Lecture Objectives
Lecture 01 Intro to
Ecology
Students will be able to:
- define ecology
- distinguish among allied
scientific disciplines (environmental science, conservation biology, restoration
ecology, and environmental engineering) and compare their purposes with that
of ecology.
- describe at least 6
ecosystem services important to human ecology.
- define the subdisciplines
of ecology.
- place the subdisciplines
of ecology into a hierarchical organizational scheme based on physical scale
- explain in what manner
the concept of emergent properties justifies studying ecology within an hierarchical
framework.
- describe the scientific
method.
- describe the application
of the scientific method to ecological experimentation.
Lecture 02 Ecology
and Evolution
Students will be able to:
- define evolution and distinguish between microevolution
and macroevolution.
- explain the manner in which specific ecological
processes, including migration, birth and death rates, age of reproduction
effect the outcome of evolution and how evolution may, in turn, alter those
processes.
- compare point mutations with frameshift mutations
with chromosomal mutations.
- name the assumptions of natural selection and
explain the process of adaptive evolution.
- distinguish between individual and population
genetic variation.
- explain the ecological and evolutionary importance
of genetic variation.
- explain the ecological and evolutionary importance
of Hardy-Weinberg expectations.
- name and explain the assumptions of Hardy-Weinberg
expectations.
- distinguish between phenotypic and genetic variation.
- define heritability, name variation that is heritable,
and explain the importance of heritability to adaptive evolution.
- name the types of phenotypic variation.
- name the types of genetic variation.
- explain the manner in which partitioning the
sources of genetic variation affords insights into ecology.
- explain how violations of each of the Hardy-Weinberg
assumptions affects genetic variation.
- define inbreeding and explain its effect on genetic
variation.
- explain the importance of population size for
the rate and outcome of microevolution.
- define natural selection.
- describe the relationship between fitness and
natural selection.
- explain how natural selection may result in a
balanced polymorphism.
- discriminate among disruptive, stabilizing, and
directional natural selection, including how each affects population phenotypic
variation.
- distinguish between biological and phylogenetic
species concepts.
- apply the correct species concept to particular
scenarios.
- define reproductive isolation mechanisms and
explain their importance in delineating a biological species.
- define biological hybridization and explain why
it presents a problem to the application of the biological species concept.
- define a shared derived character and explain
why a character must be both shared and derived to be useful as a criterion
for delineating phylogenetic species.
- compare allopatric to sympatric speciation and
apply the concepts to real-world scenarios.
- calculate effective population size for:
- sexually reproducing populations with other
than 50-50 sex ratios.
- populations that experience change in size
over time.
Lecture 03 Climate
Students will be able to:
- define climate and distinguish it from weather.
- relate photons to energy and to wavelength.
- diagram the electromagnetic spectrum using correct
terms for portions of the spectrum.
- explain the importance of thermal radiation to
the global heat budget.
- define PAR and contrast it with the visible spectrum.
- distinguish the layers of the atmosphere.
- describe the importance of the troposphere and
stratosphere to the global climate.
- distinguish among the three ways in which heat
energy can be transferred.
- outline the global heat budget.
- explain the greenhouse effect in terms of the
global heat budget.
- explain why it is colder at the poles than
at the equator.
- diagram and explain the relationship between
seasonality and the tilt and rotation of the Earth.
- define the limits to the Tropic of Cancer, Tropic
of Capricorn, Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle and relate those limits to
the tilt of the Earth.
- relate the tilt and rotation of the Earth to
solstices and equinoxes.
- explain the formation of subsidence zones and
convection cells in the Earth's atmosphere.
- define the Coriolis effect and explain its effect
on wind patterns globally.
- draw the areas of winds, along with the
prevailing direction within each area for the following areas:
- Horse Latitudes, Doldrums, Trade Winds, and
Westerlies
- relate global wind patterns to the development
of oceanic gyres.
- explain how rain shadows come to be and describe
two important rain shadows and their effects on regional climate
- explain the ENSO and compare its effects on climate
with non-ENSO years.
Lecture 04 The Aquatic
Environment
Students will be able to:
- list the important reservoirs and flows in the
global hydrologic cycle.
- define interception.
- distinguish between soil moisture and groundwater.
- describe an aquifer.
- explain the relationship between human activity
and runoff and describe the effects of excess runoff.
- define evapotranspiration.
- describe the important physical properties of
water.
- describe the absorption of light by natural waters.
