Study questions for Exam I

PLEASE REVIEW "COMMON MISTAKES ON ECOLOGY EXAMS"

Both questions from lecture material and the textbook will be on the exam. Of course, material which is covered by both sources is extremely important! Make sure you know the bold-face words in the text. These are defined in the glossary, and in many cases in lecture as well.

The "Summary" sections at the ends of chapters are very useful.

Don't bother to study:

  1. First lecture (slide show) – but do study the text readings.
  2. Read, but do not study, the “Ecologists in the Field” and “Practicing Ecology” sections in your text, and the figures accompanying these sections.  These are good review, but offer examples rather than principles.  EXCEPTION: do know the “practicing ecology” section on page 140.
  3. water potential
  4. Figure 7.6
  5. Precise numbers on global cycles - but know which compartments and fluxes are most important
  6. Enzymes in photosynthetic pathways (and any other particular enzymatic reactions). Exception: know the functions of nitrogenase, RuBP carboxylase, hemoglobin
  7. Cell structure of C4 vs. C3 vs. CAM plants – but do know their stomatal behavior.
  8. Countercurrent circulation
  9. Energy states of N
  10. Cycles of S, P: However, know that they are sedimentary cycles, that P is a major cause of eutrophication, that the S cycle is impacted heavily by human activities

Short-Answer Questions

  1. Insectivorous plants such as the Venus Fly Trap grow almost exclusively in acidic soils. Explain how and why insectivory can be considered an adaptation to acidic conditions. In your answer, explain the role of CEC, micelles, hydrogen ions, and nutrients.
  2. Suppose NPP is 400 grams per meter squared per year. Ecological Efficiencies are 10% for the second trophic level, 20% for the third tropic level, and 10% for the fourth trophic level. Draw a pyramid of energy, and indicate (using the appropriate units) the productivity at each level. Remember, ecological pyramids are not triangles.
  3. Draw a light saturation curve for a shade leaf and a sun leaf on the same graph. Why is it adaptive for a tree to have both kinds of leaves? Label (on the correct axis) the compensation point for the sun leaf.
  4. Describe how the intertropical convergence works, and how it causes rainy and dry seasons in the tropics.
  5. Suppose you apply suction to a vessel with a little water in the bottom. A cloud forms. Why? In your answer, explain the role of adiabatic processes, relative and absolute humidity, and the dew point.
  6. It tends to rain more on the windward side of mountains than the leeward side. What is the name of this phenomenon? Why does it occur? In your answer, explain the role of adiabatic processes, relative and absolute humidity, and the dew point.
  7. Define population, community and ecosystem. Which is bigger: the community or the ecosystem?
  8. Define the null hypothesis. Why is it that the null hypothesis is never accepted? Can you ever reject the null hypothesis with 100% confidence?
  9. How does the high specific heat of water affect regional climate and microclimate? Give at least three examples.
  10. How do adiabatic processes affect regional and local climate? Give at least two examples.
  11. When chilled, our skin forms "goose bumps". Is this an adaptation, an acclimation, both, or neither? In your answer, define adaptation and acclimation.
  12. What is biomagnification, and how does it happen?
  13. Fur is useful in staying warm. Why? In your answer, mention the role of conduction, convection, and the boundary layer.
  14. Explain how allometry is useful in the study of heat exchange, the study of animal physiology, mycorrhizae, and the ability of soil to hold water.
  15. Give two reasons why productivity in deep water is less than that of shallow water.
  16. On the same graph, plot oxygen consumption rates as a function of temperature for two fish: one adapted to warm tropical waters, and one adapted to cold arctic waters.
  17. Describe how C3, C4, and CAM plants represent adaptations to different moisture conditions. In your answer, explain the role of stomates, relative humidity, time of day, and the affinity of carbon dioxide to the carbon-fixing enzymes.
  18. What are the main factors that influence the number of trophic levels in an ecosystem? In your answer, describe the equation that relates all of these factors.
