1. Ecology Review Chapters 6,7, 9, 10

2. Ecology Review Project
Post objective daily
Get computers for 4 weeks
Presentations the following week

3. Week 1:
Monday
-Choose a specific area in the world that you are interested in
-Obtain basic information about the area (location, country, government, latitude, longitude)
-Citation
-USE TIME WISELY
Tuesday
Ecosystem (Community) Characteristics
-Describe the area in terms of:
-Physical Appearance
- Species diversity
-Species Abundance
Ecological Niches:
-Describe in detail three native organisms and explain their niche
 Wednesday
Biological Populations and Communities:
-Describe three different populations of animals found in the region each representing one of the following dispersion patterns: Clumped, Random, Uniform
-If you cannot find examples of each, describe the three that you found and explain why your environment shows that type of patterns
Thursday:
Make –up day/ PowerPoint organization

4. Week 2:
Monday & Tuesday:
Interactions Among Species:
-Describe the following relationships and give examples from your area (if there are none in your area explain why and give an example from a similar area)
-Commensalism
-interspecific Competition
-intraspecific Competition
-Mutualism
-Parasitism
- Predation
-Saprophores
-Citation
-USE TIME WISELY
Wednesday:
Keystone species:
-Describe the function of a keystone species
-Describe a keystone species in your area
-Describe the affects of the extinction of this species
(If there is no example of a keystone species in your area, describe why, and discuss an example from another similar area)
Thursday:
Make Up Day/ PowerPoint organization

5. Week 3
Monday:
Species Diversity:
-Discuss how organisms have adapted to your area using at least 4 examples
-Explain the benefit of these adaptations
-Citation
-USE TIME WISELY
Tuesday:
Energy Flow:
-Create a food web from your area
-include tropic levels
-Create an energy pyramid
-Discuss an example of biomagnification of a toxin in your biome (if you cannot find one, explain why and give an example from a similar area)
Wednesday:
Biodiversity:
Describe the diversity of the area on three levels:
-Genetic
-Species
-Ecosystem (range of habitats, abiotic and biotic factors)
Thursday:
Make-up/ Power point organization

6. Week 4 : Monday:
Natural Selection:
-Discuss the following evolutionary patterns and give an example of a trait that has evolved in that manner in your area (if you cannot find one, explain why and discus an example from a similar biome)
- Stabilizing Selection
- Directional Selection
- Disruptive Selection
-Citation
-USE TIME WISELY
Tuesday:
Ecosystem Services:
-Describe the services that your area provides
-Predict what would happen if the area was destroyed
Wednesday:
Human impact:
-Describe how climate change is affecting your area
-Describe another human activity and its negative impact on your area
-Describe any laws in place that protect your area (if there aren’t any, suggest one)
Thursday:
Make-Up / PowerPoint organization

7. Chapter 6 Review of Terms
What is the Hierarchy of ecology?
Define Each
Individual
One of a specific species
Population
A group of individuals of a specific species in a specific area
Community
All living things in a specific area
Ecosystem
The interaction of abiotic (temp, water, weather etc) and biotic in one area
Biome
Similar ecosystems with similar characteristics
Biosphere
All the biomes on Earth

8. Chapter 6 What are the basic characteristics of Ecosystems? Structure:
Living (biotic) and Non- living (abiotic)
Process:
Cycling of material and a flow of energy
Change:
Succession
An ecosystem is the minimal entity that has the properties required to sustain life

9. Define the components in trophic structures 1st level:
Primary Producers or Autotrophs
Plants, photosynthesis, sun energy into chemical bond energy
2nd Level:
Primary Consumer:
Herbivores (zooplankton, small invertebrates, in aquatic ecosystem)
3rd Level:
Secondary Consumer
Carnivores
Others involved in food chains
Omnivores: Eat both plants and animals
Decomposers/Detritivores: recycle dead material
How much energy is transformed from one trophic level to the next? How much is wasted?
10% transferred, 90% wasted

10. How do Communities effect each other?
Directly through food chains
Indirectly through complicated interactions called
Community-level interactions
Example:
Keystone Species like the Sea Otter
A species that has a large effect on its community and ecosystem, maintains balance of community

11. Chapter 7 Biodiversity
What are the three factors in determining biodiversity?
Genetic, habitat, species diversity
What is the key to understanding diversity?
Biological Evolution
The change in inherited characteristics of a population from generation to generation
How does evolution occur?
Mutation
Natural Selection
Migration
Genetic Drift

12. Mutations Where are genes found? What are the four nitrogenous bases?
Found on chromosomes within cells
What are the four nitrogenous bases?
Adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine
How can a mutation result in a new species?
Sometimes offspring is so different from parents that they cannot reproduce with normal offspring
Mutations can be for better or for worse

13. What are the four principles of natural selection?
1) Inheritance of traits from one generation to the next and some genetic variability
2) Environmental Variability
3)Differential reproduction that varies with the environment
4) Influence of the environment on survival and reproduction

14. Migration and Drift How can migration lead to evolution?
The migration of one population of a species into a habitat previously occupied by another
Example: Seeds
How can genetic drift lead to evolution?
Changes in the frequency of a gene in a population by chance
Can be a problem for endangered species

15. Modes of Selection

16. Symbiosis Describe the types of symbiosis:
Interspecific Competition: competition for resources between two different species
Intraspecific Competition: competition for resources within the same species, Ex: mates
Predation: one eats another
Parasitism: one lives off another/ benefits and the other is harmed
Mutualism: both organisms benefit
Commensalism: one benefits the other is unaffected, rare
Other important info
What is the competitive exclusion principle?
two species that have the same niche cannot coexist in the same habitat
What is the definition of a niche?
role in the environment, like a job description

17. What factors increase diversity? What factors decrease diversity?
Diversity Increasers
Diversity Decreasers
Diverse Habitats
Environmental Stress
Disturbance
Extreme environments
Environmental conditions with low variations
Extreme limitations of fundamental resource
Trophic levels with high diversity
Extreme amounts of disturbance
Middle states of succession
Introduction of invasive species
Evolution
Geographic isolation

18. Chapter 10 Succession Describe the two types of succession?
Primary:
No life (volcanic island)
Pioneer species (lichen or algae) make it suitable for others
Until it reaches climax community
Secondary
Disruption of existing ecosystem (fire)
What are some other factors that cause changes in the environment?
Climate change, disruption, greenhouse effect, etc
Natural Changes
Ex: in studies documenting the arrival of spring and fall in the northern hemisphere are based on when buds of a particular plants open and when the leaves of particular plants change color and fall

19. Describe the following Patterns of forest succession
Dune
Dune grass grows and forms a network of underground runners
The network stabilizes the sand so that other seeds will not be blown away
Slowly larger plants can grow
Bog
Is an open body of water with an inlet (usually a stream) but no outlet
Begins with when a sedge puts out grass like runners, they form a complex matlike network
Wind blows particles onto the mat and a soil develops
Then seeds of other plants land on the mat and grow
The floating mat becomes thicker with soil and plants
The bog can also fill from the bottom due to the stream carrying sediment
Old Field
Abandoned farmland
The first plants to enter are small and adapted to the harsh and variable conditions
Once these plants become established other larger plants forming a dense forest

20. Do early succession species prepare the way for later ones?
Facilitation
Early succession species facilitate the ability of later succession species
Interference
Early succession species can, for a time, prevent the entrance of later succession species
Life History Differences
Appearance of a species is not due to other species but due to differences in transport, germination, growth, and longevity of seeds
Chronic Patchiness
Succession never occurs, the first species remains until the next disturbance
Occurs in some deserts

21. What are some services provided by nature?