Match the ecological concepts listed in Column I with their definitions listed in Column II.Column IColumn IIP. Dominance hierarchies(i) Giving up one's own reproductive potential to benefit another individualQ. Territory(ii) Selection acting on related animals which affects fitness of an individualR. Altruism(iii) Exclusion of competing individuals using agonistic behaviorS. Kin selection(iv) Preferential access to the food and mates in a group

The correct match is P-(iv), Q-(iii), R-(i), S-(ii).In a dominance hierarchy, higher-ranking individuals get preferential access to food and mates within the group (iv).A territory is an area defended by excluding competitors through agonistic behaviour such as threat displays and fighting (iii).Altruism is behaviour that costs the actor its own reproductive potential while benefiting another individual (i).Kin selection is selection acting through relatives, which share the actor's genes and so affect its inclusive fitness (ii).Options A, C and D all give territory the definition of a dominance hierarchy (iv); D also gives altruism the definition of territory.

Match the types of ecological interactions in Group 1 with their respective definitions in Group 2.Group 1Group 2(P) Protocooperation(i) One species is harmed but the other is neither harmed nor benefitted(Q) Commensalism(ii) A type of mutualism where one species is benefitted more than the other(R) Amensalism(iii) Both the species are benefitted but the interaction between them is not obligatory(S) Helotism(iv) One species is benefitted without harming the other

The correct match is P-iii, Q-iv, R-i, S-ii.Protocooperation: both species benefit, but the association is not obligatory.Commensalism: one benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped.Amensalism: one species is harmed while the other is unaffected, as when one organism releases an inhibitory chemical.Helotism: a lopsided form of mutualism in which one partner gains much more, likened to master and slave (the fungus-alga relationship in lichens is the usual example).The other options confuse commensalism with amensalism, which differ in whether the affected species is helped or harmed.

Match the types of ecological energy productivity in Group 1 with their respective definitions in Group 2.Group 1Group 2(P) Net primary productivity(i) Total amount of energy produced by autotrophs(Q) Gross primary productivity(ii) Amount of energy stored by autotrophs after respiration(R) Net productivity(iii) Net gain of energy by the consumers after energy loss(S) Secondary productivity(iv) Unused amount of energy after consumption by heterotrophs

The correct match is P-ii, Q-i, R-iv, S-iii.Gross primary productivity is the total energy fixed by autotrophs.Net primary productivity is what the autotrophs store after their own respiration.Net (community) productivity is the energy left unused after heterotrophs have consumed their share.Secondary productivity is the energy gained by consumers, net of their losses.The option P-ii, Q-i, R-iii, S-iv swaps the last two definitions, and the others confuse gross and net primary productivity.

Animal Ecology Questions and Answers

Q: Trees in the equatorial region of earth supply oxygen into the atmosphere that sustains species living in distant polar regions. This relationship is called as

The relationship is commensalism.In commensalism one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. The polar species benefit from the oxygen, while the equatorial trees gain nothing from them and lose nothing either, so the interaction is one-sided in exactly this way.Mutualism, and symbiosis in its usual sense of a close mutually beneficial association, would require both partners to benefit and normally to live together. Parasitism would require the trees to be harmed for the benefit of the polar species, which is not the case.

Q: Which one of the following animals develops adaptive predator avoidance morphology because of the presence of high predator number in its habitat?

The animal is Daphnia sp.Water fleas of the genus Daphnia are the classic example of predator-induced defence. When chemical cues (kairomones) from predators such as phantom midge larvae (Chaoborus) or fish are abundant, they develop helmets, neck teeth and longer tail spines that make them harder to capture. The morphology is plastic: it appears only when predators are present.Scaphiopus, the spadefoot toad, is known for tadpoles that develop a carnivorous morph and speed development in drying ponds, a response to diet and pond duration rather than predators. Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterium, not an animal, that manipulates host reproduction. Rhodnius, a blood-sucking bug, is the classic model for insect moulting hormones.

Q: Which one of the following represents a true “Ecological population”?

A true ecological population is all the lions in a reserve forest.A population is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time and able to interbreed. All the lions in one reserve meet that definition.A pitcher plant with its trapped fly involves two different species, which is an interaction, not a population. All the animals living near each other in a national park, or the leeches and flatworms of a forest, include several species, so they describe parts of a community rather than a population.

