Bio 30 Populations January Diploma Exam Questions
JANUARY 1996
Use the following information to answer the next three questions.
1. Which statement describes the likely effect of the intervention by the farmer on the sheep population growth rate (r)?
A. r would be negative because b would increase and d would decrease.
B. r would be negative because b would decrease and d would increase.
C. r would be positive because b would increase and d would decrease.
D. r would be positive because b would decrease and d would increase.
Numerical Response
05. Calculate the population density (sheep/km2) of the sheep on this farm.
(Record your answer rounded to three significant digits in the numerical-response section of the
answer sheet.)
Answer: __150_____
2. The sheep liver fluke is an organism that lives in the intestines, liver, brain, and lungs of sheep and causes tissue damage in these organs. Which statement best describes the likely effect of a severe infestation of sheep liver flukes on a sheep population?
A. Commensalism would reduce the carrying capacity of the sheep population.
B. Parasitism would reduce the carrying capacity of the sheep population.
C. Commensalism would reduce the density of the sheep population.
D. Parasitism would reduce the density of the sheep population.
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
3. The two factors that were likely responsible for the fluctuations in the population of yeast from day 4 to day 16 were
A. predation and limited food supply
B. temperature intolerance and predation
C. limited food supply and overcrowding
D. overcrowding and temperature intolerance
4. A likely cause of the change in the yeast population from day 7 to day 9 was
A. an increase in nutrient concentration
B. an increase in environmental resistance
C. a decrease in the Paramecium population
D. a decrease in population density of the yeast
Use the following information to answer the next question.
Numerical Response
06. Select the set of four numbers from the graph that correctly completes the
following statement.
Plotting uncontrolled, rapid population growth results in the curve labelled ____.
However, the effect of environmental resistance, labelled ____ normally limits
growth, resulting in the curve labelled ____. The population size becomes stable
when the carrying capacity, labelled ____, is reached.
(Record your four-digit answer in the numerical-response section of the answer sheet.)
Answer: __2453_____
JANUARY 1997
Use the following information to answer the next question.
5. The gene pool of Drosophila is affected by the Sd allele because this allele
A. produces new gene combinations
B. increases genetic diversity
C. favours natural selection
D. increases in frequency
Use the following information to answer the next question.
6. If a researcher samples 10 000 Drosophila from this population, the number of flies expected to be homozygous dominant for body colour is
A. 400
B. 3 200
C. 6 400
D. 9 600
Use the following information to answer the next question.
7. These relationships are not applicable when there is
A. a large population size
B. absence of migration from a population
C. random mating between members of a population
D. selection against a particular genotype in a population
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
8. If a change in the environmental conditions in western Africa caused an increase in the mosquito population, what would likely happen to the frequencies of the alleles HbA and HbS?
A. The frequency of both alleles would increase.
B. The frequency of both alleles would decrease.
C. The frequency of the HbA allele would increase and the frequency of the HbS allele would decrease.
D. The frequency of the HbA allele would decrease and the frequency of the HbS allele would increase.
9. The relationship between humans and Plasmodium falciparum is called
A. parasitism
B. mutualism
C. competition
D. commensalism
Use the following information to answer the next question.
10. The presence of eyespots on the wings of butterflies is an example of
A. mimicry
B. mutualism
C. camouflage
D. competition
Use the following information to answer the next question.
11. The relationship between the barnacles and the whales is one of
A. predation
B. parasitism
C. mutualism
D. commensalism
JANUARY 1998
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
Numerical Response
06. In this herd, what is the frequency of the heterozygous genotype?
(Record your answer as a value from 0 to 1, rounded to two decimal places, in the numericalresponse
section of the answer sheet.)
Answer: ___0.32_____
Numerical Response
07. If two heterozygous sheep mated, what would be the probability of them having a
white lamb?
(Record your answer as a value from 0 to 1, rounded to two decimal places, in the numericalresponse
section of the answer sheet.)
Answer: __0.75______
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
12. The region labelled X on the graph represents
A. exponential growth
B. the carrying capacity
C. the establishment phase
D. environmental resistance
Numerical Response
08. The density of Daphnia on day 80 is ______/mL.
(Record your answer rounded to two decimal places in the numerical-response section of the
answer sheet.)
Answer: __0.60______
January 1999
Use the following information to answer the next five questions.
Numerical Response
07. Based on the information provided, what is the per capita growth rate of the snow
goose population between 1968 and 1990?
(Record your answer rounded to one decimal place in the numerical-response section on the
answer sheet.)
Answer: ___10.3______
13. Prior to 1960, the winter food sources in the marshes controlled the growth of the snow goose population. The available supply of reeds, roots, and tubers in the marshes was
A. an example of a community of climax species
B. an example of a community of pioneer species
C. a density-dependent limiting factor for snow geese
D. a density-independent limiting factor for snow geese
14. Given a further increase in the snow goose population, in the Churchill, Manitoba nesting area
A. interspecific competition will increase because of decreased species diversity
B. interspecific competition will increase and intraspecific competition will decrease
C. intraspecific competition will increase because available food supplies are decreasing
D. intraspecific competition will decrease because fewer snow geese will be able to find nesting sites
15. To preserve the diversity of this ecosystem, the first logical human intervention would be to
A. extend the hunting season and increase collection of snow goose eggs
B. replant or reseed grasses and sedges depleted by snow goose foraging
C. reintroduce the duck species and shore bird species that have disappeared from the coastal marshes
D. prevent soil erosion by introducing plant species adapted to high salinity in order to anchor the top soil
16. Based on the information provided, it would be reasonable to conclude that the snow goose population
A. has increased its biotic potential
B. has a higher mortality than natality rate
C. is in the growth phase and environmental resistance is increasing
D. has reached the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and environmental resistance is decreasing
Use the following information to answer the next question.
