Final exam - Ch 58 Community Ecology, 59 Ecosystem
ecology, 60 biodiversity and conservation ecology
Supplemental Instruction
Iowa State University
Leader:
Stephanie
Course:
Biology 211
Instructor:
Roe/Biederman
Date:
May 6 & 8 2013
Chapter 58- Community Ecology
Define:
community ecology
Organismic model
Individualistic model
Principle of species individuality
Draw the four hypothesis (pop size vs environmental gradient). Describe what is happening in each
How did Whittaker test these hypotheses? What did he conclude?
What is species richness? What 2 things is it influenced by?
Compare the species richness between mountain vs peninsula. Why is this?
Give examples of an r species and a K species. Whats the difference?
What is succession?
Give the four stages of primary succession
Can secondary succession happen here? A) old farmland B) site of volcano eruption C)site of retreated glacier D) Site
where tsunami occurred
There are four hypothesis that explain the latitudinal gradient of species richness.
Hypothesis
Support
Drawback
What is a climax community and who came up with this term?
What are the three mechanisms of succession? Give an example of each
What is island biogeography? Who developed it?
What symbol is used to show the equilibrium number? Where is it found on a rate vs species number graph?
Why are the rates curved?
What were the three falsifiable predictions and how do they affect the number of species? Which one has little support
and why?
1.
2.
3.
Chapter 59- Ecosystem Ecology
What do ecosystems do (2 things)?
1.
2.
Design a 4 level food chain- label the autotrophs and heterotrophs.
What are detritivores? How do they support a community of predators?
How can we measure the efficiency of consumers as energy transformers (2 ways)?
1.
2.
Biomass production in ecosystems: What is for net primary productivity?
How can we calculate net primary productivity?
What is secondary production?
Primary producers make up ___________% of the biosphere
Eltonian pyramids describe the distribution of numbers, biomass, or energy between trophic levels. Label each figure:
Inverted pyramid of biomass, pyramid of numbers, pyramid of energy, inverted pyramid of numbers, pyramid of
biomass (look at page 1248 for clarification).
Which graph has a) energy production decreases with increasing trophic level. b)biomass increases with increasing
trophic level. c)the amount of biological material decreases with increasing trophic level. d)the abundance of species
increases with increasing trophic level e)the abundance of species decreases with increasing trophic level
What is biomagnification? Why is it important? (What did we talk about in class?)
Primary production increases with ________________________________. It is the highest in ______________________
environments.
What is Liebig’s Law of the minimum? Which is the limiting nutrient?
What occur in low concentrations in water? What happens if the concentrations increase?
Define biogeochemical cycles. What does it involve?
How do we know if an element will be in a global or local cycle? Predict whether has a global or local cycle: potassium,
oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, water, carbon, nitrogen, calcium
All living things require____________________, which is a key component to DNA and RNA
Draw a graph representing the relationship between the primary production and total phosphorus concentration
What are fossil fuels? How do they affect the temperature variation? Draw a graph representing temperature variation
and CO2 concentration over the years. Why is the CO2 line a zig zag?
In a world of elevated CO2, plant growth may __________________ and herbivory could _______________. (page
1255 Stiling and Drake’s experiment)
_____________ is an essential component of proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.
How have humans _______________ the rate of nitrogen input to the environment and what are the consequences?
Discuss: What do corn and soybeans have to do with dead fish in the gulf of mexico in the dead zone?
5 steps N fixation
Rxn
What fixes?
Chapter 60- Conservation & Restoration Ecology
Define:
Conservation biology
Restoration biology
What are 2 levels of biological diversity and give an example of each
Which group of species has the highest threat of extinction? Why do you think this is?
What are three reasons why we should conserve biodiversity?
Additional info
There are four models that describe the relationship between ecosystem function and biodiversity. In which is the
relationship the strongest/the weakest?
Who performed experiments to test these three models? What did he do? What is the effect of higher number of
species on an ecosystem?
Name four threats to biodiversity. What causes them? Give examples of each
Threat
Cause
Why are smaller populations at risk? Give an example using the prairie chicken.
What is the SLOSS debate?
What is the difference between and landscape and restoration ecologist?
Example
Give a definition and example of each:
-Indicator
-Umbrella
-Flagship
-Keystone
-Dominant
What is bioremediation? Can you think of an example?
Conceptual questions:
1. Define community and community ecology
2. List some possible ecological disturbances, their likely frequency in natural communities, and the severity of
their effects.
3. When is a community in equilibrium?
4. Define autotroph and heterotroph
5. Why are chain lengths short in food webs?
6. What is the major difference among phosphorus, carbon, and nitrogen cycles?
7. What are the three levels at which biodiversity can be examined?
8. Which types of species are most vulnerable to extinction?
9. Distinguish between an umbrella species, flagship, and keystone species.