Exam 47: Species Interactions, Communities, and Ecosystems

In a pond, tadpoles eat algae and fish eat the tadpoles. Around the pond, grasshoppers eat grass and, at night, are preyed upon by bats. Other bats eat the fish that eat the tadpoles. In this community, the fish-eating bats are:

Banner-tailed kangaroo rats, Dipodomys spectabilis, are rodents that feed on seeds and are endemic (found only in) to the deserts of the southwestern United States. Which of the following is the BEST description of their niche?

The evolution of flowers and sweet-tasting fruits in response to animal pollinators are examples of _____ relationships.

Tropical leafcutter ants collect leaf cuttings which they transport to special underground chambers. There, they chew the leaves to create nursery beds on which they grow a species of fungus they use for food. When ant queens disperse to establish new colonies, they carry the fungus with them, dispersing it as well (this benefits the fungus). In the ants' nest, the fungus is at risk of being destroyed by another fungal species that is able to grow in the same habitat, using the same limited resources. On their bodies, the ants carry and provide a home for bacteria that produce antibiotics the ants use to kill this second fungus and thereby protect their food supply. In this system, the relationship between the leafcutter ants and their fungal food species is:

Herbivores belong to which group in a food web?

Which of the following could be used to define the ecological niche of a plant species?

Communities change over time because species persistence in an area can change over time. Therefore other species that interact with a species that is removed or introduced to the community will also change.

In a pond, tadpoles eat algae and fish eat the tadpoles. Around the pond, grasshoppers eat grass and, at night, are preyed upon by bats. Other bats eat the fish that eat the tadpoles. In this community, the algae are:

We think of termites as insects that "eat" wood. In fact, however, termites rely on a variety of eukaryotic and prokaryotic gut microbes to digest cellulose-without the microbes, the termites will ingest wood, but will starve. This, then, is an example of a(n);

The human body has about 10 bacterial cells for every eukaryotic cell. Bacteria coat our skin, gut, and mouth. Also present are protists, Archaeans, and viruses. Collectively, these organisms are our microbiota. For most members of our microbiota, our body provides their environment (or space to live). They, in turn, have no effect on us. This is an example of:

A mutualism in which the survival of one or both participants is dependent on the other is:

According to Joseph Grinnell, the niche of a butterfly species would be determined by which of the following?

Once a hemlock-spruce forest is established in Glacier Bay, it tends to remain relatively unchanged unless disturbed. This makes it the _____ for the region.

The oldest plant community in Glacier Bay is hemlock-spruce forest. You would predict that hemlock and spruce trees are _____-strategists.

You are chatting with a friend, and he makes the comment that an organism's niche could also be called its habitat, as both terms refer to the environment in which an organism lives.

Overlap of niches can be minimized through:

Predator/prey relationships are always linear, with one species affecting only one other in the community.

Recall that instead of expending energy fleeing or hiding from coyotes, foxes will instead settle in "coyote-poor" environments. This is NOT:

Consider the food web below. The minnow in this system is a:

Disturbances: