Chapter 50

  1. Discuss five abiotic factors; be sure to include information on how these factors determine thedistribution of organisms and the evolution of organisms.
  2. Discuss the effect of climate on the distribution of plants and animals. Include a discussion of all 4 sections of Figure 50.10.
  3. Using Figure 50.12 to explain the rain shadow effect.
  4. Look at Figure 50.17 to describe the 8 major freshwater & marine biomes.
  5. Use Figure 50.20 to describe the 8 major terrestrial biomes.

Chapter 52

  1. As shown in Figure 51.4, a male stickleback fish attacks other males that invade its nesting territory. Predict a likely pattern of dispersion for male sticklebacks, and explain your reasoning.
  2. Each female of a particular fish species produces millions of eggs per year. Draw and label the most likely survivorship curve for this species and explain your choice.
  3. Where is population growth more likely – in an area where a forest was destroyed by fire of in a mature undisturbed forest? Why?
  4. Concept 18.2 discusses viruses that are pathogens to animals and plants. How might the presence of such pathogens alter the carrying capacity of a population? Why?
  5. Mice that experience stress such as a food shortage will sometimes abandon their young. Explain how this behavior might have evolved in the context of reproductive trade-offs & life history.
  6. Suppose you were studying a species that has a population cycle of about 10 yrs. How long would you need to study the species to determine if its population were declining? Explain.

Chapter 53

  1. Use Figure 53.2 to describe the difference between a fundamental niche & realized niche.
  2. Describe 2 hypotheses that explain why food chains are usually short, and state a key prediction of each hypothesis.
  3. Consider a grassland with 5 trophic levels: plants, grasshoppers, snakes, raccoons & bobcats. If you released additional bobcats into the grassland, how would plant biomass change if the bottom-up model applied? If the top-down model applied?
  4. During succession, how might the early species facilitate the arrival of other species?
  5. Most prairies experience regular fires, typically every few years. If these disturbances were relatively modest, how would the species diversity of a prairie likely be affected if no burning occurred for 100 yrs? Explain your answer.
  6. Use Figure 53.27 to explain the relationship of the following on small islands. a) immigration &extinction b) island size & # of species c) distance from mainland & # of species.

Chapter 54

  1. Review the discussion of the 2nd law of thermodynamics in Concept 8.1 (p 143). How does this physical law explain why an ecosystem’s energy supply must continually be replenished?
  2. Concept 10.3 describes the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis. Explain how nitrogen and phosphorus, the nutrients most often limit primary production, are necessary for the Calvin cycle to function.
  3. Why does the production pyramid have the same general shape as the biomass pyramid in most ecosystems? Under what circumstances might the shapes of the 2 pyramids differ?
  4. Why is nutrient availability in a tropical rainforest particularly vulnerable to logging?

Chapter 55

  1. Explain why it is too narrow to define the biodiversity crisis as simply a loss of species.
  2. How does the reduced genetic diversity of small populations make them more vulnerable to extinction?
  3. Suppose a developer proposes to clear-cut a forest that serves as a corridor between 2 parks. To compensate, the developer also proposes to add the same area of forest to one of the parks. As a professional ecologist, how might you argue for retaining the corridor?
  4. There are vast stores of organic matter in the soils of northern coniferous forests and tundra around the world. Based on what you learned about decomposition on pg 1198, suggest an explanation for why scientists who study global warming are closely monitoring these stores.