UGC NET Landscape Ecology & Forest Ecosystem Modelling: practice questions

1 · Landscape structure: patches, corridors, matrix · easy

Which of these is an ecotone?

1. The centre of a large uniform forest patch far from any edge
2. The transition zone between forest and grassland
3. A single tree within a dense stand
4. The total area of a watershed

2 · Landscape metrics and their interpretation · easy

A 1,200 ha landscape contains 24 km of forest edge. Its edge density is:

1. 20 m ha⁻¹
2. 50 m ha⁻¹
3. 2 m ha⁻¹
4. 0.02 m ha⁻¹

3 · Landscape metrics and their interpretation · medium

Core area of a patch is defined as:

1. The area of the largest single patch in the whole landscape
2. The area left after removing an edge zone of set depth
3. The area within a set distance of a road
4. The total patch area divided by its perimeter

4 · Landscape metrics and their interpretation · easy

A landscape is 50% forest and 50% grassland. Its Shannon diversity index is:

1. 0.69
2. 1.00
3. 0.50
4. 1.39

5 · Connectivity and corridor design · medium

Which is a recognised risk of habitat corridors?

1. They always reduce gene flow between the populations they link
2. They prevent any animal from crossing roads
3. They increase the size of every connected patch
4. They could spread fire, disease or invasive species

6 · Disturbance and succession modelling at landscape scale · medium

Severity of a forest fire refers to:

1. The energy released per metre of fire front
2. The number of fires per decade
3. Its ecological effect, such as trees killed
4. The season in which fires occur

7 · Ecosystem process models: carbon, water, nutrient fluxes · easy

A forested catchment receives 1,500 mm of precipitation and loses 900 mm by evapotranspiration, with no change in storage. Runoff is:

1. 2,400 mm
2. 600 mm
3. 900 mm
4. 1,500 mm

8 · Species distribution modelling · medium

Herbarium records of a tree cluster along roads. If uncorrected, an SDM is likely to:

1. Underestimate suitability near roads
2. Confuse sampling bias with habitat preference
3. Become immune to spatial autocorrelation
4. Produce an AUC of exactly 0.5

9 · Landscape planning and stakeholder decision support · easy

In systematic conservation planning, complementarity means that:

1. Every site holds the same species
2. Sites are chosen in order of area alone
3. Each added site contributes features not yet protected
4. Reserves are placed where land is cheapest