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Option G Worksheet
1. Outline six factors that affect the distribution of plant species. Temperature, soil pH, light, water, salinity, and
mineral nutrients.
2. Explain how the following factors affect the distribution of animal species: temperature, water, food supply,
breeding sites, and territory.
3. Explain the following interactions between species, giving two examples of each: herbivory, predation, intra-specific
competition, inter-specific competition, parasitism, and mutualism.
4. Explain what is meant by the niche concept.
5. Give an example of two species in their niches: clown fish, and one of your choosing. Be sure to include their habitat,
nutrition, interactions, predators, reproduction, and other relevant information.
6. Distinguish between fundamental and realized niches.
7. Using examples, explain the consequences of environmental change on a species with a narrow niche and a broad
niche.
8. Outline the method and importance of GF Gause’s paramecium experiments.
9. Explain the competitive exclusion principle.
10. Using examples, explain how competitive exclusion can lead to the removal/replacement of one specifies from a
niche and niche partitioning.
11. Explain how random sampling and quadrats can be used to estimate the population of a plant species in a given
area.
12. Explain how the importance of randomness in selection of quadrat locations in a sample size.
13. Outline two simple methods for generating random coordinates or otherwise ensuring that selection of a sample
site is random.
14. Describe measures that could be taken to ensure that the data are statistically reliable.
15. Describe how the quadrat method could be used to compare the population size of two plant species in a given
area.
16. The data collected can be used to compare the populations of two or more species.
Species
A
B
12
7
Percentage cover in each quadrat (±2%)
34
32
45
12
34
46
12
9
23
5
4
12
5
8
mean
54
2
a. Calculate the mean and standard deviation of each set of results.
STDEV
b. Evaluate these data, based on the means and standard deviations.
c. State the name of a statistical test that can be applied to test the significance of a difference between the
means of two populations.
17. What is the function of a transect?
18. Explain how a transect would be carried out to correlate the distribution of a species with an abiotic variable.
19. State some examples of transects that you might carry out. Include three biotic variables and their opposite abiotic
variable.
20. Sketch a kite graph to show how it would be used to display transect data.
21. Define biomass.
22. Suggest some reasons for studying the biomass of an ecosystem.
23. Outline one method for estimating the biomass of different trophic levels of an ecosystem.
24. State some of the ethical concerns associated with measuring biomass and how these may be alleviated.
25. Explain why biomass is generally low at higher trophic levels.
26. Define gross production.
27. Define net production.
28. Define biomass.
29. Explain why gross production is always higher than net production.
30. State the calculation for determining gross production, net production and respiration.
31. The following passage outlines some of the energy flow in an ecosystem.
a. Calculate the efficiency (in %) of the conversion of light energy into gross production.
b. Draw a pyramid of energy for the ecosystem.
c. Explain the shape of the pyramid of energy.
32. Study the energy flow diagram below.
a. Calculate the net production of the autotrophs.
b. Calculate the percentage of energy lost as heat in both the autotrophs and heterotrophs.
c. Suggest reasons for the differences in energy loss as heat between autotrophs and heterotrophs.
33. Discuss the difficulties of classifying organisms into trophic levels.
34. Explain the small biomass and low numbers of organisms in higher trophic levels.
35. Discuss how the high-meat diet of the developed world (which is aspired to by many developing nations) may be
speeding our approach of the planet’s carrying capacity for humans, and some of the steps that can be taken to
reduce this effect.
36. Describe what is meant by ecological succession.
37. Distinguish between primary and secondary succession, with three examples of each.
38. Describe the effects of succession on the following factors of productivity, biomass, and biodiversity.
39. Explain the following ways in which living organisms affect the abiotic environment in primary succession: soil
composition and strength, organic nutrients, mineral nutrients, and water uptake.
40. Distinguish between biome and biosphere.
41. Explain how rainfall and temperature affect the distribution of biomes.
42. Whittaker’s Climograph is a well-known representation of temperature, rainfall and distribution of biomes in the
world:
a. Identify the biomes likely to be found under these conditions:
i.
180mm y-1, 10oC
-1
o
ii.
0-50mm y ,0-30 C
-1
o
iii.
60mm y , 10 C
-1
o
iv.
250-450mm y , 20-30 C v.
0-50mm y-1,-15-0oC
b. Describe the characteristics of the following biomes, using individual climographs and including details of
vegetation: desert, tundra, shrubland, grassland, deciduous forest, and tropical rainforest.
43. Outline how climate change leads to species migration, redistribution, and possible extinction.
44. State the chemical formula for ozone.
45. State the role of ozone in the stratosphere.
46. Distinguish between the ozone layer and the greenhouse layer, using a simple diagram.
47. Outline the effects of CFC’s on the ozone layer:
48. Outline the effects of UV radiation on living tissues and biological productivity.
49. Describe the consequences of ozone layer damage due to CFC use in terms of long-term environmental and human
health impacts.
50. State the function of Simpson’s Diversity Index and list some of the uses of Simpson’s Diversity Index data in
environmental decision-making.
51. Describe how Simpson’s Index could be used to compare two locations.
52. Calculate Simpson’s Diversity Index for these two grassland areas, and deduce which site was a farmed area and
which was wild. Explain your answer.
