st

Bring: #2 pencil
Photo ID
Student ID#
NetID ( usually 1 st part of e-mail )

Arrive early

Sit every other seat.

Neighbors should have different exams (colored booklets)


50 questions, multiple choice & T/F

2 bonus questions
(one short answer)

50 minutes


Any thing from lecture or readings is fair game

~80% of test from “Points to know”

Mostly fact-based questions, some concept application

Assigned Reading
Chapters from Book: 1, 2, 3, 4

Chapter 1
Dredging the Hudson River
Between 1946 and 1977 GE legally discharged over 1 million lbs of PCBs in the Hudson River.
Production of PCBs was banned in 1976.
The EPA ordered a $460 million dollar clean up project.
Is dredging the best solution (as seepage of PCBs continue) or should we wait at let natural processes (like bacteria) clean up this mess (may take centuries).

The Scientific Process Chapter 1
Scientific assumptions
1. The world is knowable - we can make sense of the processes that shape our environment.
2. Basic patterns that describe events are uniform in time and space.
3. If two equally plausible explanations exist, we should choose the simpler one parsimony.
4. Change in knowledge is inevitable.
5. Science never provides absolute proof.

The Scientific Process Chapter 1
Scientific design
1. Data must be reproducible
2. Experiments should be replicated
3. Experiments should only differ from a control by one thing at a time.
4. Types of experiments (thought, observational, manipulative): blind experiments avoid bias.
5. Experiments strive to be both accurate and precise.

The Scientific Process Chapter 1
Reasoning
1. Deductive Reasoning : starts with a theory or general principle, makes predictions, tests those prediction. “top-down”
2. Inductive Reasoning : starts with an observation and then try to discover theory to explain those observations “bottom-up”

The Scientific Process Chapter 1
Critical Thinking
1. Identify and evaluate premises and conclusions in an argument - are they supported by evidence.
2. Acknowledge and clarify uncertainties and contradictions.
3. Distinguish between facts and values.
4. Recognize and asses assumptions.
5-6. Evaluate source reliability / Recognize coneptual frameworks.

History of Environmentalism Chapter 1
Pragmatic Resource Conservation
1. “Man and Nature” 1864 by George Perkins
Marsh. Marsh warned of ecological consequences of American way of life.
2. Gifford Pinchot, 1905 first Chief of Forest
Service. “There may be just as much waste in neglecting the development and use of natural resources as there is in their destruction”.
“…for the greatest good, for the greatest number for the longest time”

History of Environmentalism Chapter 1
Moral and aesthetic nature preservation
John Muir
Founder of the Sierra Club
Fought for establishment of
Yosemite and Kings
Canyon National Parks
Nature for its own sake
Biocentric preservation

History of Environmentalism
Modern Environmentalism
Chapter 1
Rachel Carlson
Wrote book “Silent Spring” (1962)
- threats of chemicals to environment and people
Started modern environmental movement.

Current Environmental Conditions Chapter 1
Causes of Environmental Degradation
1. Human population (over 6 billion and counting)
2. Food shortages and famines.
3. Soil erosion and nutrient depletion
4. Water deficits and contamination
5. Use of non renewable resources (fossil fuels) over renewable resources (solar power, wind, biomass).
6. Destruction of biological diversity
7. Production of toxins, pollutants and other hazardous wastes

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1
Overarching theme of book:
“a search for ecological stability and human progress that can last over the long term”.
Sustainable development :
“meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Chapter 1

Principles of Ecology
Matter and Energy
Chapter 2
Matter is recycled through living things
- C, N and P cycles
Most energy in ecosystems originates as sunlight.
First law of thermodynamics: energy is conserved
Second law of thermodynamics: with each transfer of energy, energy is lost
As consumers eat producers, energy is lost in form of heat - only about 10% is conserved between each level.

Principles of Ecology
Matter and Energy
Chapter 2
Ecosystem - a group of interacting biological communities and their environment (biotic and abiotic).
Community - all of the populations of organisms that live in an area and interact.
Population - all members of a species that live in the same area at the same time. - unit where evolution operates.
Species - a group of genetically similar and potentially interbreeding organisms.

Principles of Ecology
Matter and Energy
Chapter 2
Food Chains - a series of organisms linked together through energy transfer (predation).
Food Webs - a series of interconnected food chains.
Trophic level - an organisms feeding position in an ecosystem.

Principles of Ecology Chapter 2

Principles of Ecology Chapter 2

Principles of Ecology
Biogeochemical Cycles
Chapter 2
Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles
Hydrologic Cycle : the path of water through the environment.
Sulfur Cycle : essential component of proteins.
Most natural sulfur tied up in rocks and minerals
Human activities release large amounts of sulfur - increases acidity in water and soil.

Principles of Ecology
Biogeochemical Cycles
Chapter 2
Carbon, Nitrogen and Phosphorus cycles
Hydrologic Cycle : the path of water through the environment.
We will likey discuss these cycles in more detail later in the semester - do not worry too much about them now.

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
Tolerance limits
Chapter 3
The minimum or maximum level of some environmental factor (abiotic) beyond which a species cannot survive.

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
Evolution
Chapter 3
Adaptation : trait that allows an organism to survive in its environment.
Speciation : the evolutionary process by which new species are created.
Divergent Evolution: selection pushes species or populations apart in some characteristic.
Convergent Evolution : selection results in unrelated species looking more similar.

Divergent Evolution related organisms become different to reduce competition.

Convergent Evolution unrelated organisms look similar as a result of similar environmental pressures.
Cardon cactus
Saguaro cactus

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
The Ecological Niche
Chapter 3
Ecological Niche : the role of a species in its environment or all the environmental factors that determines a species range.
The number of niches may determine the number of species that can coexist in a community.
Competitive exclusion : no two species can occupy the same niche.

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
The Ecological Niche
Chapter 3

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
The Ecological Niche
Chapter 3

Populations, Communities,
Species Interactions
Edges and boundaries
Ecological Succession
We will cover these concepts later in the semester
Chapter 3

Human Populations
Follow the points to know from the three lectures.
Chapter 4

Instructions for Wednesday
1. As you take your seat, please move to the middle of the row
2. Sit every other seat, put everything under your seat
3. Put your name and ID # on both the scantron and the test.
On scantron also fill out test form, net id, and sign it. Use a #2 pencil to fill bubbles on scantron.
4. Do not sit next to someone with the same color test
5. Remove hats or turn them backwards.
6. Turn in both your test and your scantron. Show your ID .