Download Final exam

BIOL 1005 – Concepts of Biology
Outline of topics covered since Midterm III (final version! posted December 9, 2015)
DISCLAIMER: This outline is meant to help you organize your lecture notes. It is not
intended to be a substitute for your lecture notes! Furthermore, it is NOT EXHAUSTIVE. Just
because a word or phrase does not appear on this study guide, doesn’t mean you “don’t have to
know it.” In general, you are best off studying your lecture notes and letting this outline serve as
a guide to help you get your notes organized.
Overriding topic for this portion of the class: ecology (what living things are doing out there);
remember, 25 questions on the exam will come from this portion of the class!
I. Definition of ecology
II. Definitions of ecosystem, community, and population
III. Population dynamics
A. What population ecologists measure: density; births, deaths, migration.
B. How do you calculate the population growth rate? What is the difference between
a population in which the growth rate is greater than 0 and one where the rate is
less than 0?
C. Examples of important questions that population ecologists might study.
D. Exponential and logistic population growth patterns. How are they different, and
in which circumstances does each occur? What are examples of densitydependent and density-independent factors that limit population growth? What
type of growth is the human population in, and what will happen in the future?
E. Two strategies for reproductive success; what are the evolutionary tradeoffs
between opportunistic and equilibrium life histories?
IV. Components of the environment that determine the distribution and adaptations of
organisms in each ecosystem
A. Abiotic (nonliving) components: What are some examples? Why is climate so
important in the distribution of biomes? Why does climate vary around the world?
What are examples of adaptations selected for by abiotic forces?
B. Biotic (living) factors: What are some examples? What are examples of
adaptations selected for by biotic forces?
V. Aquatic ecosystems and terrestrial biomes (We didn’t go through these systematically,
but you still need to know about the major selective forces in each one; see the minilecture posted on the Content page of D2L)
A. Types of aquatic ecosystems: marine and freshwater.
B. Major types of terrestrial biomes; distribution depends MAINLY on climate, but
some also require periodic disturbance such as fire.
VI. Community ecology
A. Interactions among species that share a community
1. Competition: What is competition? What is a niche? What is the competitive
exclusion principle? What is resource partitioning, and why is it adaptive?
2. Symbiosis: mutualism, commensalism, parasitism; name some examples of
each type. What are some typical adaptations in parasites and hosts?
3. Herbivory/predation: What are some examples of typical adaptations in
herbivores, plants, predators, and prey?
B. Ecological succession: change in the species composition of a community. Why
does it happen? What are some examples of human-induced succession?
C. Food chains and food webs: roles of producers (autotrophs), consumers
(heterotrophs), and decomposers (also heterotrophs)
1. What happens to substances (such as plastics) that don’t decompose?
2. CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations)
a. Connection between CAFOs and antibiotic resistant bacteria
b. CAFOs as “incomplete” ecosystems without producers or adequate
decomposers
3. Step by step: How excessive nutrients in water (e.g., untreated sewage, or
fertilizer runoff from land, or waste from a CAFO) lead to algae blooms,
eutrophication, fish kills, and coastal “dead zones”
VII. Ecosystem ecology
A. Energy flow and the reason for the shape of the energy pyramid
1. Why are food chains limited to about four levels of consumers?
2. Biomagnification: chemical properties of substances that biomagnify;
how ecosystem energy flow explains why biomagnification occurs
B. Chemical cycling: carbon as our example. In what forms does carbon
circulate among producers, consumers, decomposers, and inorganic forms?
C. Human impacts on the environment (other than those listed above):
1. Global climate change (causes, consequences, and potential solutions)
2. HIPPO: What are the main reasons that so many species are going extinct?
Special Finals Week Action Center
Wednesday, December 16 from 3:30-5:30 p.m., Wagner 245
The final exam will be Thursday, December 17 at 8:00 a.m.!
Set an alarm (or two or three) and have a friend call you to make sure you’re up!