Download Ecology Goals

AP Biology: Ecology Goals
At the completion of this 5-chapter unit of Ecology, students should be able to do the following:
CHAPTER 34: The Biosphere
1. Define Ecology. Discuss the approaches taken by biologists who focus at each of these levels: organism,
population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere.
2. Identify the abiotic and biotic factors that control ecological relationships, stressing the role of natural
selection in shaping the adaptations of each organism that allow it to function well in its environment.
3. Explain how climate determines the distribution of biological communities.
4. Name the 2 types of aquatic ecosystems. Describe how these ecosystems are similar and how they are
different.
5. Identify the 9 types of terrestrial biomes, indicating for each of the defining abiotic characteristics, the
location of each on Earth, characteristic features of the organisms, and any particular sensitivity to human
disturbance.
34 Vocabulary
abiotic factor
aphotic zone
benthic zone
biome
biotic factor
biosphere
chaparral
community
coniferous forest
desert
desertification
ecology
ecosystem
estuary
habitat
intertidal zone
organism
pelagic zone
permafrost
photic zone
population
savanna
temperate deciduous forest
temperate grassland
tropical forest
tundra
wetland
CHAPTER 35: Population Dynamics
1. Define population in the sense used by population ecologists, and in contrast to the traditional biological
definition of population. Explain how density and dispersion describe populations and how each of these
variables is measured.
2. Distinguish between exponential and logistic models of population growth, explaining the effects of existing
population size and carrying capacity on growth rate.
3. Differentiate between density-dependent and density-independent factors that limit population growth.
4. Describe the interrelationships among predator, prey, and prey food that cause mixed populations to cycle.
5. Outline the history of the growth of the human population, including factors affecting that growth.
35 Vocabulary
age structure
boom-and-bust cycle
carrying capacity
clumped pattern
density-dependent factor
density-independent factor
dispersion pattern
exponential growth
life history
life table
limiting factors
k-selection & r-selection
logistic growth
niche
random pattern
uniform pattern
CHAPTER 36: Communities & Ecosystems
1. Distinguish between the terms in the following pairs: community & ecosystem, habitat & niche, coevolution
& symbiosis, and energy flow & chemical cycle.
2. Distinguish the forces that tie populations together into communities: competition, predation, and symbiosis.
Give an example of each, and explain why it is difficult to assess these forces fully in natural communities.
3. Describe the process of succession by tracing the changes that occur in a community during the process.
Demonstrate how disturbance, on various levels, is a characteristic of many communities.
4. Define the trophic levels that occur in most ecosystems, and discuss how energy flow through trophic level
structure results in an energy pyramid.
5. Outline the dominant pathways of the cyclic movement between organic matter and abiotic reservoirs of
water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
36 Vocabulary
biodiversity
carbon cycle
chemical cycling
coevolution
commensalism
decomposition
eutrophication
primary consumer
secondary consumer
tertiary consumer
quaternary consumer
detritivores
detritus
keystone predator
food chain
food web
mimicry
mutualism
nitrogen cycle
parasitism
predator
phosphorus cycle
prey
producer
trophic structure
water cycle
competitive exclusion principle
interspecific competition
ecological succession
primary succession
secondary succession
symbiotic relationship
CHAPTER 37: Behavioral Adaptations to the Environment
1. Differentiate between the interests of, and approaches taken by, behavioral biologists, behavioral ecologists,
and sociobiologists. Outline controversies surrounding sociobiology, particularly nature versus nurture.
2. Describe the early experiments of von Frisch, Lorenz, and Tingergen, indicating in which contexts of
behavioral biology each playing a founding role.
3. Explain the relative roles of genes and environment on the following types of behavior: pattern recognition,
fixed action pattern (FAP), habituation, imprinting, association, imitation, and innovation.
4. Describe the evolutionary context of examples of the following types of individual behavior: biologic
rhythms, kinesis and orientation behaviors, migration and feeding behavior.
5. Describe the evolutionary context of the following types of social behavior: agonistic behavior, dominance
hierarchy, territoriality, mating behavior, signaling and altruism.
37 Vocabulary
agonistic behavior
altruism
association
cognitive map
innate behavior
circadian rhythms
classical conditioning
dominance hierarchy
orientation behavior
mating behavior
habituation
imitation
imprinting
innovation
kinesis
learning
proximate cause
seasonal migration
sign stimulus
social behavior
territory
ultimate cause
fixed action pattern (FAP)
trial-and-error learning
CHAPTER 38: Conservation Biology
1. Explain the roles that technology, population growth and resource utilization play in the following threats to
global environments: acid precipitation, ozone depletion, chemical toxicity, global warming, and loss of
biodiversity.
2. Describe the science of conservation biology and its sub-discipline, restoration ecology. Discuss the tools
of restoration ecology, including bioremediation and augmentation of ecosystem processes.
3. State why biodiversity is important and why its loss is such a serious problem. Discuss the roles of habitat
destruction, introduction of exotic species, and overexploitation of resources in bringing about loss of
biodiversity.
4. Define and describe the following terms: biological magnification, biodiversity hot spots, endemic species,
and sustainable development.
5. Describe the impact of habitual fragmentation on a population. Distinguish between source and sink
habitats. Discuss both the benefit and harm that can be caused by movement corridors.
38 Vocabulary
augmentation of
ecosystem processes
biodiversity crisis
biodiversity hot spot
biological magnification
bioremediation
conservation biology
endemic species
population fragmentation
sink habitat
source habitat
sustainable development