Environmental Studies 100
Study Guide for Final Exam (Thursday, December 9th, 2004)
Review the following topics for the exam:
 Week 1: Introduction to the Science of Ecology
 What is ecology?
 How does it differ from environmentalism?
 Observation and experimentation
 The Scientific Method
 The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
 the definition of “evolution”
 Week 2: Overview of Ecology; Perspectives on Scale in Ecology
 Ecology subfields
 Physiological Ecology
 Behavioral Ecology
 plant behavior vs. animal behavior
 Population Ecology
 Community Ecology
 Ecosystem Ecology
 Temporal vs. Spatial Scale
 Week 3: Ecosystem Concepts, Energy flow, and Structure of Terrestrial Ecosystems
 What is an ecosystem?
 What is an ecosystem process?
 Feedback mechanisms
 positive vs. negative feedbacks
 Energy flow through ecosystems
 Climate
 partitioning of energy from the sun
 albedo
 weather vs. climate
 chaos vs. randomness
 M.O.L.E.
 uneven heating of the earth
 heat moves air
 vegetation effects climate
 Biology
 plant allocation vs. animal allocation
 endotherm vs. ectotherm food chains
 Primary Productivity
 controls
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light
temperature
nutrient availability
 nitrogen cycling
 phosphorus cycling
 plant-microbe mutualisms
 nitrogen fixers
 mycorrhizal fungi
Decomposition
 what it is
 why it is important
 main players
 macrofauna
 mesofauna
 microfauna
 fungi vs. bacteria
 how decomposition occurs
 exoenzymes
 why decomposition occurs
 controls
 climate
 quantity of substrate
 quality of substrate
 size
 bond strength
 regularity
 toxicity
 nutrient content
Soils
 definition of soil
 additions, translocations, transformations, and losses
 horizons
 C.L.O.R.P.T.H.
 Week 4: Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems
 Terrestrial Biomes
 Hadley cells
 global distributions and main features of:
 Arctic tundra
 Boreal forest
 adaptations of trees to northern latitude
 Temperate forest
 Grassland
 Deserts
 adaptations of plants to stressful environments
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 C4 and CAM photosynthesis
 Tropical Rainforest
 Chaparral/Mediterranean Environment
Aquatic Biomes
 primary productivity: microphytes and macrophytes
 production vs. biomass pyramids
 main features of:
 streams and rivers
 low vs. high stream order
 lakes
 seasonality of:
o light penetration
 euphotic vs. aphotic zone
o temperature profiles
 epilimnion vs. hypolimnion
o oxygen concentrations
 aerobic vs. anaerobic/anoxic
o nutrient content
 oligotrophic vs. eutrophic
 wetlands
 ecotones
 what threatens wetlands
 freshwater wetlands: fens, bogs, and swamps
 saltwater wetlands: salt marshes and estuaries
 biogeochemistry in anoxic environments
o oxidation and reduction
o SO42- vs. CH4 production
 oceans
 open ocean vs. coast
o upwelling and coastal inputs
o coral reefs and productivity
 Week 5: Population Ecology; Niches and Strategies
 Population density
 Population demography
 Modeling
 why it is powerful
 modeling population growth
 exponential growth
 logistic growth
 density-dependent vs. density-independent effects of population
growth
 species interactions
 predator-prey
 competition
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 mutually-beneficial relationship
problems with simple logistic growth
 births and deaths
 age structure and reproduction
Life Tables
 information conveyed in a life table
 static vs. cohort-based
Life Strategies
 opportunists vs. competitors
 survivorship curves
 seasonal variation in life strategies
 niches
 Week 6: Population Dynamics, Biogeography, and Population Interactions
 Niches
 n-dimensional hyperspace
 fundamental vs. realized
 niche partitioning in animals and plants
 Convergent Evolution
 Species Interactions
 competition
 mutualism
 commensalism
 parasitism
 predator-prey
 prey defenses
o coevolution
o warning coloration and mimicry
o camouflage
o moment-of-truth defenses
 optimal foraging theory
o prey selection
o plant selection by herbivores
 trophic cascades
 food-web complexity
 Community Ecology
 change in communities over time
 sediment cores
o isotopes of oxygen
 ice cores
 pollen records
 fossil records
 packrat middens
 tree rings
 soil development
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short-term vs. long-term change
 succession
o primary vs. secondary
o early vs. late (who wins at the beginning and end?)
o classic succession
o facilitation vs. acceleration
o diversity
o intermediate disturbance hypothesis
metapopulation theory
metapopulations over time
population maintenance
controls on immigration
 Week 7: Population Change and Global Change
 Invasive Species
 accidental vs. deliberate movement of species
 why invasive species are important
 10-10-10 rule
 what makes a successful invader?
 what makes a community susceptible to invasion?
 ecological and economic effects of invasive plants and animals
 invasive species management and erradication
 Global Change
 human population growth
 land use and land cover change
 climate change
 carbon cycle
 CO2 and temperature
 secondary effects of warming
 community change
 Week 8: Biodiversity
 What is Biodiversity?
 Measuring Biodiversity
 richness vs. evenness
 Biodiversity Hotspots
 Distribution of Biodiversity
 biodiversity in the tropics
 history
 productivity
 habitat structure
 specialization
 survival of specialists
 Importance of Biodiversity
 redundancy
 ecosystem services
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 keystone species
Island Biogeography
 patterns of biodiversity on islands
 Week 9: Fisheries
 What is a fishery?
 Why is fisheries science important?
 Where does fishing occur?
 How do people fish?
 small-scale vs. large-scale operations
 What do people fish?
 decrease in catch size over time
 overfishing
 Fishing efficiency
 ecological efficiency
 drift nets
 bycatch
o reducing bycatch of turtles and dolphins
 agricultural efficiency
 economic efficiency
 Tragedy of the Commons
 policing the sea
 subsidies
 Fisheries Models
 maximum sustainable yield
 harvest or benefit
 effort
 logistic growth
 expensive vs. cheap fisheries
 common vs. rare populations
 subsidized vs. unsubsidized fisheries
 Overfishing
 causes
 chances of recovery
 solutions
 aquaculture
o benefits and problems
o biological magnification
 Week 10: Agriculture and Conservation
 Agriculture
 costs and benefits
 ecosystem dynamics vs. food production
 natural processes
o competition
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o herbivory
o disease
 monocultures
farming techniques that boost yields:
 tillage
o benefits
o problems
o erosion and loss of topsoil
o sedimentation
o solutions
o contour plowing
o cover cropping
o no-till agriculture
o
 pesticide/herbicide use
 irrigation
o salinization
Conservation
 resource management
 3 classes of resources
o renewable
o semi-renewable
o non-renewable
 keystone vs. flagship species
 creating a reserve
o shape and size
o determining minimum viable area
o edge effect
o one large or several small
o different levels of protection