juvenile survival is low. This would encourage semelparity, in which the adult
puts as much energy as possible into one mortality-causing reproductive event.
Organisms differ in the number of times that they reproduce, but they all eventually
become senescent
MULTIPLE CHOICE
Red foxes mature after their first year of life and may live for 5 to 10 years. Foxes often
reproduce many times over their life. The term to describe this aspect of their life history is
a. opportunistic.
b. precocious.
c. iteroparous.
d. semelparous.
Answer: c
What type of reproduction will be favoured if adult plant survival is low because of a disturbance
such as fire?
a. semelparity
b. iteroparity
c. annual
d. perennial
Answer: a
If maintaining high survival and reproduction would increase an individual’s fitness at any age,
what is the most likely reason these traits decline with age in humans?
a. fewer reproductive opportunities
b. increased risk of death from childbirth
c. DNA damaged over time
d. increased exposure to toxins
e. less efficient metabolism
Answer: c
SHORT ANSWER
43. Topic: semelparity and iteroparity
Level: difficult
Yucca plants are mostly iteroparous, but some can be semelparous. Based on the information in
Figure 8.9, semelparous yuccas have a higher percentage of seed germination, which suggests
high fitness. Why, then, are most yucca varieties iteroparous?
Answer: With semelparous yucca species, the probability of adult survival is low on account of
fire; it makes sense to put a lot of energy into reproduction, even if that limits survival and
further reproduction. Where there is a higher survival rate among mature plants, natural selection
favours spending less energy on reproduction so that the plant can survive to reproduce again.
Is senescence inevitable? Please explain your answer, accounting for the great variation in
patterns of aging among different species.
Answer: Yes, it appears that all mechanisms, biological and otherwise, inevitably wear out.
However, organisms differ greatly in their longevity, and some apparently invest more resources
in processes that prevent or repair damage. The degree to which resources are allocated to such
processes appears to be related to the hazards of life. Species for which external factors
(accidents, predation, bad weather) greatly reduce the likelihood of adult survival receive little
fitness benefit from investment in processes that prevent or repair damage. Among these species
resources devoted to maintenance and repair would detract from early fecundity. Species with
greater likelihood of adult survival are more likely to reap the reproductive benefits of an
extended life span, and the cost of somewhat reduced early fecundity is likely to be more than
offset by the advantages conferred by multiple reproductive events.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
What environmental factor would likely lead to later maturation with an iteroparous reproductive
strategy?
a. fewer interspecific competitors
b. higher rainfall over several years
c. a lower severity and frequency of disturbance
d. global warming
Answer: c
SHORT ANSWER
One might suppose that an earlier, longer summer would be beneficial for most species, because
it offers a longer growing season for offspring. How might earlier offspring births in a predator
species be detrimental to it?
Answer: If the prey species of the predators are not similarly affected, offspring may not have an
available food source.
Size limits for fish catches typically refer to the minimum size of individuals that can be
harvested and retained. How might size limits affect the spawning strategy of a fish population
compared with no size limits, assuming the fish captured are representative of the size
distribution of the population?
Answer: A size limit to catches would disproportionally increase mortality on larger and older
fish. A very high fishing mortality of older and larger fish would tend to select for a semelparous
strategy, especially if the fish were harvested shortly after they became mature.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
SHORT ANSWER
SHORT ANSWER
Explain how human fishing for larger individuals from a population of fish can reduce the
average maturation time in the population.
Answer: If individuals delay maturation to achieve large size and increase fecundity, they risk
increased mortality due to fishing. Therefore, natural selection should favour individuals that
mature prior to reaching a large size.