Q: A researcher sets up ten large outdoor tanks, each containing the same amount of algae and the same number of guppies (herbivorous fish). In five of these tanks, she also adds gourami fish, which are predators of guppies. Tanks were covered in mesh so no new species could enter. After 2 months, the researcher counted the number of guppies and gouramies, and measured the amount of algae. She found that the amount of algae was much higher in the tanks with gourami fish compared to those without gourami fish. Which one of the following processes best explains the differences in amounts of algae between these tanks?

The best explanation is a trophic cascade.Gouramis eat guppies, and guppies eat algae. In tanks with gouramis the predators cut the guppy numbers, so grazing pressure on the algae falls and the algae build up. An effect at the top of the food chain has passed down two levels, raising the producers by suppressing the herbivores. That top-down, indirect effect is a trophic cascade.A competition-colonisation trade-off explains how competitors coexist through differing dispersal abilities. The competitive exclusion principle says two species sharing one limiting resource cannot coexist indefinitely. Interference competition is direct harm between competitors. None involves a predator changing the abundance of a plant through its prey.

Q: Muscle performance is positively correlated with Darwinian fitness. The graph below describes the relationship between mean environmental temperature and muscle performance for two closely related lizard species, one living in temperate areas (solid line) and another living in tropical areas (dashed line). Current mean environmental temperatures are marked with vertical dotted lines at (i) for the temperate species and (ii) for the tropical species. If mean environmental temperatures at both locations increase at a steady rate over time, which one of the following is most likely to occur in the near future?

The likely outcome is that the temperate species may be positively impacted but the tropical species will be negatively impacted.The temperate lizard's current temperature, mark (i), lies well below the peak of its broad performance curve. As temperatures rise it moves up the curve toward its optimum, so its muscle performance, and with it its fitness, may increase.The tropical lizard's current temperature, mark (ii), is already at the peak of its narrow curve, and just beyond it the curve drops steeply. Any warming pushes it down that slope, so its performance falls sharply.The two species therefore do not suffer to the same extent, the effects are not reversed, and saying neither is affected ignores the curves. This is the general point that tropical ectotherms, living near their thermal maximum, are the more vulnerable to warming.

Q: How many genera of terrestrial vertebrates are found in neotropical regions ?

The key gives 155.The neotropical region (Central and South America) is one of the richest in terrestrial vertebrates, and counts of genera by region appear in biogeography texts; the question asks for one such count.I could not find any source giving the figure for the neotropics, so I could not confirm 155 against 135, 161 or 153; the four options are close together, and the choice rests entirely on the key. Nothing found shows it wrong.

Q: Which one of the following animals inhabits metahaline environment of salt pens ?

The animal is Artemia.Artemia, the brine shrimp, lives in hypersaline (metahaline) water such as salt pans and salt lakes, where salinity can be several times that of sea water. Few predators survive there, and Artemia tolerates the salt by pumping out excess ions. Its dormant cysts are harvested from salt works and hatched to feed fish and prawn larvae in aquaculture.Crabs (printed as 'Grabs'), prawns and true marine shrimps live in sea water, brackish estuaries or fresh water, and cannot tolerate the extreme salinity of salt pans.

Trees in the equatorial region of earth supply oxygen into the atmosphere that sustains species living in distant polar regions. This relationship is called as

A.mutualism
B.symbiosis
C.commensalism
D.parasitism

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2012,

Answer: C

The relationship is commensalism.

In commensalism one species benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed. The polar species benefit from the oxygen, while the equatorial trees gain nothing from them and lose nothing either, so the interaction is one-sided in exactly this way.

Mutualism, and symbiosis in its usual sense of a close mutually beneficial association, would require both partners to benefit and normally to live together. Parasitism would require the trees to be harmed for the benefit of the polar species, which is not the case.

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Which one of the following animals develops adaptive predator avoidance morphology because of the presence of high predator number in its habitat?

A.Daphnia sp.
B.Scaphiopus sp.
C.Wolbachia sp.
D.Rhodnius sp.

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2022,

Answer: A

The animal is Daphnia sp.

Water fleas of the genus Daphnia are the classic example of predator-induced defence. When chemical cues (kairomones) from predators such as phantom midge larvae (Chaoborus) or fish are abundant, they develop helmets, neck teeth and longer tail spines that make them harder to capture. The morphology is plastic: it appears only when predators are present.

