Chapter 5 Study Guide

5.1 Ecological Relationships

1. What are the three types of species interactions?
a. ____________________________________
b. ____________________________________
c. ____________________________________
2. What is intraspecific competition?

3. List a few factors that species within a population compete for.

4. Niche overlap results in ________ intense competition.

5. How can competition within a species be beneficial? (There are a few good answers – not necessarily in your
notes.)

6. What is competitive exclusion?

7. List three strategies used by predators use to catch food.

a. _______________________________________________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________________________________________
8. List three strategies prey use to avoid being eaten.
a. _______________________________________________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________________________________________
c. _______________________________________________________________________________________

Use the graph to answer questions 9 – 12.

9. What is happening to the rabbit population from year 20 to 25?

10. Why did the rabbits exhibit the population change in #9?

11. Compare the maximum populations of rabbits versus foxes. Explain

the difference and why it exists.

12. What is the overall pattern between predator and prey populations and why does this pattern make since.
 13. Why do predator/prey interactions promote natural selection?

14. What is coevolution? Give an example.

15. What is symbiosis?

16. For each type of symbiotic relationship, complete the chart with details about how each organism is impacted
using the following terms: Benefits, Harmed, or No Impact.

Symbiotic Relationship Organism A Organism B

Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism

17. Decide if the interactions in the chart are examples of Mutualism, Commensalism, or Parasitism.

Symbiotic Relationship Example

Long-nosed bats feed on cactus fruit and helps spread the cactus seed.

A tapeworm absorbs nutrients from a mammal’s digestive system, reducing

the amount of food available to the mammal.
Aphids eat the sap from plants and excrete sticky waste that ants eat. The ants
protect the aphids from predators.
Mites find a home in human eyelashes but do no harm to the human.
Ticks consume the blood of large mammals causing the mammal loss of blood
resulting in fatigue and sometimes disease.
Barnacles attach to the side of whales but do not. Whales can still swim

5.2 Ecological Succession

18. The series of predictable changes that occurs in a community over time is called _____________________.

19. An area that is in the early stages of primary succession will typically contain _______________________.

20. Would you classify the following events as primary or secondary succession events?
a. Plants invading after volcano _______________________________
b. Pines coming into an old farm field ___________________________
c. Fire burning down a forest and grasses beginning to grow __________________________
d. Glacier retreating exposing new rock for animals to inhabit ______________________________

21. Fill in the following chart about succession.

Type of succession Where does it What causes it? Who are the first What is the last
happen? (List two things!) species to enter species?
Primary

Secondary
 22. What is a pioneer species?

23. Why are lichens and cyanobacteria essential to primary succession?

24. Which type of succession is faster and why?

25. What is a climax community?

26. What are 2 examples of climax communities in different environments?

27. What is ecological resilience? Name an ecosystem that would have a high ecological resilience.

5.3 What Limits Population Growth

28. What is a population?

29. Name four factors that can affect the growth rate of a population.
a. ___________________________________

b. ___________________________________

c. ___________________________________

d. ___________________________________

30. Write an equation to represent growth rate in a population.

31. The movement of organisms into a given area from another area is called __________________________.

32. As a population grows, the birthrate ______________________ and the death rate ___________________.

33. Name two ways a population can decrease in size. _____________________ & _______________________

34. Name two ways a population can increase in size. ______________________ & _______________________

35. What do the following age structure diagrams suggest about future growth of the population it represents?

A. ____________________ B. ________________________ C. ______________________

Use the Range of Tolerance Graph to answer questions 36 – 39.

36. What happens to population size in the optimum range?

37. Label the zone of stress in the diagram.

38. Label the zone of intolerance in the diagram.

39. What are some examples of factors that would go on the X

axis?

40. What determines tolerance within a population?

41. As resources in a population become less available, population growth _____________________________.

42. Determine if the growth rate will rise, fall, or remain the same in the following scenarios:
a. A disease affects most of a rabbit population _______________________________
b. There is an abundance of food for a fox population _______________________________
c. The squirrels’ food supplies and predators go up _______________________________
d. A spring frost kills some of the plants the bees collect nectar from ____________________

43. Draw an exponential growth curve.

Label the axis.

44. Name four specific conditions that would cause a population to grow exponentially.

a. _______________________________________________________________________________

b. _______________________________________________________________________________

c. _______________________________________________________________________________

d. _______________________________________________________________________________

45. Draw a graph to represent logistic growth.

Label the axis.
46. The term used to describe a factor that slows or stops population growth is ____________________________.

47. What is a density dependent factor?

48. List two examples of density dependent limiting factors.

a. _______________________________________________________________________________
b. _______________________________________________________________________________
49. What is a density independent factor?

50. List two examples of density independent factors.

a. _______________________________________________________________________________

b. _______________________________________________________________________________
51. Few plants grow in the desert because water availability is low. Therefore, water in a desert can be called a
____________________________ factor,

52. What is carrying capacity?

53. Fill out the chart about r vs. K strategist.

Characteristic R strategist K strategist

Body Size
Life Span
Maturity age
Number of Offspring
Parental Care
Type of Environment Preferred
Two Examples

54. Which strategy r or K is more vulnerable to extinction? Why?

55. Which strategy r or K is more vulnerable to extinction? Why?

56. Take a look at the survivorship curves below. Next to each type of organism, write whether it is an example of
Type I, Type II, or Type III survivorship.

a. Bird ___________________________

b. Duck ___________________________

c. Human ___________________________

d. Rat ___________________________

e. Maple Tree ________________________

f. Elephant ___________________________