Download Study Questions

Review Questions, Final 1/3rd of the course
EBIO 2040, Fall 2014
Does community composition change in the absence of disturbances?
What is the general relationship between the intensity of a disturbance and its
frequency?
What factors determine the frequency of fire in terrestrial communities?
What are the 3 general categories of fire intensity?
What strategies have been used by ecologists to study succession, given that it may take
100’s or 1000's of years?
What biotic interactions influence succession? Which are thought to be most important
early in primary succession?
Why would life history traits be important to succession? Why is the “path” of
succession (the occurrence of different communities) associated with life history traits?
What are the major differences between primary and secondary succession?
Why is tectonic plate movement associated with the major biogeographic zones on
Earth?
How does the amount of diversity vary with latitude for many terrestrial organisms?
What hypotheses have been proposed to explain this pattern?
What is the “theory of island biogeography,” and what predictions does it make for
variation in diversity in relation to island size and proximity to mainland sources of
species?
What is an "umbrella" species, and why does their preservation provide additional
protection for other species in the same ecosystem?
What are “ecosystem services?” - think about a few examples and how they are affected
by changes in diversity
Which biomes have the greatest amount of diversity?
What groups of organisms have been poorly evaluated in terms of their full biological
diversity (i.e. the number of species)?
How do current rates of extinction for mammals compare to the average extinction rates
over the past several million years?
What are the top threats to species diversity? Are they anthropogenic?
What biomes have lost the greatest amount of diversity to date? Which biomes are
predicted to lose the greatest amount of diversity in the next 3 decades?
What threats to diversity are increasing the most?
What is “population viability analysis” and how does it contribute to conservation
efforts?
What is the difference between an “ecosystem” and a community?
What is the source of energy in ecosystems?
What are the most common currencies used to measure energy in ecosystems?
What is the difference between gross primary production and net primary production?
What biotic factor is most important for determining variation in GPP among biomes?
Does photosynthesis = growth? Why or why not?
How does allocation of NPP to aboveground and belowground growth in plants vary
with abiotic environmental conditions?
How is NPP measured? Why is it important to be able to measure NPP accurately over
large areas?
What wavelength of radiation do plants reflect much more than soil, providing a coarse
index of plant cover and NPP for use in remote sensing?
What are important abiotic (physical) environmental controls on NPP?
What proportion of global NPP is contributed by the ocean? in terrestrial ecosystems?
What biomes contribute the highest proportion of global NPP?
What zone of the ocean contribute the most to global NPP?
What happens to the majority of NPP? Is the amount of NPP that is consumed different
in aquatic ecosystems vs. terrestrial ecosystems, and if so, why?
What do herbivores, carnivores, and detritivores eat?
What is secondary production?
What are trophic levels? What group(s) occupies the first trophic level?
What is detritus? Where does it come from?
How does allocation of energy to different physiological (e.g. thermal) and ecological
(e.g. mode of hunting) functions influence net secondary production in heterotrophs?
How does the quality of food influence net secondary production?
What are the components of “trophic efficiency?”
What is a “trophic cascade?” Why is it important for the inputs of energy into an
ecosystem?
What are bioaccumulation and biomagnification?
What is “biogeochemistry,” and why is it important in ecosystem ecology and
environmental science?
What nutrients are required in different amounts in mobile versus sessile (non-mobile)
organisms?
What is meant by “weathering” and why is it important for ecosystem function?
What are the general categories of “parent material” for soil minerals (not different
bedrock types)?
How do organisms obtain dinitrogen gas from the atmosphere? When is biological
nitrogen fixation most important in ecological systems?
What is “atmospheric deposition?” Are the compounds that fall out of the atmosphere
only from anthropogenic activities?
What is decomposition, what steps are involved, what controls its rates, and why is it
important for ecological function?
What is “microbial immobilization,” what influences its magnitude, and how does it
influence NPP?
What factors control the retention of nutrients in ecosystems, and help prevent their loss
outside of the ecosystem?
How are nutrients lost from ecosystems? How does the rate of loss of different
elements change during secondary succession?
What factors control the relative availability of N and P during ecosystem
development?
What is the most important source for nutrients in aquatic ecosystems? (hint same as
with energy: autochthonous vs allochthonous)
What is the process by which a lake transitions from a nutrient poor (oligotrophic) to a
nutrient rich (eutrophic) ecosystem? Is this process always associated with
anthropogenic factors?
What ecologically important elements cycle at a global scale?
What are the major pools and fluxes in the global carbon cycle? What are the largest of
these pools and fluxes?
What human activities have altered the magnitude of fluxes in the global C cycle? What
gases are associated with these anthropogenic effects?
What direct effect would increasing CO2 have on photosynthesis? ... on ocean pH?
What are the ecological consequences of these changes?
How long a record of weather data is needed to adequately determine if there has been
a change in climate?
What long-term trends have been noted for Earth's climate over the past 100 years?
What region of Earth has experienced the greatest changes in climate?
What factors can "force" climate change? Which of these have contributed the most to
the observed climate change over the past 50 years?
What ecological changes have occurred due to climate change? Will future biological
changes mirror past changes that occurred due to climate change?
Will species be able to evolve (adapt) in response to climate change? What factors
might influence their ability to disperse to track changes in climate?