APES – Ch. 4-6 Study Guide
1. Briefly describe the evolution of life from chemical evolution to the development of eukaryotic cells.
2. Describe the tools available to researchers for learning the evolutionary history of life.
3. Briefly describe the theory of evolution, being sure to include the roles played by variation within the
gene pool and natural selection, extinction, speciation, and adaptive radiation.
4. Define natural selection and the three conditions that are necessary for evolution of a population by
natural selection. Summarize and address two common misconceptions about evolution.
5. How did humans become such a powerful species so quickly?
6. Define speciation and describe the roles of geographic and reproductive isolation in speciation events.
7. Define extinction and distinguish between background extinction and mass extinction. Discuss the role
of humans on the rate of extinction at present.
8. Define ecological niche. Distinguish between condition and resource, and between fundamental niche
and realized niche. List the factors that determine the realized niche.
9. Distinguish between a specialist and a generalist. Evaluate the conditions that favor these two
approaches.
10. Distinguish among the following roles played by species and give one example of each: native species,
nonnative species, indicator species, keystone species. Explain why these labels are important.
11. Distinguish among the following species interactions and give one example of each: interspecific
competition, predation, parasitism, mutalism, and commensalism. List two strategies species use to
reduce competition.
12. List two strategies that predators use to capture their prey. List at least five strategies that prey use to
defend themselves against predators.
13. Define coevolution.
14. Define limiting factor. Give an example of a resource that would be limiting in an ecosystem.
15. Define exponential growth.
16. Compare a J-shaped growth curve with a S-shaped growth curve and comment on the factors that
produce the sigmoid (S-shaped) curve.
17. Define carrying capacity and explain what determines the carrying capacity of an ecosystem.
18. Define r-selected species and K-selected species and compare the two. Give an example for each type
of species reproductive pattern.
19. Define succession. Distinguish between primary and secondary succession. Describe how humans affect
communities.
20. Define birth rate, death rate, immigration, and emigration. Write an equation to mathematically
describe the relationship between these rates and the rate of population change.
21. List eight major ways that humans have altered natural ecosystems and comment on the effects of these
alterations for the future of the planet.
22. Define birth rate, death rate, emigration rate, and immigration rate. Write an equation to
mathematically describe the relationship between these rates and the rate of population change.
23. Define fertility rate. Describe how fertility rate affects population growth. List at least five factors that
affect birth rate and five factors that affect death rate.
24. Compare rates of population growth in developed and developing countries. Explain the differences you
find.
25. Using population age structure diagrams, explain how the age structure of a country creates population
growth momentum. Summarize social impacts resulting from declining populations.
26. List three approaches to slowing human population growth. List the four stages of the demographic
transition. Briefly describe the controversies that surround controlling population size through
controlling migration and family planning.
27. Summarize India and China's experiences. Describe the three major shifts in population distribution in
U.S. history.
28. List resource and environmental problems faced by urban areas. Briefly describe the process of “smart
growth” land-use planning.
29. Evaluate the costs and benefits of the automobile on U.S. society. List three alternative forms of
transportation to the car, and evaluate the costs and benefits of each.
30. Describe your conception of a sustainable urban environment.