- explain why bodies of water freeze from the top
and why the temperature of deep water is 4° C.
- describe the formation of thermal stratification
using the appropriate terminology.
- explain how seasonality in temperate bodies of
water can lead to turnover and the effect turnover has on photosynthetic productivity
in those waters.
- explain the formation of a halocline.
- explain why water is a powerful solvent.
- explain the reason for the saltiness of the ocean.
- explain the difference between the effect of
temperature on the saturation concentration of gaseous solutes versus its
effect on the saturation concentration of solid solutes.
- explain why deep ocean water is, in general,
not oxygen depleted but the deeper layers of lake water often are depleted.
- explain how atmospheric carbon dioxide buffers
natural waters.
- explain the formation of waves and seiches.
- explain how the Sun and Moon generate ocean tides.
- define and explain neap and spring tides.
- define the intertidal zone and describe its key
features as a habitat.
- define estuary and describe its key factors as
a habitat.
- describe tidal overmixing and its effect on salinity
in an estuary.
Lecture 05 The Terrestrial
Environment
Students will be able to:
- define the stresses unique to the terrestrial
environment for plants and animals.
- discuss the importance of boundary layer conditions
to the process of desiccation.
- predict the changes in drag associated with emergence
from an aquatic environment into the air.
- discuss the adaptations in plants and animals
to the loss of buoyancy .
- describe the interception of light from the canopy
to the surface of the earth.
- define the Leaf Area Index.
- name the five components of soil.
- discuss chemical and mechanical weathering.
- define parent material and humus.
- discuss the effect of leaching and erosion on
soil.
- discuss the factors that affect soil color.
- relate soil texture to the sand, silt and clay
content of soil.
- define loam.
- describe how soil horizons arise and give the
salient characteristics of the O, A, E, B, C and bedrock layers.
- describe the way in which the moisture holding
capacity of soil is divisible into saturation, field capacity, wilting point
and available water capacity.
- define ion exchange capacity and discuss why
cations are more likely to be retained in soils than anions.
- discuss the importance of pH to ion exchange
capacity and the importance each has to the availability of soluble nutrients
to plants.
- discuss the five soil formation processes (Laterization,
Salinization, Podzolization, and Gelization) and the climate conditions that
lead to each of them.
Lecture 06 Plant
Adaptations to Land
Students will be able to:
- describe, in general terms, the new conditions
life on land presented to plants.
- explain the importance of CO2 to O2 ratio to the
function of rubisco.
- explain why the most primitive form of photosynthesis
in land plants is called C3 photosynthesis
- draw a curve that represents the response of
photosynthetic rate, as measured by net CO2 uptake, to increasing PAR intensity
and identify the light compensation point and the light saturation point.
- define photoinhibition
- draw a leaf cross section of a C3
plant with epidermis, stomata, mesophyll, and cuticle.
- define transpiration.
- draw a graph with curves that represents photosynthetic
rate and respiration rate changes as temperature increases and identify where
Tmin, Topt,
and Tmax occur.
- describe the changes in photosynthesis when leaves
are shaded.
- describe the short and long term responses of
plants to desiccation stress and explain how each reduces the level of stress.
- describe plant adaptations to desiccation stress
and explain how each reduces the level of stress.
- describe the differences between the C4
and C3 photosynthetic pathways
- explain how C4 photosynthesis reduces the level
of desiccation stress.
- describe the differences between the CAM and
C3 photosynthetic pathways
- explain how CAM photosynthesis reduces the level
of desiccation stress.
- describe the difference between micronutrients
and macronutrients.
- explain the metabolic functions of six micronutrients
(Iron, Manganese, Boron, Copper, Zinc, and Selenium)
Lecture 07 - Animal
Adaptations
Students will be able to:
- distinguish among herbivory, carnivory, coprophagy,
fungivory, omnivory, saprophagy, granivory, frugivory, and detritivory.
- explain the roles of mutualistic symbiotic microorganisms
in animal nutrition
- distinguish browsing from grazing.
- name and define unique methods of insect herbivory.
- define filter feeding.
- define and give examples of essential minerals
(with their general functions), amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins (with
their functions)
- define homeostasis and explain the role regulation
plays in achieving a constant state.
- explain the role of negative feedback in regulation.
- distinguish between endotherms and homeotherms.
- distinguish between ectotherms and poikilotherms.
- explain the modes of heterothermy
- explain acclimatization as an adaptive response
to environmental variation.
