Community Ecology Part II
Supplemental Instruction
Iowa State University
Leader: Tyler
Course: Bio 211 (7,8)
Instructor: Dr. Colbert
Date:
1. How does a change in community structure generally occur? What is this called?
Are these changes permanent?
2. Define and describe primary and secondary succession. Note how they are similar
in some ways, but different in others.
3. What is an ecosystem? What two main aspects will we study in Bio 211 regarding
Ecosystem Ecology?
4. True/False:

All organisms require energy to survive.

All organisms rely on the sun as their primary energy source.

Primary producers create the chemical energy that all organisms rely on.

About 10% of the solar energy that the earth absorbs gets converted into
chemical energy

Humans are at the top of the food chain
5. Study the figure to the below. How much energy is available to each succeeding
trophic level? Using the words below, fill in the blanks.
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Exam Review
The maximum number of individuals a certain area can sustain is known as
a. the intrinsic rate of growth
b. the resource limit
c. the carrying capacity
d. the logistic equation
e. the equilibrium size
A species interaction in which one species benefits but the other species is unharmed is
called
a. mutualism
b. amensalism
c. parasitism
d. commensalism
e. mimicry
According to the competitive exclusion hypothesis,
a. two species that use the exact same resources show very little competition
b. two species with the same niche cannot coexist
c. one species that competes with several different species for resources will be
excluded from the community
d. all competition between species results in the extinction of at least one of the
species
e. none of the above is correct
f. all of the above is correct
In Lack’s study of British passerine birds, different species seem to segregate based on
resource factors, such as location of prey items. This differentiation among the niches of
these passerine birds is called
a. competitive exclusion
b. intraspecific competition
c. character displacement
d. resource partitioning
e. allelopathy