AP Biology Pre-Discussion Questions: Ecology 3- Community Interactions
Adapted from David Knuffke
Topic Presentation:
click here
Textbook Reading:
Supplementary Resources:
Crashcourse Biology Videos::
Community Ecology: Feel the Love - Crash Course Ecology #4
Community Ecology II: Predators - Crash Course Ecology #5
Ecological Succession: Change is Good - Crash Course Ecology #6
Videos by Paul Anderson:
“Niche”
“Communities”
“Coevolution”
“Ecological Succession”
“Biodiversity”
Questions to answer:
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Explain how competition contributes to competitive exclusion, resource
partitioning, and character displacement.
Explain how predation contributes to changes in coloration (aposematic and
cryptic) and the evolution of mimicry (batesian and mullerian).
Provide examples of mutualism and parasitism, and explain how your examples
fit those definitions.
Why are ecologists unsettled on whether or not there are any truly commensal
interactions among organisms?
Explain the concept of facilitation. Provide an example facilitator species and
why it fits that definition.
What is biodiversity? How is it measured?
Explain how tropic structure can be understood in terms of food chains and
food webs.
How do keystone species and energetic considerations contribute to the tropic
structure of an ecosystem? Provide examples of the effects of each.
Describe the phenomena of disturbance and succession.
How do climate, area, and the island-like nature of an environment contribute to
the structure of the community?