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Chapter 50 Objectives
Explain why the field of ecology is a multidisciplinary science.
Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their
environments. The scientific nature of ecology involves using observations and
experiments to test hypothetical explanations of ecological phenomena. It is a
multidisciplinary field examining questions from all areas of biology as well as many
physical sciences.
Explain the importance of temperature, water, light, soil, and wind to living
organisms.
Climate and other abiotic factors are important determinant of the biosphere’s
distribution of organism.
Describe how environmental changes may produce behavioral, physiological,
morphological, or adaptive responses in organisms.
Know from Chapter 50 PowerPoint.
Describe the characteristics of the major biomes: tropical forest, savanna, desert,
taiga, and tundra.
Tropical Forest: High temperatures and heavy rainfalls. The vegetation consists of
predominately of tall trees. There is little light on the forest.
Savanna: Grasslands with scattered trees. Since they are tropical they are subject to high
temperature.
Desert: Hot and dry. Growth of annual plants is limited to short periods following rains.
Other plants have adapted to the hostile conditions with leathery leaves, deciduous
leaves, or leaves reduced to spines. Many animals have thick skins, conserve water by
producing no urine or very concentrated urine, and restrict their activity to night.
Taiga: Coniferous forests. Winters are cold, and precipitation is in the form of snow.
Tundra: Subject to winters so cold that the ground freezes. During the summer the upper
topsoil thaws, but the deeper soil remains permanently frozen.
Using a diagram, identify the various zones found in the marine environment.
Marine environment includes estuaries, intertidal zones, continental shelves, coral reefs
and pelagic oceans.
Chapter 52 Objectives
Define the scope of population ecology.
A population is a group of individuals all of the same species living in the same area.
Distinguish between density and dispersion.
Density is the total number of individuals per area or volume occupied.
Dispersion describes how individuals in a population are distributed.
Explain how ecologists measure density of a species.
They put the amount of the specie over the space they occupied.
Explain how age structure, generation time, and sex structure of populations can
affect population growth.
Know from AP Cliff Review Book, pg. 286
Describe the characteristics of populations, which exhibit Type I, Type II, and
Type III survivorship curves.
Type I curves describe species in which most individuals survive to middle age. After
that age mortality is high.
Type II curves describe organisms in which the length of survivorship is random, that is,
likelihood of death is the same at any age. Many rodents and certain invertebrates are
examples.
Type III curves describes in which most individuals die young, with only a relative few
surviving to reproductive age and beyond
Explain how density-dependent factors affect population growth.
Density-dependent factors are those agents whose limiting effect becomes more intense
as the population density increases.
Explain how density-dependent and density-independent factors may work
together to control a population's growth.
They may work together because they balance each other. In density-dependent the
population density increases the risk of parasites and other diseases. On the other hand
density-independent do not act based on the density of the population. These are natural
disasters.
List the three major characteristics of a life history and explain how each affects
the:
a. Number of offspring produced by an individual
b. Population's growth
Know from AP Cliffs Review Book.
Distinguish between r-selected populations and K-selected populations.
R-selected population exhibits rapid growth. This type quickly invades a habitat, quickly
reproduce and then die. They produce many offspring that are small, mature quickly, and
require little, if any, parental care.
K-Selected species is one whose population size remains constant. Species of this type
produce a small number of relatively large offspring that require extensive parental care
until they mature.
Chapter 53 Objectives
Explain the relationship between species richness, relative abundance, and
diversity.
Species richness is the number of species in a biological community.
Relative abundance is the number of species within a community.
Species diversity is both components of diversity: species richness and relative
abundance.
List four properties of a community, and explain the importance of each.
Know form AP Cliffs Review Book
Explain how interspecific competition may affect community structure.
Interspecific competition is the competition between different species. Know from AP
Cliff Review Book.
Describe the competitive exclusion principle, and explain how competitive
exclusion may affect community structure.
The competitive exclusion principle is when two species compete for the same resources.
One is likely to be more successful. As a result, one species outcomes the other, and
eventually, the second species is eliminated. This principle states that no two species can
sustain coexistence is they occupy the same niche.
Distinguish between an organism's fundamental niche and realized niche.
Fundamental niche is the niche that an organism occupies in the absence of competing
species.
Realized niche is that part of their existence where niche overlap is absent.
Distinguish between Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry.
Betesian mimicry occurs when an animal without any special defense mechanism mimics
the coloration of an animal that does possess the defense.
Millerian mimicry occurs when several animals, all with some special defense
mechanism, share the same coloration.
Explain the role of predators in community structure.
Predators are any animal that totally or partly consumes a plant or other animal.
Distinguish among parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism.
Parasitism, the parasite benefits from the living arrangements, while the host is harmed.
Mutualism is a relationship in which both species benefits.
Commensalism is when one specie benefits, while the second specie is neither helped nor
harmed.
Distinguish between primary succession and secondary succession.
Primary succession occurs on substrates that never previously supported living things.
Secondary Succession begins in habitats where communities were entirely or partially
destroyed by some king of damaging event.
Chapter 54 Objectives
Explain the importance of autotrophic organisms with respect to energy flow and
nutrient cycling in ecosystems.
Autotrops use energy from the sun or from the oxidation of inorganic substances to make
organic molecules from inorganic ones.
List and describe the importance of the four consumer levels found in an
ecosystem.
Know from AP Cliffs Review Book.
Explain how gross primary productivity is allocated by the plants in an
ecosystem.
Plants are the main producers in most terrestrial ecosystem. Terrestrial plants supply most
of the organis material used by consumers. They are also important producers in the
shallow.
Explain why productivity declines at each trophic level.
Because of the energy level that is transfer from one level to the other. Only a 10% of this
energy is preserved.
Distinguish between energy pyramids and biomass pyramids.
Energy pyramid shows the amount of energy transferred from one trophic level to
another. The biomass pyramid represents the total dry weight of all organisms in a
trophic level.
Describe the carbon cycle, and explain why it is said to result from the reciprocal
processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
Know from AP Cliffs Review book, pg. 298
Describe the nitrogen cycle, and explain the importance of nitrogen fixation to all
living organisms.
Know from AP Cliffs Review book, pg. 298
Explain how phosphorus is recycled locally in most ecosystems.
Since animals excrete phosphorus and when they die and decompose they release
phosphorus as well then the recycling can be done locally.