Exam 28: Community Interactions

In a process called coevolution, two species exert natural selection pressures on each other.

Fleas feed on the blood of dogs, cats, and people. What is this ecological relationship called?

Parasites kill their hosts, but predators do not kill their prey.

Woodpeckers and squirrels both nest in tree cavities. This is an example of interspecific competition.

You suspect that the American alligator is a keystone species in specific habitats in Florida. How could you experimentally prove or disprove this hypothesis?

The first organisms to colonize a disturbed ecosystem are the climax species.

The process by which two interacting species act as agents of natural selection on one another is called

Kudzu is a vine that is native to Japan, but in the United States it is an exotic invader. In many parts of the United States, kudzu is rapidly expanding and outcompeting native species. Explain why kudzu is such an aggressive invader in the United States, but not in its native Japan.

The biotic portion of an ecosystem includes the plants, animals, and water.

A lichen is a mutualistic relationship between a fungus and an alga.

Antelope and kangaroos are both herbivores that feed on grasses and brush. What would you expect to happen if someone set up a game farm and released both species into the same grassy plain?

An animal that only eats plants is a(n)_________ .

If an insect eats the lettuce seedlings in your yard, it is acting most like a(n)

The tiny wasp Ooencyrtus kuvanae lays its eggs inside the egg masses of gypsy moths. When the wasp larvae hatch, they burrow into the gypsy moth caterpillars and eat them from the inside. After they have completed their development, the adult wasps emerge from the bodies of the moth caterpillars, killing them in the process. This relationship is classified as

In a stable ecosystem, the number of predators is greater than the number of prey.

What evidence did Gause and MacArthur find for the competitive exclusion principle?

A predator might use_________ to enable it to catch its prey.

Why is the African elephant considered a keystone species?

The next time you need to mow the grass, you can excuse yourself, saying that by mowing you are helping to maintain a man-made

When climax and subclimax vegetation combine in different parts of a(n) _________, they provide habitats for a large number of plant and animal species.