- define torpor.
- explain how countercurrent exchange and retes
affect homeothermy.
- define hibernation.
- explain how supercooling adapts animals to cold
temperatures.
- name and explain terrestrial animal adaptations
to water shortage.
- contrast how bony fish maintain internal water
balance in marine and freshwater habitats.
- explain the value of neutral buoyancy.
- name and describe the means animals use to achieve
neutral buoyancy.
- define Circadian cycles and internal biological
clocks.
- describe the effect of seasonal environmental
cycles on animal activity.
- define critical daylength and distinguish short
day responses from long day responses.
Lecture 08 Life
History
Students will be able to:
- define life history as used in ecology.
- distinguish between adult and juveniles.
- explain the advantages and disadvantages of sexual
and asexual reproduction
- describe the forms of sexual and asexual reproduction
in plants and animals.
- describe sexual and asexual reproduction in fungi.
- define the terms "mating system" and
"pair bonds."
- name and describe the common mating systems.
- define mate choice and describe its role in sexual
selection.
- distinguish between inter- and intrasexual sexual
selection.
- describe the trade-off between growth and reproductive
effort.
- contrast semelparity and iteroparity and discuss
the general situations that give rise to each.
- define determinate and indeterminate growth.
- explain the relationship between adult size and
fecundity.
- describe the relationship between offspring success
and birth size.
- distinguish between altricial and precocial offspring.
- describe the cline in reproductive effort with
latitude and discuss the hypotheses proposed to explain the cline.
- distinguish between r and K selection.
- explain the relationship between r and K selection
and the environment.
- describe Grimes classification system for plant
life histories.
Lecture 09 Populations
Students will be able to:
- define population and explain the relationship
between species and populations.
- define modular growth, clone, biomass, ramet,
and genet.
- explain the impact that modular growth has on
the concept of population abundance.
- discuss the importance of spatial scale to the
population concept.
- define population distribution and distinguish
the two major facets of distribution.
- discuss the factors that determine distribution
boundaries.
- define mean and variance.
- define spatial pattern and population density.
- distinguish the three types of spatial pattern,
define them in mathematical terms, and discuss the causes for each pattern.
- explain the importance of spatial pattern on
the measurement and interpretation of population abundance.
- explain quadrat sampling.
- explain how the Lincoln-Peterson index can be
used to estimate population size.
- define population age structure and discuss how
it is displayed and how the display can be used to infer attributes of the
population.
- define sex ratio and how it affects population
growth and evolution.
- define dispersal and discuss its costs and benefits.
- define metapopulation and explain the importance
of dispersal to the metapopulation concept.
Lecture 10 Population
Growth
Students will be able to:
- define demography and describe a life table.
- give the name of and define the following symbols
used in demographic studies: x,
nx, lx, dx, qx, ex,
bx, mx, R0, Tc.
- draw Type I, II, and III mortality curves and
determine where, on the graph, the death rate is maximal and minimal.
- describe changes in age-specific death rates
that lead to Type I, II, and III mortality curves.
- define life expectancy and name the elements
of the life table necessary to calculate and estimation of life expectancy.
- calculate the net replacement rate from age-specific
survivorship and birth rates and define net replacement rate.
- define generation time for organisms with non-overlapping
generations and for organisms with overlapping generations.
- derive the geometric growth equation using the
net replacement rate and use the equation to predict population growth.
- write the equation for exponential population
growth and define each variable and term.
- contrast predictions of the geometric and exponential
models by drawing a graph of each.
- define the intrinsic rate of natural increase
and relate it to the net replacement rate.
- correctly apply either exponential or geometric
population growth models to given scenarios.
- distinguish between environmental and demographic
stochasticity.
- distinguish between deterministic and stochastic
models.
- contrast the predictions of exponential population
growth models with that of stochastic models based on exponential growth by
drawing both on the same graph.
- distinguish the various reasons for population
extinction.
- describe the effect of population size on the
probability of population extinction
- explain the Allee effect
- explain how inbreeding increases the probability
of population extinction
Lecture 11 Population
Regulation
Students will be able to:
- define logistic population growth and correctly
argue that it represents density-dependent population growth.
- write the equation for logistic population growth
rates and define each of the variables and terms in the equation.
- draw a logistic (sigmoid) population growth curve
and estimate the population growth rate at specified points on the curve using
the concept of tangents to a curve.
