Download APES Guided Reading * Chapter 2, 3, and 4

Ecology - Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 Reading Guide
Chapter 2 – Pages 29 – 33 Energy: An Introduction
1. Explain the difference in potential and kinetic energy. Give an example for each.
2. Give an example of an energy conversion.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
State the two laws of thermodynamics (energy) and give an example of the 2 nd law.
Where does all the energy to run planet Earth come from? How is energy utilized by the producers?
Explain how plants contain potential energy that we animals convert to kinetic energy.
Explain what is meant by the “electromagnetic spectrum”.
What is the base of the food web in a hydrothermal vent ecosystem?
8. Compare a community using green plants as autotrophs with a community based on chemosynthetic bacteria as
autotrophs.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Explain the term “entropy” in terms of energy quality. Give an example of low and high quality energy?
What is meant by “energy conversion efficiency”?
Write the chemical formulas for photosynthesis and respiration.
Explain what occurs during photosynthesis. Include the following terms in your answer: glucose, carbohydrate, potential
energy, radiant energy, water, carbon dioxide.
13. Identify two ways that plants affect levels of carbon dioxide.
14. Answer “Calculating Ecological Footprints” on pages 48 - 49
Chapter 3 Evolution, Biodiversity and Population Ecology
1. Assume the Monteverde golden toad evolved from a population of green toads. Review Table 3.1, then
describe a reasonable scenario that could result in the evolution of golden toads.
2. How did humans contribute to the golden toad’s extinction?
3. What features did the Monteverde golden toad possess that made it particularly vulnerable to extinction?
4. Explain the three ways selection can act on a population: directional, stabilizing, and disruptive.
5. Environmental change can drive both evolution and extinction. Explain.
6. Distinguish the terms niche and habitat.
7. Why is habitat loss the number one cause of loss of biodiversity on Earth today?
8. Would specialists or generalists do better in a human-dominated environment? Why?
9. Why do ecologists assess the population size, population density, population distribution, sex ratio, age
structure, birth and death rates of populations?
10. Why are S-curves more common than exponential growth curves?
11. Draw a graph of a population growing under ideal conditions (label your axes!). How would you describe this
growth in mathematic terms (linear, exponential, logistic, etc)?
12. Describe two density-dependent and two density-independent limiting factors that would affect the
populations:
a. mosquitos
c. humans
b. alligators
13. When considering biotic potential you look at an organism’s ability to reproduce. Name an r-selected selected
species and a K-selected species. How do their reproductive strategies differ?
14. Draw a picture of and tell which environmental conditions favor the following patterns of dispersion:
a. Uniform
c. Clumped/clustered
b. Random
15. Draw a graph (and label with Type I, II, or III) that shows the survivorship of an organism that has:
a. high parental care
b. Low parental care
16. The population of grizzly bears in Yellowstone was estimated to be 500 bears, growing at 6% a year. 47 bears
were estimated to have died last year. Assuming no migration, how many bears cubs were born last year. Show
your work.
17. (Science Behind the Story, pp68-69) How was climate hypothesized to affect the survival of frogs in Costa Rican
cloud forests? Does the evidence support this hypothesis?
Be sure you understand:
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Population dynamics: population size, population density, population distribution, sex ratio, age structure, birth
and death rates
Population distribution: random, uniform, clumped
Survivorship curves: Type I, Type II, Type III.
Equations for natural rate of population growth and population growth rate
Limiting factors, carrying capacity
Changes to a population can be density-dependent or density-independent
Biotic potential – low = k-selected, high=r-selection
Chapter 4 Pages – Species Interactions and Community Ecology 76- top of 96
1. Explain the interactions between native mollusks, zebra mussels, and quagga mussels using the following terms:
fundamental niche, realized niche, and competitive exclusion. (Note that “the native mussel populations seem
to have stabilized and persist at about 4-22% of their pre-invasion population sizes”, p89.)
2. Explain two ways mentioned in the text that help species avoid competitive exclusion.
3. Explain the difference in intraspecific and interspecific competition.
4. Describe and give an example for 5 types of symbiotic relationships
5. Discuss the coevolution of two species (your choice) that interact as predator and prey in a ecological
community.
6. In Figure 4.5, why is the population of lynx always smaller than the population of hare?
7.
8.
Describe the difference between a food chain and a food web. What is the original source of energy for a food chain?
Explain using the 2nd law of thermodynamics why only a small fraction of energy at each trophic level is transferred
up to the next trophic level? Where does the rest of the energy go?
9. What is the difference in a pyramid of biomass and a pyramid of numbers?
10. How does the pyramid of biomass illustrate why eating at lower trophic levels decreases a person’s ecological footprint?
11. Explain why the population of littoral (the shallow areas near the shoreline) fish in the Great Lakes increased
after zebra mussels were introduced, and why the population of open water fish decreased.
12. It appears that orca populations are declining in the Puget Sound, WA. Explain a logical prediction that this
decline in orcas will have on kelp populations. Use the term “keystone species” in your answer.
13. What is meant by the terms “resistance” and resilience” in relation to ecosystem disturbances?
14. Why are lichens successful pioneer species following glacier melt?
15. Catastrophic wildfires burn much hotter and longer than smaller fires. Explain why forest communities recover
more slowly from catastrophic wildfires than they do from smaller fires.
Chapter 5 Ecosystems Page 115 – top of page 117
1.
Explain the difference between gross primary productivity and net primary productivity.
2. What is the unit for measuring NPP
3.
4.
5.
What are the top 3 ecosystems having highest net primary productivity?
What are the top 3 ecosystems having lowest net primary productivity?
In the world’s oceans, where is the highest net primary productivity found?
2, 3, 4, and 5 Vocabulary to Know!!!!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
natural selection
adaptation
evolution
resource
succession
primary succession
pioneer community
secondary succession
climax community
keystone species
symbiosis
mutualism
parasitism
amensalism
coevolution
herbivory
rhizobium
zooanthellae
mycorrhizae
20. environmental
stressors
21. epiphytes
22. parasite
23. host
24. habitat fragmentation
25. pathogen
26. predation
27. predator
28. prey
29. warning coloration
30. competition
31. intraspecific
competition
32. interspecific
competition
33. ecological niche
34. habitat
35. fundamental niche
36.
37.
38.
39.
52.
53.
54.
55.
64.
65.
66.
biotic
abiotic
Populations
Species
Closed system
Open system
First law of
thermodynamics
Second law of
thermodynamics
Entropy
Photosynthesis
Cellular respiration
Hydrothermal vent
Chemosynthesis
Energy flow
Producers
Autotrophs
Consumers
Heterotrophs
Primary consumers
56.
57.
58.
59.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
60.
61.
62.
63.
95.
96.
97.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
Community
Ecosystem
Biosphere
Energy
Herbivores
Secondary consumers
Tertiary consumers
Carnivores
Omnivores
Decomposers
Detritivores
Detritus
Tropic level
Food chain
Food web
Biosphere
Ecosystem
Community
population
organism
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
realized niche
limiting factor
range of tolerance
competitive exclusion
(Gause’s rule)
species coexistence
resource partitioning
character displacement
species richness
ecotone
edge effect
geographical isolation
community phase shift
invasive species
restoration ecology
ecological restoration
species richness
Kilojoules (kJ)
Kilocalories (kcal)
Potential energy
Kinetic energy
habitat
niche
Gross primary
productivity
98. Net primary
productivity
99. Secondary
productivity
100. specialist
101. generalist
102. Resistance
103. resilience