Of Individual Organisms Flashcards
7 cards from real Ecology practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Of Individual Organisms flashcards as text
Which behavioral strategy describes an animal actively seeking out warmer microhabitats to raise its body temperature?
Answer: Behavioral thermoregulation
Behavioral thermoregulation involves using movement and habitat selection—such as basking—to regulate body temperature without internal heat production.
What does the term 'acclimation' specifically describe in individual organism ecology?
Answer: Short-term physiological adjustments to environmental change within an individual's lifetime
Acclimation refers to reversible, short-term physiological changes in an individual in response to environmental variation, not genetic evolution.
An organism found only within a narrow range of salinity is described as:
Answer: Stenohaline
Stenohaline organisms can tolerate only a narrow salinity range, making them sensitive to changes in aquatic salt concentrations.
Which structural adaptation in the nasal passages of some desert mammals reduces respiratory water loss?
Answer: Enlarged turbinate bones that cool exhaled air
Turbinate bones create a large surface area that warms and humidifies inhaled air but cools exhaled air, recapturing moisture before it is lost.
In ecology, 'fitness' at the individual organism level is most precisely defined as:
Answer: The relative contribution of an individual's genes to the next generation
Ecological fitness measures reproductive success—specifically how many offspring an individual contributes to the next generation relative to others.
Why do some intertidal organisms produce heat-shock proteins during exposure to air at low tide?
Answer: To stabilize and repair proteins damaged by high temperature or desiccation
Heat-shock proteins act as molecular chaperones that refold denatured proteins and prevent aggregation during thermal and desiccation stress.
Which of the following is an example of a semelparity reproductive strategy?
Answer: A Pacific salmon that reproduces once and then dies
Semelparous organisms invest all reproductive effort into a single breeding event, after which they typically die, as seen in Pacific salmon.