NPTEL Wild Life Ecology Week 1 And 2 Assignment Answers 2024
1. “Enquiry into plants” is a book written by
A) Theophrastus
B) Linnaeus
C) Malthus
D) Humboldt
✅ Answer: A – Theophrastus
Explanation:
Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher, is known as the father of botany and authored “Enquiry into Plants”, one of the earliest botanical works.
2. In the Greek word root of Ecology, Oikos refers to
A) Household
B) Preservation
C) Environment
D) Study
✅ Answer: A – Household
Explanation:
Oikos means “house” or “household” in Greek, referring to the place organisms live, forming the root of “Ecology”.
3. In the Greek word root of Ecology, Logos refers to
A) Household
B) Preservation
C) Environment
D) Study
✅ Answer: D – Study
Explanation:
Logos means “study” or “discourse”. Ecology = Oikos (household) + Logos (study) = “study of the household/environment”.
4. Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and their _____.
A) Habitat
B) Niche
C) Environment
D) Population
✅ Answer: C – Environment
Explanation:
Ecology examines how organisms interact with each other and their physical and biological environment.
5. Who amongst these is considered the father of Biogeography?
A) Theophrastus
B) Linnaeus
C) Malthus
D) Humboldt
✅ Answer: D – Humboldt
Explanation:
Alexander von Humboldt is called the father of biogeography for his pioneering work on species distribution across geographical areas.
6. Which of these is not a characteristic of fitness?
A) Fitness is environment-specific
B) Fitness is species-specific
C) Higher reproductive rate means higher fitness
D) Fitness should be measured across several generations
✅ Answer: C – Higher reproductive rate means higher fitness
Explanation:
Fitness is not just about the number of offspring but how well traits adapt to the specific environment. So, C is incorrect as a high rate alone doesn’t define fitness.
7. Which of these is not a kind of selection
A) Directional
B) Stochastic
C) Disruptive
D) Stabilising
✅ Answer: B – Stochastic
Explanation:
Stochastic means random. It’s not a type of natural selection. The main types are directional, disruptive, and stabilising.
8. Ecology is the scientific study of _______ that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms.
A) Statics
B) Interactions
C) Dynamics
D) Habitat
✅ Answer: B – Interactions
Explanation:
Ecology involves the study of interactions—between organisms and between organisms and their environment—that shape their distribution and abundance.
9. Which of these is not a characteristic of fitness?
A) Fitness is environment-specific
B) Fitness is species-specific
C) Fitness works on traits such as size and speed
D) Fitness should be measured across several generations
✅ Answer: C – Fitness works on traits such as size and speed
Explanation:
While traits influence fitness, fitness itself is not a trait—it’s a measure of reproductive success in a given environment. So, C is not a defining characteristic.
10. Which of these is not a step in natural selection?
A) Variation
B) Underpopulation
C) Struggle for existence
D) Survival of the fittest
✅ Answer: B – Underpopulation
Explanation:
Overpopulation, not underpopulation, leads to struggle for existence. Underpopulation does not drive natural selection.
NPTEL Wild Life Ecology Week 2 Assignment Answers
1. Hierarchy emerges almost inevitably through a wide variety of evolutionary processes, for the simple reason that hierarchical structures are _
A) Perfect
B) Imperfect
C) Stable
D) Unstable
✅ Answer: C – Stable
Explanation:
Hierarchical systems are evolutionarily favored because they offer stability and control, allowing for better organization in both biological and ecological systems.
2. The mitochondrion is a/an
A) Sub-cellular organelle
B) Cell
C) Tissue
D) Organ
✅ Answer: A – Sub-cellular organelle
Explanation:
The mitochondrion is a membrane-bound organelle inside eukaryotic cells, known as the “powerhouse” of the cell due to its role in ATP production.
3. The laboratory approach to ecology uses
A) Equations
B) Models
C) Observations
D) Experiments
✅ Answer: D – Experiments
Explanation:
In a laboratory setting, controlled experiments are conducted to simulate ecological processes and test hypotheses under defined conditions.
4. “The diversity that exists among different geographies” is
A) Alpha biodiversity
B) Beta biodiversity
C) Gamma biodiversity
D) Delta biodiversity
✅ Answer: C – Gamma biodiversity
Explanation:
Gamma biodiversity refers to the total species diversity in a landscape or geographical region, encompassing multiple ecosystems.
5. The hierarchical system was given by
A) Simon
B) Watson
C) Hutchinson
D) Humboldt
✅ Answer: A – Simon
Explanation:
Herbert A. Simon contributed significantly to the concept of hierarchical systems in both biology and systems theory, emphasizing their stability and efficiency.
6. “Groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such species” is a definition of
A) Cells
B) Species
C) Ecosystems
D) Biomes
✅ Answer: B – Species
Explanation:
This is the classic Biological Species Concept, which defines a species based on the ability to interbreed and maintain reproductive isolation from others.
7. “The diversity that exists within an ecosystem” is
A) Alpha biodiversity
B) Beta biodiversity
C) Gamma biodiversity
D) Delta biodiversity
✅ Answer: A – Alpha biodiversity
Explanation:
Alpha biodiversity represents species richness within a specific area or ecosystem, i.e., local diversity.
8. The emergent principle can be stated as
A) Whole = sum of parts
B) Whole < sum of parts
C) Whole > sum of parts
D) None of these
✅ Answer: C – Whole > sum of parts
Explanation:
The emergent property principle in ecology suggests that a system exhibits characteristics greater than the sum of its individual components.
9. There is more biodiversity in areas with
A) Less competition, less predation
B) Less competition, more predation
C) More competition, more predation
D) More competition, less predation
✅ Answer: C – More competition, more predation
Explanation:
High biodiversity is often associated with complex interactions like intense competition and predation, which drive specialization and diversity.
10. For more biodiversity, the level of disturbance should be
A) Less
B) Intermediate
C) More
D) None of these
✅ Answer: B – Intermediate
Explanation:
According to the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis, biodiversity is maximized when disturbances are neither too rare nor too frequent.