Geography 3412 Conservation Practice: Ecosystems Management

Spring, 2005

Sample Final Exam Questions

(1) In a wildlife population, Nc is usually:

(a) Larger than Ne

(b) Smaller than Ne

(c) The same as Ne

(2) When a wildlife population is down to very small numbers, the very few breeding pairs might have similar genetics, so even if the population recovers variation can be lost. This results from:

  1. genetic drift
  2. founder effect
  3. inbreeding
  4. demographic bottleneck

 

(3) Although much attention is focused on maintaining an endangered species (even if some populations of that species disappear), it is also important to maintain within-species variation among the different populations because:

(a) Different populations of the same species may be on the verge of speciation, becoming a separate species.

(b) Different populations contain the exact same genetic endowment and thus can act as a source for breeding programs;

( c) Different populations of the same species may contain unique local adaptations useful to the species in the future if anthrpogenic or natural change occurs.

Matching: Viewpoints on Species

(4) Umbrella

(5) Charismatic

(6) Vulnerable

(7) Economically-Important

(a) a species whose role in the ecosystem is larger than size or population might suggest

(b) a species susceptible to extinction

(c) a species that causes damage to crops

(d) a species whose presence reflects certain environmental conditions

(e) species that evoke support from humans

(f) a species that requires conditions that also support other species

Matching: Measures of biodiversity in a regional landscape

(8) Gamma richness

(9) Beta richness

(10) Alpha richness

(a) number of species in a small areas of similar habitat (e.g., multiple stands of old growth spruce)

(b) The number of alpha males in a population

(c) number of species in a region of multiple habitats

(d) differences in species number among habitats in a region

True or False

(11) Inbreeding increases homozygosity, and tends to favor the expression of genes with negative effects on fitness.

(12) Alpha richness would be the number of species in small areas of similar habitat (e.g., multiple stands of old growth spruce).

(13) Proximate factors are the immediate, direct cause of species decline, e.g., low birthrate.

MORE QUESTIONS, added Apr. 26:

(14) Artificial isolation of species populations (e.g., thru human transformations of their habitat) causes loss of genetic diversity mainly because:

    1. It promotes allelic loss in the species
    2. It reduces genetic flux among populations
    3. It reduces heterozygosity levels in the species
    4. a and b

(15) One important weakness of MPV analysis is that:

a. It can not be validated in the field

b. It tends to be aspatial (does not considers spatial factors)

c. It is a purely modeling approach

d. It does not consider uncertainty

(16) The "species-area relationship" posits that:

a. Larger habitat areas are more subject to catastrophic loss of species

b. Small habitat patches are as likely as larger patches to be source populations.

c. Larger patches of habitats will harbor a greater number of species.

d. Larger patches will harbor a larger population of a given species.

(17) Formal wilderness areas in the United States are a form of nature preserve, but you can also find these sorts of human effects in them:

a. Livestock grazing

b. Roads

c. hiking and horse-packing

d. Hunting

e. All except b

(18) The most common, and typically legally-required form of stakeholder input to ecosystems management is the:

a. formal collaboration or partnership

b. focus group

c. e-mail chat group

d. public hearing

True or False

(19) Resource managers find it difficult to manage for communities of species (instead of managing for a single species) because existing species law tends to focus on individual species, not communities.

(20) Loss of allelic richness means that while a specific gene locus is still extant (e.g., the locus that determines a moth’s wing color), there are fewer genes that express different variations in this trait.

(21) A metapopulation is a discrete population of a given species that does not interact with other populations of that species in the region.

(22) Sink populations always have a lambda of less than one.

(23) A habitat remnant with a rectangular shape will have less of a given edge effect than an habitat remnant of the same area but with a circular shape.

(24) A movement corridor that is similar to the matrix can generally be narrower and still function compared to one that is dissimilar from the matrix.

Answers: (1) a; (2) d; (3) c; (4) f; (5) e; (6) b; (7) c; (8) c; (9) d; (10) a; (11) T; (12) T; (13) T; (14) d; (15) b; (16) c; (17) e; (18) d; (19) T; (20) T; (21) F; (22) F; (23) F; (24) T