You are conducting a long-term study of ecosystem functioning in a freshwater lake. You and your field assistants gather data for many biotic and abiotic factors, including species diversity, water and benthic quality, and turbidity. Over the ten years of your study, you find that the abundance of water lilies is correlated with several other factors. When water toxicity and turbidity are high and water pH is abnormally low, water lilies quickly become scarce, followed by periods where fish, amphibians, and water birds are also scarce or absent. In years water nutrient levels are very high, water lilies quickly become abundant, followed by years where wading birds are more numerous. From these data, you conclude that water lilies are

To support species native to Australia, Arid Recovery has created a relatively cat-free preserve by fencing and eliminating cats from a sanctuary.  Here is a photo of the set up and an adorable native Australian stick-nest rat from Arid Recovery’s website. Based on the success of the project, they plan to expand their program to protect more land from cats.  Imagine you are an ecologist consulting with them on this expansion.  List 3 suggestions you would make to the team as they consider the size, shape and/or location of additional protected land.  Back up each suggestion by briefly explaining the ecological principle it is based on.   1.  Suggestion 1 with supporting ecology principle. 2.  Suggestion 2 with supporting ecology principle. 3.  Suggestion 3 with supporting ecology principle.

The amount of land needed to produce all the resources someone uses and to absorb all the CO2 they release through their choices is called their:

What is gross primary production?

A hot spot of endemism would have

Which of these predictions of the Equilibrium Model of Island Biogeography is least supported by evidence?

A coastal country is facing a collapse of its fish stocks due to overfishing. Which of the following solutions is most likely to promote long-term recovery of fish populations?

A) A vampire bat shares food with a sibling who is starving, increasing the sibling’s survival chance by 40%. The cost to the donor is a 10% reduction in its own survival. The donor and recipient are full siblings (i.e. they share the same mother and father). Does this food-sharing behavior satisfy Hamilton’s Rule, and is it likely to be favored? (Need to show calculations to receive full credit) B) Now consider a scenario where the same bat is sharing food with a starving grandparent, increasing the grandparent’s survival chance by 40%. The cost to the donor remains a 10% reduction in its own survival. The relatedness coefficient between the donor and grandparent is r=0.25. Does this food-sharing behavior satisfy Hamilton’s Rule, and is it likely to be favored? (Need to show calculations to receive full credit)

Part 1 – Multiple Choice/Fill-In/True or False/Matching Questions.

A population of beetles is being studied, and the following life table summarizes the survivorship and fecundity data: Age (x) Survivorship (lx​) Fecundity (mx​) 0-1 1.0 0 1-2 0.6 1.0 2-3 0.3 1.5 3-4 0.1 0.5 A) Using the life table, calculate the net reproductive rate (R0​) (Need to show calculations to receive full credit). B) Determine whether the population is growing, shrinking, or stable.