  19. Marsupials (who feed milk to their young in pouches) have the smallest newborn babies of all mammals. Explain, in terms of heat exchange and allometry, why it might be disadvantageous for other mammals to have such small babies.
  20. How and why does acid rain deplete the nutrients in what would otherwise be a very fertile soil? In your answer, describe the role of cations, CEC, humus, clay, micelles, and H+.
  21. Both photosynthesis and respiration increase as a function of temperature. However, R increases even more than PS as a function of temperature. Which relationship is an example of a negative feedback loop? Which is an example of a positive feedback loop? What are the implications of these relationships (taken together) for global warming?
  22. Deserts occur for several reasons. Describe (i.e. do not merely name) three such reasons. In your answer, mention each of the following at least once: adiabatic processes, the continental effect, the dew point, intertropical convergence.
  23. Suppose you have a lake with one river flowing in, and one river flowing out. The lake is in steady state, and contains 8000 kg of nitrogen (not including in the sediments). 100 kg N yr-1 leave the lake via the river, 200 kg of N yr-1 leave the lake via denitrification, and 100 kg N yr-1 sink to the bottom of the lake via sedimentation (Note: this is considered a flux away from the lake). 100 kg yr-1 of nitrogen enters via the river. The only other input is nitrogen fixation. What is the nitrogen fixation rate? What is the residence time for nitrogen in the lake? What is the turnover rate for nitrogen in the lake? Make sure to give the appropriate units.
  24. Describe thermal stratification in a lake which experiences freezing in the winter. In your answer, describe the role of the density of water at various temperatures, nutrients, the spring bloom, the fall bloom, spring turnover, fall turnover, and the thermocline.
  25. Ironically, flooding can cause plants to die from lack of water.  Explain how this happens.  Also, explain how aerenchyma prevents this from happening in many wetland plants.
  26. Explain why microcosms are important in ecological science.
  27. Graph the Mauna Loa curve, and label all axes (though numbers are not necessary).  Give the one most important reason for the long-term trend, and the reason for the short-term trend.  Make sure the graph does not indicate going backwards through time!
  28. All organisms are capable of regulating their osmotic balance.  Give and explain one example each of the use of regulating osmotic potential: 1) as an adaptation to arid conditions. 2) for maintaining position in the water column (i.e. buoyancy). 3) as an adaptation for environments of changing salinity
  29. Ocean currents can have profound effects on the climate of nearby land.  Give (and explain) one real example of a current that causes the neighboring land to be drier, and another current that cases the neighboring land to be wetter.  In your answers, make sure to explain the roles of the dew point and relative humidity.
  30. Explain why the slim, sleek body of the barracuda and the filamentous and feathery projections of many marine plankton are both adaptations to the high viscosity of water.
  31. Suppose NPP is 1000 g m-2 yr-1. Ecological Efficiencies are 10% for the second trophic level, 20% for the third tropic level, and 10% for the fourth trophic level. Draw a pyramid of energy, and indicate (using the appropriate units) the productivity at each level. Also, label each level by number AND name.
  32. List five reasons why soil organic matter is important for agriculture.
  33. What is an experimental control, and why is it important?
  34. Ricklefs argues that it is important to match the scale of observation to the scale of the process.  Describe, using at least two examples, what he means.
  35. Explain the role clay-humus micelles play in regulating soil fertility.
  36. Explain how a soil with a high field capacity may not necessarily have a lot of water available to plants.  In your answer, describe the roles of soil particle size, hygroscopic water, capillary water, and the wilting point.
  37. Diagram the flow of water through an ecosystem.  Include the following processes: evaporation, transpiration, evapotranspiration, infiltration, groundwater, percolation, stemflow, interception.