Scaphiopus, the spadefoot toad, is known for tadpoles that develop a carnivorous morph and speed development in drying ponds, a response to diet and pond duration rather than predators. Wolbachia is an intracellular bacterium, not an animal, that manipulates host reproduction. Rhodnius, a blood-sucking bug, is the classic model for insect moulting hormones.

Discuss in Forum

Match the ecological concepts listed in Column I with their definitions listed in Column II.

Column I	Column II
P. Dominance hierarchies	(i) Giving up one's own reproductive potential to benefit another individual
Q. Territory	(ii) Selection acting on related animals which affects fitness of an individual
R. Altruism	(iii) Exclusion of competing individuals using agonistic behavior
S. Kin selection	(iv) Preferential access to the food and mates in a group

A.P-(ii), Q-(iv), R-(i), S-(iii)
B.P-(iv), Q-(iii), R-(i), S-(ii)
C.P-(iii), Q-(iv), R-(i), S-(ii)
D.P-(i), Q-(iv), R-(iii), S-(ii)

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2022,

Answer: B

The correct match is P-(iv), Q-(iii), R-(i), S-(ii).

In a dominance hierarchy, higher-ranking individuals get preferential access to food and mates within the group (iv).
A territory is an area defended by excluding competitors through agonistic behaviour such as threat displays and fighting (iii).
Altruism is behaviour that costs the actor its own reproductive potential while benefiting another individual (i).
Kin selection is selection acting through relatives, which share the actor's genes and so affect its inclusive fitness (ii).

Options A, C and D all give territory the definition of a dominance hierarchy (iv); D also gives altruism the definition of territory.

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Which one of the following represents a true “Ecological population”?

A.A pitcher plant and a trapped fly in it
B.All animals that live near each other in a national park
C.The leeches and the flatworms that live in a forest
D.All the lions in a reserve forest

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2023,

Answer: D

A true ecological population is all the lions in a reserve forest.

A population is a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time and able to interbreed. All the lions in one reserve meet that definition.

A pitcher plant with its trapped fly involves two different species, which is an interaction, not a population. All the animals living near each other in a national park, or the leeches and flatworms of a forest, include several species, so they describe parts of a community rather than a population.

Discuss in Forum

Match the types of ecological interactions in Group 1 with their respective definitions in Group 2.

Group 1	Group 2
(P) Protocooperation	(i) One species is harmed but the other is neither harmed nor benefitted
(Q) Commensalism	(ii) A type of mutualism where one species is benefitted more than the other
(R) Amensalism	(iii) Both the species are benefitted but the interaction between them is not obligatory
(S) Helotism	(iv) One species is benefitted without harming the other

A.P-iii, Q-iv, R-i, S-ii
B.P-ii, Q-i, R-iii, S-iv
C.P-i, Q-iv, R-iii, S-ii
D.P-iii, Q-i, R-iv, S-ii

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2024,

Answer: A

The correct match is P-iii, Q-iv, R-i, S-ii.

Protocooperation: both species benefit, but the association is not obligatory.
Commensalism: one benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped.
Amensalism: one species is harmed while the other is unaffected, as when one organism releases an inhibitory chemical.
Helotism: a lopsided form of mutualism in which one partner gains much more, likened to master and slave (the fungus-alga relationship in lichens is the usual example).

The other options confuse commensalism with amensalism, which differ in whether the affected species is helped or harmed.

Discuss in Forum

Match the types of ecological energy productivity in Group 1 with their respective definitions in Group 2.

Group 1	Group 2
(P) Net primary productivity	(i) Total amount of energy produced by autotrophs
(Q) Gross primary productivity	(ii) Amount of energy stored by autotrophs after respiration
(R) Net productivity	(iii) Net gain of energy by the consumers after energy loss
(S) Secondary productivity	(iv) Unused amount of energy after consumption by heterotrophs

A.P-iii, Q-ii, R-iv, S-i
B.P-ii, Q-i, R-iii, S-iv
C.P-ii, Q-i, R-iv, S-iii
D.P-iv, Q-i, R-ii, S-iii

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2024,

Answer: C

The correct match is P-ii, Q-i, R-iv, S-iii.

Gross primary productivity is the total energy fixed by autotrophs.
Net primary productivity is what the autotrophs store after their own respiration.
Net (community) productivity is the energy left unused after heterotrophs have consumed their share.
Secondary productivity is the energy gained by consumers, net of their losses.

