APES Study Guide 3
Life on Earth: Organization and Evolution
This is the first of four units in APES which will introduce and/or reacquaint you with some of the concepts fundamental to
understanding the ecology of the Earth.
Textbook Reference
Miller, Living In The Environment, 15th edition: Chapters 3-4
Outside Reading
Gonick, and Outwater, The Cartoon Guide to the Environment Chapter 2
Vocabulary
species
ecosystem
biotic
abiotic
habitat
biome
photosynthesis
respiration
aerobic
anaerobic
producer
primary consumer
secondary consumer
tertiary consumer
detritus
decomposer
phytoplankton
zooplankton
autotroph
heterotroph
biodiversity
biomass
net production
gross production
primary production
secondary production
energy efficiency
ecological (trophic-level) efficiency
entropy
energy pyramid
trophic level
residence time
limiting factor
nutrients
hydrologic cycle
carbon cycle
nitrogen cycle
nitrification
nitrogen fixation
denitrification
oxygen cycle
phosphorus cycle
food chain
food web soil profile
soil texture
soil horizons (O, A, B, C)
humus
Infiltration
leaching
biological evolution
coevolution
speciation
extinction
geographic isolation
genetic drift
competitive exclusion
mutation
natural selection
ecological niche
fundamental niche
realized niche
generalist species
specialist species
Study Guide Questions (SGQs)
1. Describe a food chain with two levels of consumers.
Explain how energy flows into the food web, and how
it flows out. Describe the changes the energy
undergoes between the time it enters and the time it
leaves your food chain.
2. Explain what the measurement of net primary
productivity represents in an ecosystem. Explain why
the NPP of swamps, marshes, and estuaries differ
dramatically from the NPP of open ocean, tundra and
deserts.
3. Describe the events that lead to the formation of soil.
Identify the different materials that are present in soils
that change the texture, color, pH, and fertility of the
soil.
4. Identify and discuss the consequences of three human
activities that have resulted in major changes to the
nitrogen cycle. For each activity identified and
discussed, suggest one strategy for lessening the
impact of the human activity.
5. Identify and discuss the consequences of three human
activities that have resulted in major changes to the
phosphorus cycle. For each activity identified and
discussed, suggest one strategy for lessening the
impact of the human activity.
6. Describe the role of decomposers in the cycling of
nutrients through the ecosystem. Speculate on the
consequences, to life, of the extinction of every
species of decomposer on Earth.
7. Write an argument (a series of statements in support
of a central premise) based on sound environmental
science, to support humans eating an entirely
vegetarian diet.
8. Describe the conditions that lead to the color change
of peppered moths in England during the industrial
revolution.
9. Explain how each of the following contributes to
biological evolution:
a) mutations
b) natural selection
c) geographic isolation
d) genetic drift
e) migration
10. Describe the role that extinction has played in
biological evolution. Discuss how the current mass
extinction of species differs from past mass extinction
events, and the consequences of this current mass
extinction.
APES Calendar
Monday
September 19
In-Class Essay
In Class:
 Discuss: Ozone
Depletion
HW:
 Prepare for test
Tuesday
September 20
In Class:
 Unit 2 Review
HW:
 Prepare for test
 SGQs 6-10
Wednesday
September 21
Thursday
September 22
Friday
September 23
Unit 2 Test
In Class:
 Return &
Review Unit 2
Test
 Ecocolumn Lab
ScrAPESbook Due
Unit 2 Vocabulary
Due
SGQs 6-10 Due
Handout:
 Wanted Poster
HW:
 read 5 pages
 10 vocabulary
Quiz
In Class:
 Select invasive
species for
Wanted Poster
 Ecocolumn Lab
HW:
 read 10 pages
 10 vocabulary
Monday
September 26
Tuesday
September 27
Wednesday
September 28
Thursday
September 29
Friday
September 30
Quiz
Quiz
In-Class Essay
Quiz
Wanted Poster Due
In Class:
 Discuss: Energy
flow and nutrient
cycling
In Class:
 Discuss: Energy
flow and nutrient
cycling
 Ecocolumn Lab
SGQs 1-5 Due
In Class:
 Ecocolumn Lab
In Class:
 Grade In-Class
Essay
 Plate Tectonics
HW:
 read 5 pages
 10 vocabulary
HW:
 read 5 pages
 10 vocabulary
HW:
 read 5 pages
 10 vocabulary
Monday
October 3
Food Webbing Due
In Class:
 Evolution
Handout:
 Cartoon Guide
HW:
 Read Cartoon
Guide
 Prepare for test
HW:
 SGQs 1-5
 read 5 pages
 10 vocabulary
Tuesday
October 4
In Class:
 Unit Review
HW:
 Prepare for test
 SGQs 6-10
In Class:
 Food Webbing
Activity
HW:
 Finish reading &
vocabulary
Wednesday
October 5
Thursday
October 6
Friday
October 7
Unit 3 Test
Quiz
Quiz
Unit 3 Vocabulary
Due
In Class:
 Return &
Review Unit 3
Test
 Ecocolumn Lab
SGQs 6-10 Due
HW:
 read 10 pages
 10 vocabulary
In Class:
 TBA
HW:
 Finish reading &
vocabulary
 SGQs 1-5