Ch 53 Biology – Flashcards

Population ecologist follow the fate of same-age cohorts to a. determine a population's carrying capacity b. determine the birth rate and death rate of each group in a population c. determine if a population is regulated by density-dependent processes d. determine the factors that regulate the size of a population

A populations carrying capacity a. may change as environmental conditions change b. can be accurately calculated using the logistic growth model c. increases as the per capita growth rate (r) decreases d. can never be exceeded

Scientific study of the population cycles of the snowshoes hare and its predator, the lynx, has revealed that a. predation is the dominant factor affecting prey population cycling b. hares and lynx are so mutually dependent that each species cannot survive without the other c. both hare and lynx populations are regulated mainly by abiotic factors d. the hare the hare population is r-selected and the lynx population is k-selected

Analyzing ecological footprints reveals that a. earth's carrying capacity would increase if per capita meat consumption increased b. current demand 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 resources are high

Based on current growth rates, Earth human population in 2015 will be closes to a. 2 million b. 4 billion c. 7 billion d. 10 billion

The observation that members of a population are uniformly distributed suggests that a. resources are distributed evenly b. the members of the population competing for access to a resource c. the members of the population are neither attracted to nor repelled by one another d. the density of the population is low

According to the logistic growth equation 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. the population growth is zero when N equals K d. the population grows exponentially when K is small

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

During exponential growth, a population always a. has a constant, instantaneous per capita growth rate b. quickly reaches its carrying capacity c. cycles through time d. loses some individuals to emigration

Which of the following statements about human population in industrialized countries is incorrect? a. life history is r-selected b. average family size is relatively small c. the population has undergone the demographic transition d. the survivorship curve is Type 1