Ecology Of Individual Organisms 5

Question 1

What distinguishes 'regulation' from 'conformity' as strategies for maintaining internal homeostasis?

Accepted Answer

Regulators use energy to keep internal conditions stable despite external change; conformers allow internal conditions to track the environment

Answer

Regulators use behavioral cues while conformers use hormonal signals

Answer

Regulators are always endothermic while conformers are always ectothermic

Answer

Regulators reproduce sexually while conformers reproduce asexually

Question 2

Why is nitrogen excretion in the form of uric acid advantageous for reptiles and birds living in arid environments?

Accepted Answer

Uric acid requires very little water to excrete, conserving body water

Answer

Uric acid is more toxic and deters predators

Answer

Uric acid provides additional energy when metabolized

Answer

Uric acid is reabsorbed and recycled more efficiently than urea

Question 3

An organism's 'realized niche' differs from its 'fundamental niche' because the realized niche:

Accepted Answer

Is the actual range used after biotic interactions like competition restrict the organism

Answer

Includes only abiotic factors and excludes biotic interactions

Answer

Is broader and encompasses more resources than the fundamental niche

Answer

Describes the niche before the organism reaches reproductive maturity

Question 4

Which concept explains why an individual foraging animal should abandon a food patch when the rate of energy gain falls to the average rate for the habitat?

Accepted Answer

Optimal foraging theory / marginal value theorem

Answer

Ideal free distribution

Answer

Holling's disc equation

Answer

Lotka-Volterra predation model

Question 5

Which of the following is the best example of 'cryptic coloration' as an individual-level antipredator adaptation?

Accepted Answer

A stick insect's twig-like body shape and brown color

Answer

A poison dart frog's bright red and blue patterning

Answer

A skunk's bold black-and-white stripe pattern

Answer

A monarch butterfly's orange-and-black wings

Question 6

In life history theory, the term 'iteroparity' refers to organisms that:

Accepted Answer

Reproduce multiple times over the course of their lives

Answer

Reproduce only once before dying

Answer

Produce very large numbers of small offspring in a single event

Answer

Alternate between sexual and asexual generations

Question 7

What is the primary selective pressure that drives the evolution of diapause in insects?

Accepted Answer

Synchronization of development with seasonally favorable environmental conditions

Answer

Predator avoidance during vulnerable larval stages

Answer

Reduction of intraspecific competition for food resources

Answer

Avoidance of parasitism by host-specific parasitoids