Fill-in-the-Blanks:

  1. ________ A term which describes the place in which an organism lives. The concept emphasizes the structure of the environment as it is experienced by each type of organism.
  2. ________ True or False: the existence of complexity in ecosystems negates the second law of thermodynamics.
  3. ________ Who is the author of your textbook?
  4. ________ What is the name of your textbook?
  5. ________ True or False: plants perform respiration
  6. ________ What chemical reaction is responsible for the entry of carbon into most ecosystems?
  7. ________ What chemical reaction is responsible for the entry of nitrogen into most ecosystems?
  8. ________ In deserts, the B horizon of the soil accumulates calcium carbonate, and becomes hard as rock.  What is the term for this layer?
  9. ________ Suppose you have the following numbers: 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.6, 3.6, 5.0, 115.2, 120.1. What is the mode?
  10. ________ What is the median of the above series of numbers?
  11. _________ What is the range of the above series of numbers?
  12. _________ Name a chemical element that is particularly rich in limestone.
  13. _______ Suppose you have a normally-distributed population with a mean of x and a standard deviation of y. Approximately 2/3 of the observations fall between what two numbers? Be as specific as possible.
  14. _______ What is the major cause of the long-term trend in the Mauna Loa Curve?
  15. _______ The horizon below the C horizon, usually not considered soil.
  16. _______ What is the pH that we consider 'neutral'?  Give a single integer, please.
  17. _______ If your calculated t value is more than the critical t value from a t-table, you ________ the null hypothesis.
  18. _______ If your calculated t value is less than the critical t value from a t-table, you ________ the null hypothesis.
  19. ________ Which of the following are typically found deeper in the ocean than the other: green algae or red algae?
  20. ________ The intertropical convergence is always over this imaginary line
  21. ________ The intertropical convergence is only above this line during the southern hemisphere's winter solstice.
  22. _________ why are watersheds very useful units of study in ecosystem ecology?
  23. ________ is the term for water which is hydrogen-bonded to other water molecules in the soil. It is available to plants.
  24. _________ is the term for the amount of water soil can hold against the pull of gravity.
  25. _________ Are glycoproteins more common in cold-water fish or warm-water fish?
  26. _________ Which is more acid: human blood or carbonated beverages?
  27. _________ Which of the following has the shortest residence time for water: atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, lakes, rocks
  28. _______________ The term for the horizon between the O horizon and the B horizon, considered part of the topsoil.
  29. ______________ What is the chemical formula for ozone?
  30. _______________ the term for the number of grams of dry matter produced per kilogram of water transpired
  31. ______________ Which of the following has more organic matter: alfisols or histosols?
  32. _______________ In the context of international conservation, what does the acronym CITES stand for?
  33. ___________________ a term meaning conversion of a nutrient from organic to inorganic form (hint: decomposition and ammonification are incorrect)
  34. ___________________ Suppose you cool some air with a moderate amount of moisture in it. Does the relative humidity get higher or lower?
  35. ___________________________ On which trophic level are herbivores?
  36. ______________________ 
  37. ___________________________ the term for the relationship between a fungus and a plant which facilitates the plant's uptake of nutrients. "Symbiosis" and "mutualism" are not specific enough answers.
  38. ___________________________ Two examples of macronutrients
  39. ___________________________ Which of the following systems do spiracles (in insects) belong to: circulatory, reproductive, respiratory, nervous, immune
  40. ____________________________ The intertropical convergence is only over this imaginary line during the Northern Hemisphere's Winter Solstice.
  41. _____________________________ The term meaning the solid substrate of terrestrial communities resulting from the from the interaction of weather and biological activities with the underlying geological formation.
  42. ____________ A measure of the central tendency (or "typical value") in data, other than the mean or average.
  43. ______________ a term referring to water flowing down the trunks of trees and other vegetation.
  44. ______________ The soil of many tropical forests becomes almost as hard as concrete, after deforestation and a couple of years of agriculture. What is the name of this concrete-like substance?
  45. ______________ True or false: The Mauna Loa curve tells us that the ozone layer is disappearing.
  46. ______________ What photosynthetic pathway is possessed by cacti and other succulents?
  47. ______________ Which of the following has the highest albedo: Snow, lava, forest, ocean, grassland.
  48. ______________ Which of the following has the largest amount of hygroscopic water: a) soil with 0% clay, b) soil with 50% clay, or c) soil with 100% clay?
  49. _________________ a term referring to the gaseous portion of our planet.
  50. ___________________ the term for a subsystem in which there is more input than output.
  51. _____________________ Suppose you have a normally distributed population with mean 12 and a variance of 4. Approximately what proportion of the observations fall between 8 and 16? (Note: answer in a proportion, NOT a fraction or a percentage. Also, read this question carefully. You might consider it a "trick question").
  52. _________________ Suppose you have a normally-distributed population with a mean of w and a standard deviation of z. Approximately 95% of the observations fall between what two numbers? Be as specific as possible.
  53. ________________ At what latitude is the solar equator during the fall equinox?  Give the answer in degrees.
  54. ________________ is the term for water that is hydrogen-bonded to other water molecules in the soil. It is available to plants.
  55. ________________ Our current best estimate of the amount of oxygen present in terrestrial biota (including detritus) is 2 G 1017 moles.  The flux into this pool is estimated as 2 G 1014 moles yr-1.  Assuming that the oxygen cycle is in steady state, what is the average time spent by a molecule of oxygen in terrestrial biota?
  56. _______________ Suppose you have the following numbers: 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5, and 19.  What is the mode?
  57. ___________________ True or false: the ozone hole is caused by the greenhouse effect.
  58. ___________________ A previous edition of your textbook had the following typographical error: NPP = GNP – R.    Please write this equation correctly.
  59. __________________________________ In the discipline of Global Climatology, What does ENSO stand for?
  60. __________  Is there any evidence that global temperatures have increased during the last century?  Answer either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
  61. _____________ What form of nitrogen is the product of denitrification?
  62. ______________ The term for the following ratio: (enzymatic activity at a given temperature)/(enzymatic activity at 10 degrees cooler).
  63. ______________ On which trophic level are insectivorous plants? Remember that these plants derive nutrients but not energy from insects.  Your answer should be a number.
  64. ______________ What macronutrient is a structural component of bone and of material between woody plant cells, and a regulator of cell permeability?  There is much of this element present in caliche.
  65. _____________ Suppose that a beetle consumed 220 microliters of oxygen per hour at 20 degrees Centigrade, and 110 microliters of oxygen per hour at 10 degrees centigrade.  What is the beetle’s Q10 for oxygen consumption?
  66. ______________ Which of the following has the largest pool of carbon: Plants, animals, dead organic matter, the ocean, or the atmosphere?
  67. ______________ A hyperosmotic aquatic organism will tend to: a) sink, b) rise, or c) stay at the same depth.
  68. ______________ The term for an organism’s ability to maintain constant internal conditions in the face of a varying external environment.
  69. ______________ Are frogs poikilothermic?
  70. ______________ Are mosses poikilohydric?
  71. _____________ Which of the following has the largest pool of water: atmospheric water vapor, biota, lakes, oceans?
  72. _____________ The term meaning all the environments and organisms of the earth
  73. _____________ Do fungi have mitochondria?
  74. _____________ how many cells in diameter are fungal hyphae?
  75. _____________ in a lichen, which symbiotic partner does photosynthesis?

 

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