Final exam- Ch 58 Community Ecology, 59 Ecosystem ecology, 60 biodiversity and conservation ecology
Supplemental Instruction
Iowa State University / Leader: / Stephanie
Course: / Biology 211
Instructor: / Roe/Biederman
Date: / May 6 & 8 2013

Chapter 58- Community Ecology

Define:

community ecology

Organismic model

Individualistic model

Principle of species individuality

Draw the four hypothesis (pop size vs environmental gradient). Describe what is happening in each

How did Whittaker test these hypotheses? What did he conclude?

What is species richness? What 2 things is it influenced by?

Compare the species richness between mountain vs peninsula. Why is this?

Give examples of an r species and a K species. Whats the difference?

What is succession?

Give the four stages of primary succession

Can secondary succession happen here? A) old farmland B) site of volcano eruption C)site of retreated glacier D) Site where tsunami occurred

There are four hypothesis that explain the latitudinal gradient of species richness.

Hypothesis / Support / Drawback

What is a climax community and who came up with this term?

What are the three mechanisms of succession? Give an example of each

What is island biogeography? Who developed it?

What symbol is used to show the equilibrium number? Where is it found on a rate vs species number graph?

Why are the rates curved?

What were the three falsifiable predictions and how do they affect the number of species? Which one has little support and why?

1.

2.

3.

Chapter 59- Ecosystem Ecology

What do ecosystems do (2 things)?

1.

2.

Design a 4 level food chain- label the autotrophs and heterotrophs.

What are detritivores? How do they support a community of predators?

How can we measure the efficiency of consumers as energy transformers (2 ways)?

1.

2.

Biomass production in ecosystems: What is for net primary productivity?

How can we calculate net primary productivity?

What is secondary production?

Primary producers make up ______% of the biosphere

Eltonian pyramids describe the distribution of numbers, biomass, or energy between trophic levels. Label each figure: Inverted pyramid of biomass, pyramid of numbers, pyramid of energy, inverted pyramid of numbers, pyramid of biomass (look at page 1248 for clarification).

Which graph has a) energy production decreases with increasing trophic level. b)biomass increases with increasing trophic level. c)the amount of biological material decreases with increasing trophic level. d)the abundance of species increases with increasing trophic level e)the abundance of species decreases with increasing trophic level

What is biomagnification? Why is it important? (What did we talk about in class?)

Primary production increases with ______. It is the highest in ______environments.

What is Liebig’s Law of the minimum? Which is the limiting nutrient?

What occur in low concentrations in water? What happens if the concentrations increase?

Define biogeochemical cycles. What does it involve?

How do we know if an element will be in a global or local cycle? Predict whether has a global or local cycle: potassium, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, water, carbon, nitrogen, calcium

All living things require______, which is a key component to DNA and RNA

Draw a graph representing the relationship between the primary production and total phosphorus concentration

What are fossil fuels? How do they affect the temperature variation? Draw a graph representing temperature variation and CO2 concentration over the years. Why is the CO2 line a zigzag?

In a world of elevated CO2, plant growth may ______and herbivory could ______. (page 1255 Stiling and Drake’s experiment)

______is an essential component of proteins, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.

How have humans ______the rate of nitrogen input to the environment and what are the consequences?

Discuss: What do corn and soybeans have to do with dead fish in the gulf of mexico in the dead zone?

5 steps N fixation / Rxn / What fixes? / Additional info

Chapter 60- Conservation & Restoration Ecology

Define:

Conservation biology

Restoration biology

What are 2 levels of biological diversity and give an example of each

Which group of species has the highest threat of extinction? Why do you think this is?

What are three reasons why we should conserve biodiversity?

There are four models that describe the relationship between ecosystem function and biodiversity. In which is the relationship the strongest/the weakest?

Who performed experiments to test these three models? What did he do? What is the effect of higher number of species on an ecosystem?

Name four threats to biodiversity. What causes them? Give examples of each

Threat / Cause / Example

Why are smaller populations at risk? Give an example using the prairie chicken.

What is the SLOSS debate?

What is the difference between and landscape and restoration ecologist?

Give a definition and example of each:

-Indicator

-Umbrella

-Flagship

-Keystone

-Dominant

What is bioremediation? Can you think of an example?

Conceptual questions:

  1. Define community and community ecology
  1. List some possible ecological disturbances, their likely frequency in natural communities, and the severity of their effects.
  1. When is a community in equilibrium?
  1. Define autotroph and heterotroph
  1. Why are chain lengths short in food webs?
  1. What is the major difference among phosphorus, carbon, and nitrogen cycles?
  1. What are the three levels at which biodiversity can be examined?
  1. Which types of species are most vulnerable to extinction?
  1. Distinguish between an umbrella species, flagship, and keystone species.