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Study guide- short answer questions and terms for the multiple choice questions for upcoming exam
3/20 chapters 4, 5 and 6. Bring scantron 886- mini essay for the exam!
Part 1:
Possible short answer questions ch. 4, 5 and 6 (40 points) Answer two from each chapter in short essay form
Chapter 4
A) Imagine a desert beetle that uses behavior to regulate its body temperature. How might this beetle’s use of
microclimates created by shrubs, burrows, and bare ground change with the season? How would it regulate water
balance?
B) The section on avoiding temperature extremes focused mainly on animals. What are some of the ways in
which plants avoid temperature extremes? Bring cold and hot environments into your discussion. How does this
help with water regulation?
C) Some plants and grasshoppers in hot environments have reflective body surfaces, which make their radiative
heat gain, Hr, less than it would be otherwise. If you were to design a tiger beetle that could best cope with
thermal conditions on black beaches (see fig. 4.5), what color would it be? The beetles on the black beaches of
New Zealand are black, and the beetles on the white beaches are white. What do the matches between the color
of these beetles and their beaches tell us about the relative roles of thermoregulation and predation pressure in
determining beetle color? What does this example imply about the ability of natural selection to “optimize” the
characteristics of organisms?
Chapter 5
D) Describe the water budget of the desert beetle Onymacris Fig. 5.9 and compare it to the kangaroo rat,
Dipodomys, shown in 5.10. Which of these two species obtains most of its
water from metabolic water? Which relies most on condensation of fog as a water source? In which species do
you see greater losses of water through the urine?
E) In chapter 5, we discussed water relations of tenebrionid beetles from the Namib Desert. However, members
of this family also occur in moist temperate environments. How should water loss rates vary among species of
tenebrionids from different environments? On what assumptions do you base your prediction? How would you
test your prediction?
F) In the Sonoran Desert, the only insects known to evaporatively cool are cicadas. Explain how cicadas can
employ evaporative cooling while hundreds of other insect species in the same environment cannot.
Chapter 6
G) In what kinds of environments would you expect to find the greatest predominance of C3, C4, or CAM plants?
How can you explain the co-occurrence of two, or even all three, of these types of plants in one area? (Think
about the variations in microclimate that we considered in chapters 4 and 5.)
H) What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of being an herbivore, detritivore, or carnivore? What
kinds of organisms were left out of our discussions of herbivores, detritivores, and carnivores? Where do
parasites fit? Where does Homo sapiens fit?
I) What advantage does advertising give to noxious prey? How would convergence in aposematic coloration
among several species of Müllerian mimics contribute to the fitness of individuals in each species? In the case of
Batesian mimicry, what are the costs and benefits of mimicry to the model and to the mimic?
J) How is plant allocation to roots versus shoots similar to plant regulation of temperature and water? (We
discussed these topics in chapters 4 and 5.) Consider discussing these processes under the more general heading
of homeostasis. (Homeostasis is the maintenance of a relatively constant internal environment.)
Part 2:
Terms you should know for multiple choice questions (15 points):
Chapter 4: acclimation, conduction, convection, ectotherm, endotherm, evaporation, macroclimate, microclimate,
photosynthesis, thermal neutral zone, radiation, metabolic heat, poikilotherms, riparian vegetation
Chapter 5: diffusion, hyperosmotic, hypoosmotic, isoosmotic, osmosis, osmoregulation, relative humidity,
concentration, water potential, water vapor pressure, saturated water vapor
Chapter 6: autotroph, heterotroph, C3photosynthesis, C4 photosynthesis, CAM photosynthesis, mimicry,detritivore,
herbivore, carnivore, chemosythetic autotroph, optimal foraging theory, trophic levels, primary producer, secondary
consumer, stomata