Numerical Response
08. Match the ecological relationships, as numbered above, with the types of symbiosis
given below.
(Record your three-digit answer in the numerical-response section on the answer sheet.)
Ecological Relationship: ____2______1______3______
Type of Symbiosis: Commensalism Mutualism Parasitism
JANUARY 2000
Use the following information to answer the next question.
17. The “founder effect” seems to occur when
A. the environment favours one population over another population
B. a non-representative subpopulation forms the basis for an isolated population
C. individuals from one population move into and become part of a second population
D. two similar populations exist in the same community without being reduced in number
Use the following information to answer the next question.
18. The frequency of the gene that controls the production of schreckstoff by minnows is likely
A. to increase in the gene pool of the population
B. to decrease in the gene pool of the population
C. to stay the same in the gene pool of the population because natural selection is occurring
D. to stay the same in the gene pool of the population because natural selection is not occurring
Use the following information to answer the next question.
19. What relationship exists between the snowshoe hare and the porcupine?
A. Mutualism
B. Predator–prey
C. Commensalism
D. Intraspecific competition
Use the following information to answer the next question.
20. A reasonable prediction based on these predator–prey relationships is that
A. predator species would not show population changes caused by density-dependent factors
B. low numbers of caribou would cause wolf starvation if the moose population was also low
C. wolf and prey populations would decline as the same diseases spread through the three populations
D. an area would have the same carrying capacity for moose as it has for caribou, even though each species has different food preferences
Use the following information to answer the next six questions.
21. Ecological data gathered over a 20-year period indicate that the elk population fluctuates around the level marked I on the graph. The biotic factors that keep this population stabilized are
A. density dependent
B. density independent
C. independent of natality and mortality
D. independent of emigration and immigration
22. The level marked I on the graph represents the effect of factors such as climate, nutrients, soils, and water on the size of the elk population. A term to describe this section of the growth curve is
A. lag phase
B. biotic potential
C. carrying capacity
D. climax community
Use the following additional information to answer the next two questions.
Numerical Response
06. Identify the population descriptor, as numbered above, that best matches each of the
population characteristics below for a K-selected population such as the caribou or elk.
Population Descriptor: ____1______4______6______7______
Population Characteristic: Offspring Body Size Reproductive Lifespan
Number Maturity
(Record your four-digit answer in the numerical-response section on the answer sheet.)
Use the following additional information to answer the next question.
Predator–Prey Relationships
Location / Animal 1 / Animal 2 / Density of Predators (number per 100 km2) / Number of PreyJasper National Park / Wolf / Elk / 0.6 / 1 200
Northwest Territories / Wolf / Caribou / 0.3 / 500 000
Numerical Response
07. The size of the wolf population in an area of 6 000 km2 of the Northwest Territories is
calculated to be ___18______wolves.
(Record your answer as a whole number in the numerical-response section on the answer sheet.)
Use the following additional information to answer the next two questions.
23. If a disease were to kill 90% of these elk (an epidemic), what would be the likely consequence?
A. The genetic variability in the population would decrease.
B. The population’s resistance to all diseases would increase.
C. The mutation rate in genes for disease resistance would increase.
D. The population’s gene frequencies would return to pre-epidemic values through genetic drift.
24. The elk population of this area at the beginning of a study year was 500. If there were 35 births and 5 deaths throughout the year, what was the per capita growth rate for the elk population during that year?
A. 0.03
B. 0.06
C. 6
D. 30
Use the following information to answer the next question.
Numerical Response
08. Use the numbered phrases or words from columns A, B, and C above to complete
the statements below.
Primary succession would occur A , where the first organisms present are called
a B community. During the first 20 years in the development of a community, the
number of species would be expected to C .
Answer: __3__ __1__ _1___
Letter: A B C
(Record your three-digit answer in the numerical-response section on the answer sheet.)
JANUARY 2001
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
25. The factors that contribute most to the relatively great diversity of organisms in the Sonoran Desert as compared with that in other deserts are
A. biotic factors that increase the biotic potential
B. abiotic factors that reduce reproductive isolation
C. abiotic factors that reduce environmental resistance
D. biotic factors that increase the carrying capacity of the area
26. In the Sonoran Desert, all the populations of all the organisms occupying that desert represent
A. a habitat
B. a community
C. a geographic range
D. an ecological niche
Use the following information to answer the next two questions.
27. The relationships described above between the organ pipe cactus and insects, and
between the organ pipe cactus and small mammals are identified in row
Row / Cactus and Insects / Cactus and Small MammalsA. / predator–prey / predator–prey
B. / predator–prey / mutualism
C. / mutualism / mutualism
D. / mutualism predator–prey
28. The flowers of the organ pipe cactus open during the night and close during the day to avoid dehydration during the heat of the day. This adaptation of the cacti to the desert climate most likely occurred as a result of