The option P-ii, Q-i, R-iii, S-iv swaps the last two definitions, and the others confuse gross and net primary productivity.

Discuss in Forum

A researcher sets up ten large outdoor tanks, each containing the same amount of algae and the same number of guppies (herbivorous fish). In five of these tanks, she also adds gourami fish, which are predators of guppies. Tanks were covered in mesh so no new species could enter. After 2 months, the researcher counted the number of guppies and gouramies, and measured the amount of algae. She found that the amount of algae was much higher in the tanks with gourami fish compared to those without gourami fish. Which one of the following processes best explains the differences in amounts of algae between these tanks?

A.Competition-colonisation trade-off
B.Competitive exclusion principle
C.Interference competition
D.Trophic cascade

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2026,

Answer: D

The best explanation is a trophic cascade.

Gouramis eat guppies, and guppies eat algae. In tanks with gouramis the predators cut the guppy numbers, so grazing pressure on the algae falls and the algae build up. An effect at the top of the food chain has passed down two levels, raising the producers by suppressing the herbivores. That top-down, indirect effect is a trophic cascade.

A competition-colonisation trade-off explains how competitors coexist through differing dispersal abilities. The competitive exclusion principle says two species sharing one limiting resource cannot coexist indefinitely. Interference competition is direct harm between competitors. None involves a predator changing the abundance of a plant through its prey.

Discuss in Forum

Muscle performance is positively correlated with Darwinian fitness. The graph below describes the relationship between mean environmental temperature and muscle performance for two closely related lizard species, one living in temperate areas (solid line) and another living in tropical areas (dashed line). Current mean environmental temperatures are marked with vertical dotted lines at (i) for the temperate species and (ii) for the tropical species. If mean environmental temperatures at both locations increase at a steady rate over time, which one of the following is most likely to occur in the near future?

Muscle performance against mean environmental temperature: the temperate curve is broad with mark (i) below its peak; the tropical curve peaks at mark (ii) and drops steeply just above it

A.Temperate and tropical species will be negatively impacted to the same extent
B.Temperate species may be positively impacted but tropical species will be negatively impacted
C.Temperate species will be negatively impacted but tropical species will be positively impacted
D.Neither temperate nor tropical species will be impacted

Exam Year(s)

GATE Life Sciences - 2026,

Answer: B

The likely outcome is that the temperate species may be positively impacted but the tropical species will be negatively impacted.

The temperate lizard's current temperature, mark (i), lies well below the peak of its broad performance curve. As temperatures rise it moves up the curve toward its optimum, so its muscle performance, and with it its fitness, may increase.

The tropical lizard's current temperature, mark (ii), is already at the peak of its narrow curve, and just beyond it the curve drops steeply. Any warming pushes it down that slope, so its performance falls sharply.

The two species therefore do not suffer to the same extent, the effects are not reversed, and saying neither is affected ignores the curves. This is the general point that tropical ectotherms, living near their thermal maximum, are the more vulnerable to warming.

Discuss in Forum

How many genera of terrestrial vertebrates are found in neotropical regions ?

A.155
B.135
C.161
D.153

Exam Year(s)

MPPSC Forest Service - 2022,

Answer: A

The key gives 155.

The neotropical region (Central and South America) is one of the richest in terrestrial vertebrates, and counts of genera by region appear in biogeography texts; the question asks for one such count.

I could not find any source giving the figure for the neotropics, so I could not confirm 155 against 135, 161 or 153; the four options are close together, and the choice rests entirely on the key. Nothing found shows it wrong.

Discuss in Forum

10.

Which one of the following animals inhabits metahaline environment of salt pens ?

A.Grabs
B.Artemia
C.Prawns
D.Shrimps

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: B

The animal is Artemia.

Artemia, the brine shrimp, lives in hypersaline (metahaline) water such as salt pans and salt lakes, where salinity can be several times that of sea water. Few predators survive there, and Artemia tolerates the salt by pumping out excess ions. Its dormant cysts are harvested from salt works and hatched to feed fish and prawn larvae in aquaculture.

Crabs (printed as 'Grabs'), prawns and true marine shrimps live in sea water, brackish estuaries or fresh water, and cannot tolerate the extreme salinity of salt pans.

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