Biology 102 Learning Goals
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
Ecosystems
a. Understand the concepts of communities and ecosystems
b. Understand the concept of an ecological niche
c. Understand a few other important ecological principles including keystone
species and the intermediate disturbance principle.
Succession
a. Understand the process of change in a community known as succession
b. Know the differences between primary and secondary succession
c. Know typical seres for temperate deciduous forests
d. Know the differences between pioneer and climax communities.
e. Understand the link between succession and biomes
Biomes
a. Know the major biomes on the Earth
b. Understand biomes as the interaction of plant communities with climate
(temperature and precipitation)
c. Know where they are found
d. Know why they have developed there
e. Know characteristic plant and animal species of each
Deforestation and Desertification
a. Understand the driving forces behind deforestation and desertification
Nutrients, Nutrient Cycling and Energy Flow
a. Understand the principle of biogeochemical cycles
b. Know 4 biogeochemical cycles in detail (water, carbon, nitrogen,
phosphorous)
c. Understand the flow of energy through ecosystems
d. Understand trophic levels in terms of energy flow
e. Understand how energy loss between trophic levels leads to a pyramid of
energy – and the implications of this.
Agriculture
a. Understand the basic requirements of plants
b. Understand how plants get nutrients from the ground
c. Understand the relationship of agriculture to early successional stages
(and the implications thereof)
d. Understand basic principles for sustainable agriculture, and be familiar
with modern examples.
Biomagnification
a. Know the difference between bioaccumulation and biomagnification
b. Know the 4 requirements for a substance to biomagnify
c. Know the implications of biomagnification
d. Know the principles of bioremediation
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
Wetlands Lakes and Streams
a. Know the definition of a wetland
b. Know the uses of wetlands
c. Know the threats to wetlands
d. Know the basic habitats of a stream
e. Know the different types of lakes
f. Understand stratification in lakes and the implications for algal blooms and
oxygen levels
Predation and Competition
a. Understand the concept of competitive exclusion in the context of the
niche
b. Understand how organisms avoid competitive exclusion by means such as
resource partitioning and character displacement
c. Understand how and why predator and prey populations affect each other
and cycle as a result
d. Understand the concept of coevolution as it applies to predators and prey
e. Understand the methods by which prey avoid predation
f. Know all the species interactions (predation, competition, symbioses, etc.)
Oceans
a. Understand the major ocean habitats as analogues to terrestrial biomes
b. Understand productivity differences between terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems
c. Understand major threats to ocean ecosystems (acidification)
Symbiosis
a. Understand other interactions between species (symbiosis [parasitism,
commensalism, mutualism], herbivory, detritivory)
Acid Rain, Air Pollution, Global Climate Change
a. Understand the major types and causes of air pollution
b. Understand the basic means of reducing air pollution
c. Understand global climate change based on understanding of the carbon
cycle
d. Understand the causes of ozone depletion and how the problem has been
effectively solved?
Population Growth and Development
a. Understand what biodiversity is; how it arises, and what threatens it.
b. Understand how human populations grow
c. Understand how the degree of development of a civilization affects its
environmental impact.
d. Understand possible means of containing human population growth