- define asymptote, K, and r.
- name the assumptions of the logistic population
growth model and predict the effect of a violation of each assumption on logistic
population growth.
- define lag time and, using graphs, predict its
effect on the outcome of logistic growth models.
- distinguish between density-dependence and density
independence.
- distinguish between scramble and interference
competition.
- explain how dispersal, social behavior, and territoriality
can act as density-dependent population regulatory mechanisms.
- compare mechanisms of plant (and sessile animal)
competition with mechanisms found in motile animals.
Lecture 12 Metapopulations
Students will be able to:
- define metapopulations and subpopulations.
- distinguish between core/satellite, patchy, and
isolated metapopulations.
- relate the type of metapopulation to the probability
of both local and metapopulation extinction.
- explain how proximity to the mainland produces
the rescue effect.
- define habitat fragmentation using metapopulation
concepts and explain why habitat fragmentation increases extinction probability.
- explain the reason that the persistence of patchy
metapopulations depends on colonization and extinction rates.
- explain why the relationship between the proportion
of patches occupied and extinction rates is linear.
- explain why the relationship between the proportion
of patches occupied and colonization rates is humped.
- draw a graph of P versus E and C and predict
the stable P.
- describe the effect of patch size on the stable
proportion of patches occupied and explain why this effect occurs.
- describe the effect of patch isolation on the
stable proportion of patches occupied and explain why this effect occurs.
- relate spatial heterogeneity to metapopulation
dynamics and type.
- explain the reason that spatial and temporal
heterogeneity leads to spreading of risk.
- describe Huffaker's experiment and how spatial
heterogeneity stabilized the mite populations.
- explain the relationship between metapopulation
dynamics and individual fecundity.
- explain the relationship between metapopulation
dynamics and body size.
- describe the four levels of population organization
that compose the population hierarchy.
- list the processes that are emergent properties
of each level of the population hierarchy.
- distinguish between the mechanisms of subspecies
divergence.
- define biogeography.
- explain how asexual species are affected by the
emergent properties of the population hierarchy.
Lecture 13 Interspecific
Competition
Students will be able to:
- define interactions (amensalism, commensalism,
competition, predation, parasitism, herbivory, and allelopathy) among organisms
in terms of benefits to each organism.
- define allelopathy.
- distinguish between symbiosis and mutualism.
- define competition in terms of vital resources.
- distinguish between interspecific and intraspecific
competition.
- derive the Lotka-Volterra interspecific competition
equations from the Logistic equation for population growth rate.
- derive the zero-growth isoclines for each species.
- graph the Lotka-Volterra zero-growth isoclines
in species space.
- identify the equilibrium points on the Lotka-Volterra
zero-isocline graph.
- identify the regions of positive and negative
population growth rate on the Lotka-Volterra zero-isocline graph.
- use the graph of Lotka-Volterra zero-growth isoclines
to predict the outcome of competition between two species.
- apply the competitive exclusion principle to
a given scenario.
- define the ecological niche and relate it to
the competitive exclusion principle.
- distinguish between a fundamental and a realized
niche
- discuss the relationship between temporal heterogeneity
and the outcome of competition using examples from lecture and textbook.
- discuss the importance of gradients to the outcome
of competition using examples from lecture and textbook.
- define resource partitioning and explain how
it promotes coexistence among competing species.
- relate limiting similarity and character displacement.
- draw a species utilization curve and label the
axes.
- draw overlapping species utilization curves and
identify the limiting similarity between adjacent species.
- draw several species utilization curves that
illustrate species packing and a set of curves that violate species packing
and limiting similarity.
- draw and explain a graph that depicts niche overlap
in two niche dimensions.
- calculate a species niche breadth from data on
resource utilization.
- calculate proportional similarity from diets
of two similar species.
- predict how character displacement should affect
the morphology of competing species in allopatry and sympatry.
- compare r- and K-selected species with respect
to expected patterns of mortality, survivorship, population size, competitive
ability, fecundity, life expectancy, age of first reproduction, life history,
and body size.
Lecture 14 Predation
and Herbivory
Students will be able to:
- define predation
- distinguish predation from other +,- species
interactions
- use the life-dinner principle to justify the
expectation that prey will have more adaptations to prevent predation than
predators have adaptations to facilitate predation.
- distinguish between direct and indirect evidence.
- translate the Nicholson-Bailey predation equations
into English sentences.
