Below are a series of questions that should give
you some insight about the kind of questions to expect on the written
exam.
The axes of Hutchinson's n-dimensional hypervolume are composed of environmental features which:
A) Influence a species' abundance but not its distribution.
B) Describe the realized niche of a species.
C) Describe the ecological role of a species.
D) Influence a species' ability to survive and
reproduce.
The steps of adaptive management include:
A) Convening a group of stakeholders and working toward a consensus on the goals of management.
B) Gathering all available information and creating models to predict potential outcomes of management actions.
C) Analyzing the feasibility for each management action.
D) Implementing management in an experimental context.
E) A, B and C.
F) All of the above.
Habitat suitability index (HSI) models are based on the following assumption:
A) Populations for which we are assessing habitat must be at or near K most of the time.
B) Populations for which we are assessing habitat are limited by predation or harvest.
C) Habitat variables we can measure are important influences on the survival and reproduction of the population.
D) All of the above are necessary assumptions
to using HSI models.
Recruitment rate for females, as a parameter in a Leslie matrix population model, can be estimated as:
A) Number of young females in the population at time T+1 per breeding female at time T+1.
B) Number of young females in the population at time T+1 per female in the previous year's population.
C) Total number of females entering the population at time T+1.
D) Total number of young produced in a given year
that survive to the time T+1.
Classical logistic growth is mostly likely to be found in:
A) Paramecium
B) Gray partridge
C) Wild Turkeys
D) 17-year Cicada
Dispersal in white-tailed deer males generally occurs at about 18 months of age. If Time of Census is spring, immediately pre-parturition, which element in a recruitment-survival matrix should incorporate this dispersal?
A) F0
B) F1
C) All the F values
D) P0
E) P1
F) All the P values
To calibrate Habitat Suitability Indices with population growth models, we need to know:
A) The maximum number of individuals a tract of land would support (K) if habitat conditions were optimal.
B) The current number of individuals a tract of land supports and optimal habitat conditions.
C) The shape of the graphical relationship between HSI and population abundance (N).
D) None of the above is sufficient by itself.
Chase rejects the whole idea of natural regulation in Yellowstone's elk population calling it a "policy waiting for a harsh winter to come along." This logic is an inaccurate interpretation of the evidence for and against natural regulation because:
A) Natural regulation is occurring regardless of variation in winter weather.
B) Variation in weather conditions will almost always keep elk in the Yellowstone ecosystem well below K.
C) In the absence of predators, natural regulation is not likely to operate under any circumstances.
D) Wolves are limiting elk populations, thereby imposing natural regulation irrespective of winter conditions.