Grassland Site 1
Species
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
Present
y
y
y
x
x
x
x
x
N=
number
65
12
8
0
0
0
0
O
Σ
n=
Grassland Site 2
Species
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
Present
y
X
y
y
y
y
y
y
N=
number
12
o
32
21
08
6
07
4
Σ
n=
3
N-1=
2
n-1=
7
N-1=
6
n-1=
53. Discuss the following reasons for conservation of biodiversity in rainforests: ethical/moral, economical, ecological,
and aesthetic.
54. Define alien species.
55. Outline the impacts of three examples of introduction of alien species: food source, biological control, and shipping
or globalization.
56. Explain the effects of invasive alien species on native species, with examples of predation, interspecific
competition/competitive exclusion, habitat destruction, biological control, and extinction.
57. Find the following elements of an invasive species in your home country: the binomial and common names and
taxonomy names, the native geographical ranges, the introduced geographical ranges, how it was introduced, how it
was spread, the impacts, and any human management.
58. Outline how RHDV has been used for biological control in Australia with regard to the problem, the solution, and the
effectiveness.
59. Define biomagnification.
60. Distinguish between bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
61. Using a diagram or flow-chart, describe the cause and consequences of one named example of biomagnification.
62. Define indicator species
63. Annotate the components of a biotic index.
64. Calculate the biotic indices of these two sample sites and draw a conclusion as to what the biotic indices calculated
indicate:
Site A
species ni
ai
ni x ai
Site B
species ni
ai
ni x ai
A
B
C
D
E
F
N=
12
23
21
8
6
13
10
9
8
7
6
5
Σ(ni x ai)=
D
E
F
G
H
I
N=
5
8
12
23
29
19
7
6
5
5
3
1
Σ(ni x ai)=
65. Define extinction.
66. Outline how a species becomes extinct in terms of evolution.
67. What are some of the anthropogenic causes of species extinction?
68. Outline the factors that contributed to the extinction of one named animal species, due to human impacts. Be sure
to include the common name, Linnaean name, its niche, the human impacts, and its innate weakness(es).
69. Research an endangered species in your area. Outline the classification of the species, state the level of threat to the
species, describe the causes of the threats to this species, and outline some conservation measures that are being
taken.
70. Describe the function of a nature reserve, giving an example from your country.
71. Outline the following biogeographic features of nature reserves that promote the conservation of diversity. Make
sure to include edge effects, size, and habitat corridors.
72. Outline the dangers of habitat fragmentation.
73. Describe active management with regard to nature reserves.
74. Discuss some examples of active management strategies and their impacts.
75. Outline the following aspects of a successful active management strategy. Include human interests, staffing,
legalities, monitoring, and funding.
76. Distinguish between in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures and discuss the benefits of both in-situ and ex-situ
conservation of plant and animal species, with examples.
77. Distinguish between r- and K-reproductive strategies. Give three examples of each, and outline how each example
uses the K- or r-reproductive strategy to their own advantage.
78. State some species that could be considered exceptions to this theory.
79. Discuss the environmental conditions that favor either r- or K-strategies.
80. Using r-K strategist theory, describe how disasters can lead to outbreaks of disease.
81. Annotate the Lincoln Index calculation below, as an example of a capture-mark-recapture method of estimating the
population size of an animal species. Calculate the population of the snail population below.
82. Outline some of the ethical and practical considerations of capture-mark-recapture methods.
83. Use the Lincoln Index to monitor this mountain gorilla population over time:
Year
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
n1
23
26
27
16
18
n2
25
30
35
18
19
n3
18
22
21
15
16
2008
17
24
17
P
84. Gorilla hunting is illegal in some regions and carefully controlled in others, though there is a high demand for illegal
bush-meat. Deduce between which two years illegal hunters were active in the forest and explain the long recovery
time for the population.
85. Describe how the following conservation method could be used to preserve the mountain gorilla populations:
nature reserves, in-situ active management, education, and economic stimulus.
86. Explain the concept of maximum sustainable yield. Use a sketch graph.
87. Explain why fish stocks can be considered a renewable resource.
88. What are the limitations to using fisheries as a renewable resource?
89. Deciding on the next year’s total allowable catch is a difficult and political pursuit. List the main stakeholders and
their interests in fish stocks.
90. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) gathered information to determine if overfishing was damaging
marine ecosystems. The total fish captured in each of three oceans from the years 1960 to 2000 was compared to
the overall world marine capture.
100
90
80
70
Fish catch / 60
×10 6 tonnes
50
40
30
20
10
0
World marine
fish capture
Pacific Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
Indian Ocean
1960
1970
1980
Year
1990
2000
a) Calculate the percentage of the world catch that came from the Atlantic Ocean in 1990.
b) Compare the data from the Pacific Ocean with that from the Atlantic Ocean.
c) Suggest one reason in each case for the change in the quantity of fish captured in the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans from 1980 to 1990.
91. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) gathered information to determine if overfishing was damaging
marine ecosystems. The total fish captured in each of three oceans from the years 1960 to 2000 was compared to
the overall world marine capture.
92. Discuss the international measures that can promote the conservation of fish stocks, with reference to quotas and
monitoring, monitoring endangered species, closed seasons, exclusion zones, minimum net-hole sizes, and the
banning of drift nets.