- derive the zero-growth isoclines for predator
and prey from the Nicholson-Bailey predation equations.
- graph the zero-growth isoclines in predator vs.
prey space and indicate where predator and prey populations have negative
and positive growth rates.
- indicate the equilibria predicted by the equations
in the above graph.
- alter the prey zero-growth isocline to model
prey density-dependent population regulation and predict the new equilibria
that result from the alteration.
- alter the predator zero-growth isocline to model
predator interference and predict the new equilibria that result from the
alteration.
- draw the humped zero-growth prey isocline in
the Rosenzweig-McArthur graphical predator-prey model.
- explain the reason for the hump in the
graphical model.
- draw the predator zero-growth isocline in
such a way that the model predicts a) predator extinction, b) neutral stability,
and c) stable equilibrium in the graphical model.
- use the graphical model to explain the effect
of prey refugia on predator-prey systems.
- use the graphical model to explain the paradox
of enrichment.
- define optimal foraging and explain the role
of maximization and the role of benefit cost ratios to the concept.
- explain how the marginal value theorem can be
used to explain how long foragers should spend on a patch.
- explain why aposematic colors are anti-predation
adaptations.
- define cryptic coloration and explain how it
can be a predation and an anti-predation adaptation.
- define the roles of mimic and model in Batesian
mimicry.
- predict and justify when, in general, Batesian
mimicry becomes an ineffective strategy.
- distinguish between Batesian and Mullerian mimicry.
- predict and justify the lower limit of population
sizes that promote effective Mullerian mimicry.
- explain why Mullerian mimicry is a mutualism
and Batesian mimicry is a kind of parasitism.
- distinguish between catalepsis and intimidation
displays
- explain the role polymorphism in outer coloring
may play in avoiding predation.
- define search image and predict the impact it
has on prey consumption and its role in Apostatic Selection.
- distinguish between toxins and noxious (fighting)
chemicals.
- define masting and explain why it is an anti-predation
strategy.
- explain the presence of plant defenses as indirect
evidence for the importance of herbivory on plant growth and reproduction.
- define secondary chemicals and explain their
presence in plants.
- contrast qualitative chemical defense from quantitative
plant defense.
- give two examples of both quantitative and qualitative
plant defense chemicals and describe their mechanisms of action.
- contrast apparent and unapparent plants and give
examples of each.
- define mechanical defenses and give examples
with explanations of their effect on herbivores.
- explain how failure to attract acts to defend
plants.
- define reproductive inhibition and hormone-mimics
as a mechanism of plant defense.
- explain how below-ground storage acts to defend
plants.
- define failure to attract as a plant defense.
- contrast induced versus constitutive defenses.
- apply the term "arms race" to the long-term
interactions between plants and their herbivores.
- name and explain the mechanisms of four means
of detoxification of plant secondary compounds.
Lecture 15 - Symbioses:
Parasitism and Mutualism
Students will be able to:
- explain the general characteristics of a parasite.
- distinguish parasites from predators and parasitoids.
- define terms linked to parasitism (host, host
range, definitive host, intermediate host, vector, and reservoir).
- distinguish between ectoparasites and endoparasites.
- distinguish between holoparasitic and hemiparasitic
plants.
- define mutualism in terms of net benefits or
benefit/cost ratios.
- distinguish between obligate and facultative
mutualisms.
- explain the role mutualism has played in ecological
theory now and in the past.
- define the Allee effect.
- compare mutualism and parasitism and explain
why one might become the other over time.
- define the origin problem and explain how the
relationship between parasitism and mutualism might solve the problem
- define symbiosis and give examples of mutualistic,
commensal, and parasitic symbioses.
- give examples of non-symbiotic mutualistic, commensal,
and parasitic interactions.
- evaluate a scenario and determine whether or
not it represents a diffuse mutualism
- restate the Lotka-Volterra competition equations
to describe mutualisms.
- derive the equations for the zero isoclines of
both species in a mutualism from the Lotka-Volterra competition equations
modified for mutualism.
- graph the zero-growth isocline equations in species
space and predict where regions of positive and negative growth rate occur
for each species.
- identify equilibrium points on a graph of the
zero-growth isoclines and correctly identify the points as stable or unstable
equilibria.
- define epidemiology
- use the simple epidemiological model presented
to describe the relationship between size of the susceptible host population,
transmission rate, infectious period and parasite replacement rate.
- derive the threshold size of the susceptible
population needed to sustain the parasite population (the critical density)
from the simple epidemiological model presented.
