1. Define the biotic potential of a population. What is the definition for the actual rate of population increase? What other two factors affect it?
2. What is an exponential capacity for growth? When does this type of growth naturally occur? Give an example.
3. What is carrying capacity? Is this a static or dynamic measure? Why?
4. What is the difference between r- and K-selected populations?
5. How do population pyramids predict whether a population is likely to grow or shrink?
6. What is the difference between interspecific competition and intraspecific competition? What is the principle of competitive exclusion?
7. Is the term niche synonymous with the term habitat? Why or why not? How does an organism’s fundamental niche differ from its realized niche?
8. Why is eliminating predators a bad idea for species richness?
9. How can predation and competition interact in regulating species diversity of a community?
10. What are the primary reservoirs for the chemicals in biogeochemical cycles? Are more of the lifesustaining chemicals found in these reservoirs or in the earth’s living organisms?
11. What effect does deforestation have on the water cycle and overall fertility of the land?
12. How might an increase in the number of predators affect lower levels of a food chain? How might an increase in nutrients affect upper levels?
13. What is the difference between primary productivity, gross primary productivity, and net primary productivity?
14. Which type of diet, camivorous or herbivorous, provides more food value to any given living organism?
15. What are several ways that individual organisms adjust to changes in temperature during the course of a year?
16. Why are the majority of great deserts located near 30° north and south latitude? Is it more likely that a desert will form in the interior or at the edge of a continent? Explain why.
17. What is a biome? What are the two key physical factors that affect the disribution of biomes across the earth?
