Download Midterm Study Guide

Environmental Studies 100- Study Guide for Midterm Exam
 Introduction to the Science of Ecology
 What is ecology? (vs. environmentalism)
 The Scientific Method
 Roots of Ecology: classification of living things and speciation
 The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
o Logic behind Natural Selection
o Implications: physical, behavioral, biochemical traits
 Optimal Foraging Theory
 Prey-choice model (don’t memorize formulas, understand them)
o Specialists vs. Generalists
 Egoism, kin-selected altruism, reciprocal altruism
 Coevolution
 Evolution: definition
 Micro vs. Macro Evolution
 Ecosystem Concepts, Energy flow, and Structure of Terrestrial Ecosystems
 Energy flow through ecosystems
 Feedback mechanisms: positive and negative
 Climate
 partitioning of energy from the sun
 albedo
 weather vs. climate
 uneven heating of the earth
o heat moves air: Hadley Cells
 Biomes: global distributions, main features of, and adaptations to:
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Arctic tundra
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Boreal forest
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Temperate forest
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Grassland
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Deserts
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Tropical Rainforest
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Chaparral/Mediterranean Environment
 Local Climate: M.O.L.E.
o Adiabatic cooling
o Specific heat capacity
 Microclimate
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Primary Productivity: Gross primary productivity vs. Net Primary Productivity
 Limiting factor
 Controls
 light
 temperature
 water
 CO2
 nutrient availability
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nitrogen cycling (don’t need to know chemical transformations)
phosphorus cycling
plant-microbe mutualisms
 Rhizobium and mycorrhizal fungi
Soils and soil nutrient availability
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additions, translocations, transformations, and losses
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soil horizons- importance of topsoil
 C.L.O.R.P.T.H.
 Decomposition
 what it is, why it is important, main players
 controls
 climate
 quantity of substrate
 quality of substrate
Ecological Budgets: Nutrients, Water, Soil
Biological Controls on Energy Flow
 plant allocation vs. animal allocation (and concept of trade-offs)
 energy flow diagrams: 1st and 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
 Eating lower on food chain
 efficiency of energy conversion: photosynthetic, assimilation, production, ecological
 (endotherm vs. ectotherm) and (terrestrial vs. marine) food chains
 Trophic levels
 Productivity pyramids
 Biomass pyramids
 Life Strategy/History
 Strategies for Reproduction
o r (opportunists) vs. K-selected (competitors) species
o density-dependent vs. density-independent effects of population growth
o Survivorship curves
 Niches:
o Fundamental vs. Realized
o Niche partitioning (breaking up into smaller niches)
o Principle of Competitive Exclusion
o Convergent evolution
 Population and Community Ecology
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Life Tables
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information conveyed in a life table (vulnerable stages, fitness, ect.)
 Understand what each column means (survivorship, life expectancy, etc)
static vs. cohort-based
Metapopulations: sources, sinks, corridors, management implications
Modeling
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why it is powerful, yet you should be wary ..
modeling population growth
 exponential growth
 logistic growth
o Maximum Sustainable Yield (and problems with)
 species interactions
 competition
 predator-prey
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 mutualism
 commensalism
 problems with simple logistic growth
Communities: Food Chains and Webs
 Shows energy flow, preferred food sources, relationships
 doesn’t show keystone species
 Conceptualizing changed in food chains/webs
Aquatic Biomes
 primary productivity and limiting factors
 light penetration
o euphotic vs. aphotic zone
 temperature profiles
o epilimnion vs. hypolimnion
o thermocline
 oxygen concentrations
o aerobic vs. anaerobic/anoxic
o B.O.D.
 nutrient content
o oligotrophic vs. eutrophic
 oceans
 open ocean vs. coast
 upwelling and coastal inputs
o ocean/atmosphere coupling
 harmful algal blooms
 kelp forests
o otter/urchin dynamics
o kelp influence on: beach, Channel Islands, food webs
 coral reefs
o productivity
o coral bleaching (zooanthellae)
o ocean acidification
o dynamite fishing
 rocky intertidal- (zones and adaptations to)
 lakes
 seasonality of nutrients, light, primary production
 oligotrophic vs. eutrophic
 vulnerability
 streams and rivers
 low vs. high stream order
 sediment/nutrient transport
 bank vegetation
 adaptations to
 wetlands
 freshwater wetlands: fens, bogs, and swamps
 saltwater wetlands: salt marshes and estuaries
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hydroperiod (importance of, determined by)
biogeochemistry in anoxic environments
plant adaptations to wetland environment
importance of wetlands: ecosystem services
what threatens wetlands