Of Species Interactions 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 Species Interactions flashcards as text
Which of the following describes a defensive mutualism?
Answer: Acacia trees producing hollow thorns inhabited by ants that attack herbivores
Acacia–ant mutualisms are classic defensive mutualisms: ants receive shelter and food while defending the tree from herbivores and competing plants.
An ecologist finds that when a competitively dominant species is removed from a community, species diversity increases. This removal experiment demonstrates:
Answer: Competitive exclusion in action
When removing the dominant competitor raises diversity, it shows that dominant species were competitively excluding others—competitive exclusion in action.
Character displacement refers to the evolutionary pattern where:
Answer: Competing species evolve greater differences in traits to reduce niche overlap
Character displacement describes divergent evolution of traits (e.g., beak size) in sympatric competing species, reducing niche overlap.
In host–parasite coevolution, the 'Red Queen hypothesis' predicts that:
Answer: Hosts and parasites must continuously evolve to maintain fitness relative to each other
The Red Queen hypothesis states that hosts and parasites must keep evolving just to maintain the same relative fitness in an ongoing evolutionary arms race.
Zoochory is a dispersal mechanism in which seeds are dispersed by:
Answer: Animals
Zoochory refers to seed dispersal by animals, including external attachment (epizoochory) or ingestion and defecation (endozoochory).
The dilution effect in predator–prey ecology refers to:
Answer: Individual prey in larger groups each face lower per-capita predation risk
The dilution effect states that living in a larger group reduces each individual's risk of predation because predator attacks are 'diluted' across more prey.
Ectomycorrhizal fungi form associations primarily with trees in temperate forests. If a fungicide eliminated these fungi, the most direct effect would be:
Answer: Reduced phosphorus uptake and tree growth
Ectomycorrhizal fungi greatly extend root surface area for phosphorus and water uptake; their elimination would impair mineral nutrition and reduce tree growth.