- distinguish coevolution from coadaptation.
- describe cellular defense reactions and give
examples.
- describe the reasons for cyclic fluctuations
in parasite populations.
- give examples of parasitism limiting the size
of host populations.
- give an example of Apparent Competition due to
parasitism in cervids.
- define biological control and give examples.
- explain why Myxomatosis failed to control rabbits
in Australia.
- contrast mutualists with cheaters.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
pollinator-plant mutualisms in general and the specifics of orchid-insect,
fig-wasp, and yucca-moth pollination mutualisms.
- describe the biology and costs -benefits in dispersal
mutualisms.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
cleaning mutualisms.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
defense mutualisms.
- describe the role of beltsian bodies in the ant-plant
defense mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the bacteria-aphid mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the ant-aphid mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the ant-fungus mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the plant-mycorrhizae mutualism.
- distinguish between ectomycorrhizal and VAM associations,
including host types and basic biology.
- distinguish between common VAM-plant mutualism
and VAM-Orchid mutualism
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the lichen mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the plant-nitrogen-fixing-bacteria mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the coral-alga mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the clam-alga mutualism.
- describe the biology of and costs -benefits in
the yeast-Drosophila mutualism.
- distinguish commensalism from mutualism.
- define phoresy.
Lecture 16 - Communities:
Structure and Dynamics
Students will be able to:
- distinguish between biotic assemblages and communities.
- describe emergent properties of communities
- define species richness, diversity, and evenness.
- distinguish between dominance and information-based
diversity indices.
- calculate the Berger-Parker, Simpson, Shannon,
and Brillioun diversity indices.
- relate changes in environmental heterogeneity
to changes in biodiversity.
- relate changes in environmental quality to changes
in biodiversity using the concept of size symmetry.
- contrast direct with indirect effects and give
examples involving competition, mutualism, and parasitism.
- explain keystone predation and apparent competition
as examples of indirect effects.
- define the ecological concept of dominance.
- define keystone species and their impact on biodiversity.
- define a food web.
- define and diagram flows of material or energy
between trophic levels.
- name the levels of the trophic pyramid
- define decomposers and transformers and explain
the challenge they raise to the hypothesis that the trophic pyramid is an
accurate depiction of natural community structure.
- distinguish top-down from bottom-up effects given
scenarios involving multi-trophic level interactions.
- define and give a hypothetical example of a trophic
cascade.
- correctly predict which trophic levels are competition-limited
and which are limited by other trophic levels in a given scenario and assuming
that the ecosystem exploitation hypothesis is operating.
- distinguish a guild from other sorts of communities.
- describe the physical structure of a forest.
- explain how zonation comes about and how the
resulting edge effects affect diversity.
Lecture 17 - Community
Dynamics: Succession
Students will be able to:
- define ecological succession.
- distinguish between primary and secondary succession.
- describe pioneer, intermediate, and climax seres.
- criticize Clementsian succession.
- describe alternative models of succession
(Assembly Rules, Inhibition Model, and Tolerance Model).
- contrast Markov Models of succession with Clementsian
succession.
- describe Horn's Replacement Model of succession.
- explain the effect of disturbance on succession
and the intermediate disturbance hypothesis
- define restoration ecology and relate the discipline
to various concepts of succession.
- explain the difference in the views of communities
held by Clements and Gleason.
Lecture 18 - Ecosystems
Students will be able to:
- define ecosystems and emergent properties associated
with ecosystems.
- list, define and relate ecosystem measurements
(biomass, energy flow, and nutrient flow) to ecosystem emergent properties.
- define standing crop and distinguish it from
productivity.
- describe turnover within ecosystems.
- explain how the laws of thermodynamics constrain
energy and material flows in ecosystems.
- define primary production.
- describe the methods for determining primary
production in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
- relate standing crop to production.
- distinguish gross and net primary production.
- relate net primary production to net biomass
change.
- explain the lack of positive correlation between
primary productivity and standing crop.
- define production efficiency and state general
levels of efficiency (both for GPP and NPP).
- describe the factors that control terrestrial
and marine primary productivity.
- define eutrophication and list the anthropogenic
reasons for it.
- list the nutrients most likely to limit GPP in
terrestrial and aquatic systems.
- define secondary production.
- distinguish between herbivores and detritivores.
- distinguish between gross and net secondary productivity.
- relate primary and secondary producer efficiency
to Lindeman efficiency.
