Advanced Biology
Week 15
Finals Week Schedule
15.1) Mars Project Final Draft Due + Unit 3 Review
-Bring completed Mars Project
-Bring your notebook for notes
15.2) Midterm Review
-Bring your notebook for notes
15.3) Mars Colony Fishbowl
-Come prepared to answer the following questions:
What is the value in creating a Mars colony?
-Why would a Mars colony be beneficial to humans
-How do we create a livable community on Mars?
-What lessons can be learned from a model ecosystem?
-How can an ecosystem be used to test environmental interactions?
-What are the costs and benefits of a manmade ecosystem?
*You will be assessed on your ability to contribute to the discussion
15.4) scrapBIO Round 2!
-Come with 1 article + your analysis
-What is your article about?
-Why is your article important?
-What questions do you have remaining about the topic?
15.5) Unit 3 Exam + Midterm
Unit 3 Key Ideas To Study:
-Bioaccumulation
-Succession
-Food Webs
-Energy Pyramids/Energy Transfer
-Predator/Prey Interactions
-Population Growth
-Bushmeat/DNA BLAST
The midterm section of the exam will encompass everything from Units 1-3. This includes Cartoon
Guide to the Environment Chapter 1, Botkin and Keller Chapters 1, 2, 6, 5
Botkin and Keller Chapter 1
-World Population is growing exponentially
-The greatest population increase has been from 1950-present day
Carrying Capacity: The maximum number of individuals that can be supported by an ecosystem
-If a population exceeds carrying capacity: famine, war, diseases will decrease population below
the carrying capacity
-Carrying Capacity of Earth – between 2 and 40 billion people
Depends on:
-Science: How we are able to use resources
-Values: The quality of life; worse conditions=more people
Easter Island: Multiple factors led to downfall: Resource exploitation, invasive species, European
contact
Moral: Limited resources can only support finite population
Gaia Hypothesis: Over the history of life on Earth, LIFE has profoundly changed the global
environment, and these changes have tended to improve the continuation of life
Urbanization: Moving from farms to cities
-The world is becoming increasingly urbanized
-Tokyo: World’s largest city (13.35 million)
Cities are commonly located near rivers and coastlines
Destroying Wetlands: Urban sprawl often overtakes good agricultural land and coastal wetlands
(important habitats for many endangered species)
Precautionary Principle: When there is a threat of serious (or irreversible) environmental
damage, we should not wait for scientific proof before taking precautionary steps to prevent
potential harm to the environment
Utilitarian Justification: The environment directly benefits individuals (ex: lions help tourism)
Ecological Justification: The entire ecosystem must survive to protect all species within the
ecosystem, so we need to protect all ecosystems
Aesthetic Justification: We appreciate nature, so we must protect it
Moral Justification: Aspects of the environment have a right to exist, so we must help them
Cultural Justification: Different cultures will value different aspects of the environment
Botkin and Keller Chapter 2
Mono Lake: Science can tell us one thing, but our values will ultimately determine our decisions
Disposability: The essence of science. A statement can be termed “scientific” if it can be disproven
-If it cannot be disproven, it is not scientific
Observations: The basis of science. Made through the five senses (or with tools that measure
what we cannot perceive)
Inferences: Generalizations based on our observations
-To test an inference, turn it into a hypothesis
Hypothesis: A statement that can be disproved
Independent Variable (IV): What the scientist is changing (effects the DV). THERE IS ALWAYS
ONLY ONE IV
Dependent Variable: Changes depending on the IV
Standardized Variable: Everything else in your experiment that is kept the same
Control Group: An unchanged group (no IV) that you use tyo compare to your experimental
group
Scientific Theory: A grand scheme that relates and explains many observations and is supported
by a great deal of evidence
Model: A deliberately simplified construct of nature
Alternatives to Direct Experimentation
-Historical Evidence: Use of human and ecological records
-Modern Catastrophe: Provide ecological experiments
Science: The search for understanding of the natural world
-Limited by technology available
Technology: Application of scientific knowledge in an attempt to benefit people
Objectivity: Value-Free science
-As scientists, we should ALWAYS try to be objective
Pseudoscience: Not testable, based on faulty reasoning or poor methodology
Botkin and Keller Chapter 6
Biogeochemical Cycles: Chemicals cycle between atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere,
biosphere
Chemical Reactions: The process in which new chemicals are formed from elements and
compounds through chemical change
Limiting Factors: Limits the growth or development of an organism, population, or process
Macronutrients: Elements required in large amounts by all life
-Big 6: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Sulfur
Micronutrients: Elements required in small amounts by all life, or moderate amounts by some
forms of life
Geologic Cycle: The processes responsible for formation and change of Earth’s materials
-Tectonic: Earth’s outer layer
-Hydrologic: Water
-Rock: Rocks and Soils
-Biochemical: Carbon. Carbon-Silicate, Nitrogen, Phosphorus
Carbon Cycle: Carbon is the element that anchor all organic substances
-Chemically and biologically linked with the cycles of oxygen and hydrogen that form life
Missing Carbon Sink: Substantial amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere but
apparently not reabsorbed and thus remain unaccounted for
Mouse in the Jar: Joseph Priestly 1771 said left alone in a sealed jar, a mouse will die…
-Unless you add a plant
Photosynthesis: Process by which plants and other organisms convert energy, normally from the
sun, into chemical energy that can later be released to fuel the organisms’ activities
CO2 + H2O -> C6H12O6 + O2
Cellular Respiration: Set of metabolic reactions and processes that take place in the cells of
organisms to convert biochemical energy from nutrients into ATP (energy for the cell)
C6H12O6 + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + ATP
Nitrogen Cycle: Extremely important, nitrogen is required by all living things
Nitrogen Fixation: Converting atmospheric nitrogen in the atmosphere to ammonia or nitrate
Denitrification: The process of releasing fixed nitrogen to molecular nitrogen
Nitrogen in farming:
Traditionally, farmers overused the nitrogen in the soil and had to leave fields “fallow” for
one season in order to allow the nitrogen to return to the soil
Turnip Townshend: If you cycle nitrogen consuming plants with nitrogen-fixing plants, you will
not need to leave the fields fallow – nitrogen will be returned to the soil through the plants
Nitrogen-fixing plants have special bacteria in their roots that can take nitrogen out of the
atmosphere and put it in the soil
Phosphorus Cycle: Important because phosphorus is an essential element for life and often is a
limiting nutrient for plant growth