Question 1: Explain why it is practical for ecologists to understand dispersion patterns before attempting to calculate the density of an organism in its environment.
Question 2: Assuming other variables (resource availability. predation risk. etc.) are equal. explain how the reproductive behavior of similar animal species might differ in a way that gives them different dispersion patterns.
Question 3: If two animal species differ dramatically in their habitat tolerance (one requires a very speci?c habitat and one has broad requirements), how would you expect their dispersion patterns to differ? Explain.
Question 4: In a previous lecture. You learned that white-nose fungus is spreading across America. Within populations where it occurs (i.e. in Cuyahoga County), what type of dispersion pattern would you expect the fungus to exhibit? Explain.
Question 5: If a plant ?xes a certain amount of carbon dioxide in a year. roughly half will be stored as biomass in its tissues. What would become of the other half?
Question 6: During the early stages of cyanobacteria evolution, the Net Ecosystem Production (NEP) levels in their ecosystems would have differed greatly from modern ecosystems rich in cyanobacteria. Explain why this would be the case. Including how this would have affected the climate during this period.
Question 7: If peat forests are replaced with palm plantations. an argument could be made that switching one plant type for another would not impact the ecosystem's Net Ecosystem Production. Explain why. In this case. This argument would not be valid.