- compare secondary production in terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems.
- describe the factors that limit secondary productivity.
- define nutrient cycling and associated terms
(nutrient pool, flux rate, source, sink).
- diagram the global carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen
cycles.
- explain the reason for selection of carbon, phosphorous,
and nitrogen cycles.
Lecture 19 Landscape
Ecology
Students will be able to:
- define landscape ecology and distinguish patch
from matrix.
- contrast inherent edges with induced edges.
- explain how edges lead to borders and the types
of borders that are formed.
- relate edge-effect importance to patch shape.
- explain the community composition of islands
as a balance between immigration and extinction of community members.
- relate species turnover to equilibrium species
richness.
- explain the effect of distance between patches
and patch size on extinction and colonization rates.
- explain the effect of stepping stones on equilibrium
species richness.
- explain the target and rescue effects.
- state the species-area relationship in English
and as a formula and derive the linear form of the equation.
- state the hypotheses tested by Simberloff and
Wilson and the means used to test them.
- discuss the results of Simberloff and Wilson's
experiment.
- compare landscape ecology with both island biogeography
and metapopulation modeling.
- define disturbance and disturbance regime.
- relate disturbance regime to landscape alteration.
- give several examples of types of natural disturbance
and types of human disturbance.
- distinguish between the types of fires.
- compare the landscape effects of the different
fire types.
- explain how fire suppression alters fire regime.
Lecture
20 Terrestrial Ecosystems
Students will be able to:
- relate the biome concept to the ecosystem concept.
- explain the basis for the Holdridge Life Zone
classification system for terrestrial biomes.
- list the combinations of mean annual temperature
and mean annual precipitation that do not occur in terrestrial environments
and explain why they do not occur.
- explain the important characteristics of the
tropical, temperate, boreal, and polar climatic zones and give the latitudinal
range of each.
- describe the Mediterranean climate and where
it occurs
- describe the continental, oceanic, and montane
effects on climate.
- describe a rain shadow and its effects on the
biomes in the shadow.
- distinguish between a tree and a shrub
- list the significant features, alternative names,
and locations of the following biomes:
- Tropical Rain Forest.
- Tropical Deciduous Forest.
- Tropical Savanna.
- Desert.
- Temperate Deciduous Forest.
- Temperate Shrubland.
- Grassland.
- Boreal Forest.
- Tundra.
- Temperate Rain Forest.
- Alpine Biome.
- Coastal Pine Forest
- describe the vertical zonation of forests
- distinguish between epiphytes and lianas.
- explain why drought deciduous plants are adapted
to water stress.
- explain how succulents, root succulents, and
deciduous shrubs are adapted to dry conditions.
- describe the adaptations of xeric and sclerophyllous
plants.
- explain the importance of permafrost to boreal
forest and tundra biomes.
- Explain the processes that give rise to Stripes,
Frost Hummocks, Polygons, and Solifluction Terraces in tundra ecosystems.
Lecture
21 Aquatic Ecosystems
Students will be able to:
- distinguish between lentic and lotic ecosystems.
- distinguish between ponds and lakes.
- describe the ways in which lake basins form.
- distinguish between nekton and plankton.
- describe how thermal lake stratification occurs
and breaks down.
- list the layers of a thermally stratified lake
from top to bottom.
- explain overturn.
- relate thermocline formation to primary productivity
in the lake.
- explain the formation of anoxic conditions in
the hypolimnion.
- describe the photic zonation of a lake.
- distinguish between the littoral zone and the
limnetic zone of a lake.
- define the compensation depth.
- distinguish between oligotrophic, dystrophic,
and eutrophic lakes.
- distinguish between obligate and facultative
hydrophytes.
- describe the development of wetlands and their
structure.
- list the key characteristics of marshes, swamps,
riparian woodlands, and peatlands.
- distinguish among the several types of peatlands
(bog, blanket mire, quaking bog, and fen).
- describe the formation of a perched water table.
- describe the major flooded grasslands and savannas
in the world.
- describe human impacts on flooded grasslands.
- define a watershed.
- describe stream order and define first and second
order streams.
- describe the importance of flow rate to lotic
ecosystems.
- distinguish between riffle and pool.
- distinguish between autochthonous and allochthonous
production.
- describe the feeding adaptations of stream-dwelling
invertebrates.
- explain stream drift.
- define an estuary.
