BIO/101 Version 3 / 1
Week Five Content Outline
TOPIC and Objectives
Ecology
· Describe ecology in terms of population growth and regulation through community interactions.
· Evaluate the effects of human activities on ecosystems and the biosphere.
· Describe the flow of energy and materials in an ecosystem.
Content outline
1. Components of an ecosystem
a. Organisms
b. Environment
2. Components of the environment
a. Abiotic
b. Biotic
3. Ecology as scientific studies
4. Levels of interactions in ecology (sequence and describe)
a. Organismal
b. Population
c. Community
d. Ecosystem
5. Ecology and environmental issues
6. Evolutionary adaptations of organisms
a. Natural selection
b. Ecological time versus evolutionary time
7. Abiotic factors of the biosphere
8. Organismal ecology (adaptation)
a. Physiological response
b. Anatomical response
c. Behavioral response
9. Population ecology
10. Factors affecting size of population
a. Population growth rate
b. Population density
c. Population structure
11. Factors limiting population
a. Density dependent
b. Density independent
12. History of global population growth
13. Life history traits and population growth
14. Life tables and survivorship curves
15. Key properties of a community
a. Diversity
b. Prevalent form of vegetation
c. Stability
d. Trophic structure
16. Types of interspecific interactions
a. Competition
b. Predation
c. Symbiosis
17. Ecological succession
a. Primary
b. Secondary
18. What is an ecosystem?
a. Energy flow
b. Chemical cycling
19. Trophic levels and food chains
20. Components of trophic levels
a. Producers
b. Consumers
c. Decomposers
21. Food webs versus food chains
22. Energy pyramid
23. Energy flow and human nutrition
24. Biogeochemical cycles
a. Carbon cycle
b. Nitrogen cycle
c. Phosphorus cycle
d. Water cycle
25. Biome distribution and climate
26. Types of biomes
a. Terrestrial biomes
b. Freshwater biomes
c. Marine biomes
27. Human impact on biological communities
28. Human impact on ecosystems
a. Local ecosystems
b. Biosphere
c. Global ecosystems
29. Levels of biodiversity
a. Diversity of ecosystems
b. Variety of species
c. Genetic variation
30. Biodiversity crisis and loss of species
a. Habitat destruction
b. Introduced species
c. Overexploitation
31. Biodiversity protection
a. “Hot spots”
b. Conservation at the population and species levels
c. Conservation at the ecosystem level