Subject: Principal of Ecology
Please explain in a Paragraph each question.
2. If you get a bit lucky while swimming on a coral reef, you may see a moray eel darting in and out of the nooks and crannies of the reef as it hunts. And, if you are really lucky, you may see a grouper swimming with the eel. Grouper are large, predatory fish, which, unlike the eel, cannot feed within the coral but instead must feed on fish above and next to it. Sometimes, the two species work as a team. Fish that are scared out of the coral by the eel become prey for the grouper while fish that flee the grouper for the safety of the coral are eaten by the eel.
This is an example of:
(A) mutually beneficial behavior
(B) selfish behavior
(C) altruistic behavior
(D) spiteful behavior
Explain your answer.
3. The marginal value theorem can be used to make a number of predictions about how a central-place forager should behave. For example, it could be used to predict how large a load of seeds a pack rat should collect from patches that differ in their quality and in their distance from the ratâs burrow. Assume the pack rat is an optimal forager and use what you know about optimal foraging to answer the following questions:
Imagine that the pack rat could forage in either of two patches that differed only in their distance from its burrow. How should the time spent foraging and the load collected from the near and far patches compare?
Imagine that the there are two patches: open and bush. Food quality and density are identical and both patches are equal distances from the ratâs den. However, because the bush patch is more sheltered the rat can forage there in relative safety. How would you expect the difference in predation risk to affect models of the marginal value theorem?
Subject: Principal of Ecology
Please explain in a Paragraph each question.
2. If you get a bit lucky while swimming on a coral reef, you may see a moray eel darting in and out of the nooks and crannies of the reef as it hunts. And, if you are really lucky, you may see a grouper swimming with the eel. Grouper are large, predatory fish, which, unlike the eel, cannot feed within the coral but instead must feed on fish above and next to it. Sometimes, the two species work as a team. Fish that are scared out of the coral by the eel become prey for the grouper while fish that flee the grouper for the safety of the coral are eaten by the eel.
This is an example of:
(A) mutually beneficial behavior
(B) selfish behavior
(C) altruistic behavior
(D) spiteful behavior
Explain your answer.
3. The marginal value theorem can be used to make a number of predictions about how a central-place forager should behave. For example, it could be used to predict how large a load of seeds a pack rat should collect from patches that differ in their quality and in their distance from the ratâs burrow. Assume the pack rat is an optimal forager and use what you know about optimal foraging to answer the following questions:
Imagine that the pack rat could forage in either of two patches that differed only in their distance from its burrow. How should the time spent foraging and the load collected from the near and far patches compare?
Imagine that the there are two patches: open and bush. Food quality and density are identical and both patches are equal distances from the ratâs den. However, because the bush patch is more sheltered the rat can forage there in relative safety. How would you expect the difference in predation risk to affect models of the marginal value theorem?
