Animal Ecology Questions and Answers

Q: Which of the following set of abiotic factors, the organisms need to adapt for survival in deep sea ?

Deep-sea organisms must adapt to low temperature, high pressure and low oxygen level.Below the sunlit zone the water stays near 2 to 4 °C, pressure rises by about one atmosphere for every 10 m of depth, reaching hundreds of atmospheres on the abyssal floor, and oxygen is often low, especially in oxygen-minimum zones. There is also no light, so food comes mainly as detritus from above. Deep-sea animals have pressure-tolerant enzymes and membranes, slow metabolism and often bioluminescence.Every other option gets at least one factor backwards: deep water is not low pressure, and apart from local hydrothermal vents it is not high temperature, and it is not rich in oxygen.

Q: A phenomenon in which animals adapted to temperate regions have shorter and poorly developed ears, eyes, hair and other phenotypic traits follow :

The phenomenon follows Allen’s law.Allen's rule states that warm-blooded animals of colder climates have shorter appendages (ears, tails, limbs) than related forms in warmer regions. Smaller extremities expose less surface for heat loss, so animals adapted to cooler, temperate regions have shorter ears and similar traits.Bergmann's rule concerns overall body size, which increases in colder climates. Cope's rule says lineages tend to grow larger over evolutionary time, and Dollo's law says that evolution does not reverse to restore a lost structure exactly.

Q: Two zoogeographical regions, separated by high mountain ranges are :

The two regions are the Palaearctic and Oriental.The Himalayas and the mountain belt running east and west from them form the boundary between the Palaearctic region (Europe, northern Asia) and the Oriental region (India and South-East Asia).The other pairs are separated mainly by water or by narrower barriers: the Nearctic and Palaearctic by the Bering Strait, the Oriental and Australian by deep sea channels (Wallace's line), and the Neotropical and Ethiopian by the Atlantic Ocean.

Q: The characteristics of organisms involved in symbiotic relationships have developed :

They developed through co-evolution.Co-evolution is reciprocal evolutionary change in two interacting species, each acting as a selective force on the other. Symbiotic partners show it clearly: figs and fig wasps, yucca and yucca moths, and legumes and rhizobia have matching traits that make sense only as adaptations to each other.Chance (drift) does not produce such fine mutual fit. Character displacement is divergence between competing species where they overlap, and resource partitioning is the division of resources among competitors; both concern competition, not partnership.

Q: The carrying capacity of a population is determined by its :

The key's answer is gross primary production.In the energy-flow treatment of carrying capacity used in ecology texts such as Odum's, a population grows while the energy captured exceeds what it costs to maintain the biomass already present. Growth stops when all of the energy captured, the gross production, is needed for maintenance respiration, that is, when production equals respiration. The size of that energy income therefore sets the ceiling, the carrying capacity.Net production is the surplus left after respiration; it shrinks to zero as carrying capacity is reached, so it is a consequence rather than the determinant. 'Net energy' and 'gross usage' are not standard terms for this.

Q: The following are the characteristics of k-selected animals except :

The characteristic that does not fit K-selected animals is Semelparous reproduction.Semelparity, reproducing once in a lifetime and then dying (as in Pacific salmon or annual insects), suits unstable environments where adult survival is poor, and is grouped with r-selection. K-selected species, living near the carrying capacity of stable environments, are typically iteroparous: they breed repeatedly over a long life.The other features belong to K-selection: high investment per offspring, and few offspring that mature late and live long. Survivorship may look like an exception, but Pianka's classic comparison of r- and K-selection lists K-selected survivorship as 'usually type I and II', so type II survivorship is consistent with K-selection.

Q: Which of the following is considered as a natural place of an organism or community ?

The natural place of an organism or community is its habitat.A habitat is the physical place where an organism lives, defined by its environmental conditions: a pond, a forest floor, a coral reef.A niche is the organism's functional role in that place, including what it eats, when it is active and how it interacts with others; it is often described as the organism's 'profession', with the habitat as its 'address'. A habit is a growth form or behaviour pattern, and a biome is a large regional community such as the tundra or tropical rain forest.

Q: Which of the following is not likely to be dependent on adult body size ?

The trait not likely to depend on adult body size is adaptability.Many life-history traits scale predictably with body size (allometry). Larger animals need larger areas of habitat to support themselves and their reproduction, take longer to reach maturity so have longer generation times, and live longer, which affects the number of reproductive events in a lifetime.Adaptability, the capacity to cope with changing conditions, depends on genetic variation, behaviour and physiology. It is not a quantity that rises or falls with size in the way the other three do.

11.

Which of the following set of abiotic factors, the organisms need to adapt for survival in deep sea ?

A.Low temperature, high pressure, and low oxygen level.
B.Low temperature, low pressure and low oxygen level.
C.High temperature, high pressure and high oxygen level.
D.High temperature, low pressure and high oxygen level.

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,

Answer: A

Deep-sea organisms must adapt to low temperature, high pressure and low oxygen level.

Below the sunlit zone the water stays near 2 to 4 °C, pressure rises by about one atmosphere for every 10 m of depth, reaching hundreds of atmospheres on the abyssal floor, and oxygen is often low, especially in oxygen-minimum zones. There is also no light, so food comes mainly as detritus from above. Deep-sea animals have pressure-tolerant enzymes and membranes, slow metabolism and often bioluminescence.

