A student reads the following questions and answers online: Q: How do plants get energy? A: Plants use carbon dioxide and water as their primary sources of energy. Q: Where does a plant’s biomass come from? A: Plants get most of the materials that make up their biomass (like cellulose, starch, etc.) from mycorrhizal fungi in the soil, so most of a plant’s biomass comes from the soil. Q: How to plants get nitrogen? A: Plants get the nitrogen they need by taking in N2 from the air and incorporating it into biological molecules. Correct each of these answers to accurately state how plants obtain energy, the material for their biomass, and nitrogen. Your answers do not need to be long, but should be clear and specific.

A group of students carrying out a capstone project decide to test optimal foraging theory using a seed-eating rodent. They observe that there are differences in how easy the seeds are to open – some seeds are “tough” and require a lot of effort to crack and eat, but others are “soft” and are easy to crack and eat. The tough and soft seeds contain the same nutrients and calories per seed. High seed density is 100 seeds per square meter; low seed density is 10 seeds per square meter. The students decide to set up plots that differ in seed type, seed density, and the presence or absence of predators.  treatment seed type seed density predators A tough low absent B tough low present C tough high absent D tough high present E soft low absent F soft low present G soft high absent H soft high present Note: No rodents are actually harmed in the above experiment: the predators can’t actually get to them to kill them, but the rodents can tell that predators are present. The students had their procedures approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Under optimal foraging theory, individuals would be expected to spend the most time foraging in treatment and the least time foraging in treatment .

When a species of fungus reproduces, individuals produce thousands of potential offspring and invest very little in each offspring. We would expect this fungus to have a survivorship curve. What is the typical stage of the fungal life cycle that can disperse to a new location and found a new population?

For each of the images listed below, identify which plant structure is shown.

Hamilton’s rule (Br > C) helps explain why individuals behave altruistically (help others at risk to themselves) under some conditions, but not others. Which of the following predictions follows from Hamilton’s rule?

Choose the best answer for each of the following. One group of plants we studied has pollen, seeds, flowers, and fruits.  This group is the . consist of an embryonic plant, its nutrient supply, and a protective coating, and can be dispersed to found new populations facilitate dispersal of embryonic sporophytes, may have features that attract animals or aid in wind dispersal produce and facilitate dispersal of the male gametophyte to reach the female, often by wind or animals

You are given an organism that is a chemolithoheterotroph. It would require as an energy source and as a carbon source. Of the groups we studied, this organism is most likely to be a(n) .

Name two healthy guidelines for weight gain: 

Provide an example of a positive impact of natural environments on exercise:

What was your favorite lecture topic we covered this semester