SBI4U Unit 5: Population Dynamics

PRACTICE TEST ANSWERS

Multiple Choice /15

1. D 2. C 3. E 4. B 5. A
6. C 7. C 8. C 9. D 10. D
11. A 12. C 13. D 14. D 15. D

Communication /5:
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Correct use of science Few science symbols, Some science symbols, Most science symbols, Science symbols,
symbols, vocabulary, vocabulary, and vocabulary, and vocabulary, and vocabulary, and
and conventions conventions are used conventions are used conventions are used conventions are used
throughout the test correctly. correctly. correctly. correctly.
Thinking and Inquiry /15
1. Define and give examples of populations that exhibit the following dispersion
patterns:
a. Clumped: occurs when organisms are densely grouped in areas of the habitat
with favorable conditions for survival (e.g., Cat tails, a fish swimming in a large
population for increased chances of survival)

b. Random: individuals are spread throughout a habitat in an unpredictable and

pattern less manner, and habitat conditions are virtually uniform (e.g., in tropical
rain forests, tress of the same species can be randomly dispersed)

c. Uniform: individuals are evenly distributed throughout the habitat; results from
competition between individuals that set up territories for feeding breeding or
nesting (e.g., King penguins nest on South Georgia Island in the South Atlantic
Ocean and tree plantation)

2. List 5 environmental resources for which there might be intraspecific competition.

Provide examples of each. üüüüü

Food By eating grass, individual grasshoppers deprive their fellow

conspecifics of food.
Water Two tress of the same species growing close together will compete for
water in the soil
Light A plant or tree wants to be bigger than the one beside it so it can receive
enough light to grow and is not hidden by the bigger plant.

Space If plants are competing for soil resources, there may be a limit to how
close together individual plants of the same species can live.

Safe Sites In territorial animals: some individuals actively prevent others from
exploiting a given resource, usually food or space.

3. What conditions are necessary for a population to experience prolonged exponential

growth? üü
Exponential growth describes populations growing continuously at a fixed rate in a fixed
time interval.It is a pattern of population growth where organisms reproduce continuously
at a constant rate.The conditions necessary for a population to experience prolonged
exponential growth is space/room to grow or expand, abundant resources, lack of
predators and also have sufficient resources to thrive.
4. Describe and give two examples of each of the following:

a. Commensalism: One organism receives benefits from the other without

damaging it; the interaction is beneficial to one species and the other is
unaffected.

Example: Some flatworms live attached to the gills of the horseshoe crab,
obtaining bits of food from the crab's meals.
Example: Many bacteria live on the surface of our skin. Most of the time they
neither harm, nor benefit us
Example: plants living on trees in the rain forest and tree frogs - the tree frog uses
the plants on trees for protection from the rain, and the plants are not affected at
all.

b. Mutualism: Both organisms are benefiting / the interaction is beneficial to both

species.

Example: Bacteria in the guts of herbivores such as the cows which secretes
enzymes to break down the products into useable nutrients. In return the bacteria
are provided with nutrition themselves.

Example: Oxpecker birds feed on the backs of grazing animals, They pick off
parasites on the skin of the animals. The birds are provided with a source of food,
and the animals are protected from the parasites.

c. Parasitism: One organism lives off another, where one is benefited and the other
is negatively affected. The interaction is beneficial to one species, and harmful but
not usually fatal to the other

Example: The parasites of humans (host), like the trypanosome that causes
Chagas' disease, the HIV virus (AIDS), the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, the
schistosome that causes schistosomiasis, the hookworms, etc.
Other examples are tree (host) and parasitic helminths (parasite), dog (host) and
lice (parasite), cattle (host) and tick (parasite)
 5. What do energy pyramids show about the suitability of plants vs animals for
meeting human food demands? üü

Ecologists often use energy pyramids as models to visualize the transfer of food energy
from one trophic level to another through a food chain. These models are pyramidal in
shape to illustrate that energy flows through an ecosystem. Not all the energy trapped by
producer organisms in the first trophic level of the pyramid is transferred to consumers in
the next level, since the majority of the energy dissipates as heat.

10% of the energy in one organism is transferred to an organism in the next trophic level.
therefore a food chain with a greater number of organisms would have a higher loss of
usable energy as it flows through the food chain.

Organisms in the uppermost trophic level (at the end of long food chains) receive a small
fraction of the energy available at the lowest level in the food chain. Energy pyramids
illustrate that humans can obtain more energy from consuming producing organisms—
grains, vegetables, and fruits—directly rather than from feeding them to livestock and
subsequently eating livestock products. The evidence suggests that eating organisms
early in food chains or energy pyramids (e.g., plants) can sustain large populations in
countries with insufficient food production

Application /10
1. Using two examples, explain why it is important for scientists to track the
population of Canadian species? üüüü

It is important to track the population of Canadian species because if they didn’t,

scientists would not know how populations are changing. For example, if the population
of wolfs started decreasing, then it would have a major impact on its food chain. The
number of deer would start increasing since their predator has been eliminated, which
would negatively impact the snake population, as there would be more deer preying on
snakes. This decline in the snake population would put pressure on the deer, since they
would not have anything left to eat but it would also effect the grasshopper population
because it will grow a lot more since they were what snakes eat…. In conclusion, if
scientists had kept a track of these species then they could have seen what was causing
the wolf population to decrease and came up with a solution because all of the things
mentioned above took place.

Today, the needs of animals and the needs of people are often in conflict so it is
important to track animals to study and protect them. By tracking the population of
Canadian species, scientists can learn more about habitat use, home range size, mortality
 and survivorship, as well as migration and migration routes of certain species. The
information gathered is then used to make decisions about land use, conservation
measures etc. For example if scientist didn’t keep track of certain fish population in the
Lake Ontario and wanted to use it for certain recreational purposes or wanted to turn a
certain part of it as a boating area, then all of those fishes would die. This could affect a
lot of things and as well cause many animals to become distinct without everyone
knowing.

6. What is carrying capacity and explain its role in population dynamics. üü

The carrying capacity of an ecosystem is the maximum number of organisms that can be
sustained by available resources over a limited period of time. Carrying capacity is
dynamic, since environmental conditions are always changing.

When populations increase in size, the amount of resources available per individual
decreases. When populations change in density, their new density may exceed the
available supply of resources. A variety of factors affect populations and influence how
rapidly populations can grow before they meet or exceed the carrying capacity of their
environment. Carrying capacity is determined by the environment in which a population
lives which depends on population dynamics, which are changes in population
characteristics determined by natality, mortality, immigration, and emigration.
Consider a population of deer in a forested area. The forested area has a carrying capacity
of 85 deer. When this population exceeds this carrying capacity, there is intense
competition among the deer for remaining resources. Stronger deer that are able to obtain
food will survive, while weaker deer will starve or risk death by moving from the area to
seek another habitat with adequate resources. This intraspecific competition can have a
pronounced effect on the reproductive success of individuals. As competition for food
increases, the amount of food per individual often decreases. This decrease in nutrition
results in a decrease in an individual’s growth and reproductive success.
7. Explain why it would be a mistake to eliminate a major predator from a
community. üüü

If a predator was removed from a community the number of its prey would increase
which would affect the population size and also the food chain. This would affect the
community very negatively because the organism that the major predator used as a prey
would increase in population. The increase in prey population could have a negative
impact on the environment by increasing intraspecific competition among the prey
species, and may allow for disease to spread more easily because of increased population
density.