Every other option gets at least one factor backwards: deep water is not low pressure, and apart from local hydrothermal vents it is not high temperature, and it is not rich in oxygen.

Discuss in Forum

12.

A phenomenon in which animals adapted to temperate regions have shorter and poorly developed ears, eyes, hair and other phenotypic traits follow :

A.Bergmann’s law
B.Cope’s law
C.Allen’s law
D.Dollo’s law

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2020, SET Exam - 2020,

Answer: C

The phenomenon follows Allen’s law.

Allen's rule states that warm-blooded animals of colder climates have shorter appendages (ears, tails, limbs) than related forms in warmer regions. Smaller extremities expose less surface for heat loss, so animals adapted to cooler, temperate regions have shorter ears and similar traits.

Bergmann's rule concerns overall body size, which increases in colder climates. Cope's rule says lineages tend to grow larger over evolutionary time, and Dollo's law says that evolution does not reverse to restore a lost structure exactly.

Discuss in Forum

13.

Two zoogeographical regions, separated by high mountain ranges are :

A.Palaearctic and Oriental
B.Neotropical and Ethiopian
C.Nearctic and Palaearctic
D.Oriental and Australian

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2020, SET Exam - 2020,

Answer: A

The two regions are the Palaearctic and Oriental.

The Himalayas and the mountain belt running east and west from them form the boundary between the Palaearctic region (Europe, northern Asia) and the Oriental region (India and South-East Asia).

The other pairs are separated mainly by water or by narrower barriers: the Nearctic and Palaearctic by the Bering Strait, the Oriental and Australian by deep sea channels (Wallace's line), and the Neotropical and Ethiopian by the Atlantic Ocean.

Discuss in Forum

14.

The characteristics of organisms involved in symbiotic relationships have developed :

A.by chance
B.through co-evolution
C.by character displacement
D.through resource partitioning

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2021, SET Exam - 2021,

Answer: B

They developed through co-evolution.

Co-evolution is reciprocal evolutionary change in two interacting species, each acting as a selective force on the other. Symbiotic partners show it clearly: figs and fig wasps, yucca and yucca moths, and legumes and rhizobia have matching traits that make sense only as adaptations to each other.

Chance (drift) does not produce such fine mutual fit. Character displacement is divergence between competing species where they overlap, and resource partitioning is the division of resources among competitors; both concern competition, not partnership.

Discuss in Forum

15.

The carrying capacity of a population is determined by its :

A.Gross primary production
B.Net energy
C.Net production
D.Gross usage

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2021, SET Exam - 2021,

Answer: A

The key's answer is gross primary production.

In the energy-flow treatment of carrying capacity used in ecology texts such as Odum's, a population grows while the energy captured exceeds what it costs to maintain the biomass already present. Growth stops when all of the energy captured, the gross production, is needed for maintenance respiration, that is, when production equals respiration. The size of that energy income therefore sets the ceiling, the carrying capacity.

Net production is the surplus left after respiration; it shrinks to zero as carrying capacity is reached, so it is a consequence rather than the determinant. 'Net energy' and 'gross usage' are not standard terms for this.

Discuss in Forum

16.

The following are the characteristics of k-selected animals except :

A.Energy spent per offspring is high
B.A few offsprings are produced that mature late and live longer
C.Type-II survivorship pattern is observed
D.Semelparous

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2023, SET Exam - 2023,

Answer: D

The characteristic that does not fit K-selected animals is Semelparous reproduction.

Semelparity, reproducing once in a lifetime and then dying (as in Pacific salmon or annual insects), suits unstable environments where adult survival is poor, and is grouped with r-selection. K-selected species, living near the carrying capacity of stable environments, are typically iteroparous: they breed repeatedly over a long life.

The other features belong to K-selection: high investment per offspring, and few offspring that mature late and live long. Survivorship may look like an exception, but Pianka's classic comparison of r- and K-selection lists K-selected survivorship as 'usually type I and II', so type II survivorship is consistent with K-selection.

Discuss in Forum

17.

Which of the following is considered as a natural place of an organism or community ?

A.Habit
B.Habitat
C.Niche
D.Biome

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: B

The natural place of an organism or community is its habitat.

A habitat is the physical place where an organism lives, defined by its environmental conditions: a pond, a forest floor, a coral reef.

A niche is the organism's functional role in that place, including what it eats, when it is active and how it interacts with others; it is often described as the organism's 'profession', with the habitat as its 'address'. A habit is a growth form or behaviour pattern, and a biome is a large regional community such as the tundra or tropical rain forest.

Discuss in Forum

18.

Which of the following is not likely to be dependent on adult body size ?

A.Area of habitat required to support reproductive activity
B.Generation time
C.Adaptability
D.Number of reproductive events

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: C

The trait not likely to depend on adult body size is adaptability.

Many life-history traits scale predictably with body size (allometry). Larger animals need larger areas of habitat to support themselves and their reproduction, take longer to reach maturity so have longer generation times, and live longer, which affects the number of reproductive events in a lifetime.

Adaptability, the capacity to cope with changing conditions, depends on genetic variation, behaviour and physiology. It is not a quantity that rises or falls with size in the way the other three do.

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