- describe the stresses estuaries place on the
organisms that inhabit them and the adaptations to those stresses.
- describe barrier islands and lagoons.
- list the major characteristics of the following
marine zones
- intertidal
- pelagic
- neritic
- oceanic
- benthic
- distinguish between the littoral and supralittoral
zones and describe the stresses on organisms living in each.
- list the characteristics of the
- rocky intertidal
- sandy beach
- mudflat
- salt marsh
- mangrove forest
- distinguish between infauna and epifauna
- describe meiofauna
- explain the reasons for the high productivity
of salt marshes, mangrove forests, mudflats, and the rocky intertidal
- explain the reasons for the modest productivity
of sandy beaches.
- define the vertical zones used to stratify the
oceanic zone.
- describe the benthos.
- describe the formation of volcanic vents.
- explain the reasons for the large variation in
productivity found within the pelagic photic zone.
- explain neritic zone productivity.
- describe a coral reef and how it is built.
- distinguish among the types of coral reefs (barrier,
patch, fringing, and atoll)
- explain the reasons for the great contrast between
coral reef productivity and the productivity of the surrounding waters.
- describe the allochthonous and autochthonous
inputs into benthic productivity.
- describe vent community trophic structure and
the source of vent primary productivity.
- explain why vents are nutrient-rich environments.
Lecture
22 Diversity Patterns
Students will be able to:
- explain how the laws of thermodynamics constrain
energy and material flows in ecosystems.
- define primary production.
Lecture
23 Human Population Growth
Students will be able to:
- explain how the laws of thermodynamics constrain
energy and material flows in ecosystems.
- define primary production.
Lecture
24 Biodiversity & Sustainability
Students will be able to:
- explain how the laws of thermodynamics constrain
energy and material flows in ecosystems.
- define primary production.
Lecture
25 Climate Change
Students will be able to:
- explain how the laws of thermodynamics constrain
energy and material flows in ecosystems.
- define primary production.
Laboratory Exercise
Objectives
Laboratory 01
Introduction to Spreadsheets
- Students will be able to:
- create, save, and submit MS Excel files via email.
- locate the menubar and look up cells using R1C1
notation.
- enter formulae using the command line.
- use the toolbar.
- use both absolute and relative cell references.
- use the sort function.
- use the copy and copy (down, right) function.
- use advanced functions (mean, square root, Naperian
logarithm, Pi,
- calculate values from expressions using summation
notation.
Laboratory 02
Spreadsheet Graphics
Students will be able to:
- distinguish between categorical and
numeric data
- distinguish between meristic and
metric data.
- use MS Excel to construct a frequency
table with an array functions.
- select appropriate group sizes (category
boundaries) to improve the utility of frequency tables and histograms.
- create new MS Excel workbooks and worksheets.
- recognize histograms, bar charts, line
graphs, and scatter plots.
- pick the appropriate means of presenting
data graphically from among histograms, bar charts, line graphs, and scatter
plots.
- create histograms, bar charts, line
graphs, and scatter plots from raw data, including choosing appropriate axes
units.
- label the axes and the overall graph
and present an appropriate legend on histograms, bar charts, line graphs,
and scatter plots.
- describe in words the relationship between
the dependent and independent variables depicted.
Laboratory 03
Estimating Population Size
Students will be able to:
- describe the effect of motility (sessile versus
mobile organisms) on population size estimation techniques
- define mark-recapture technique.
- name capture and marking techniques for mammals,
birds, amphibians, insects and molluscs.
- apply the Lincoln/Peterson index to data to estimate
population size.
- calculate the standard deviation and 95% confidence
limits for the Lincoln/Peterson index.
- apply the Schnabel index to data to estimate
population size.
- apply the Jolly index to data to estimate population
size.
- calculate an estimation of the time-specific
survivorship rates and births based on the and Jolly index.
- calculate the equal-catchability index and, based
on this calculation, draw the correct conclusion about catchability of the
individuals in the sampled population.
Laboratory 04
Demography
Students will be able to:
- give the name of and define the following symbols
used in demographic studies: x,
nx, lx, dx, qx, ex,
bx, mx, R0, Tc.
- set up a life table from a given set of birth
and death dates.
- calculate age-specific survivorship, mortality,
mortality rate, and life expectancy.
- calculate the age-specific birth rate from the
above data with the addition of age-specific data on natality.
- calculate the population net replacement rate
and approximate generation time.
Laboratory 05
Spatial Pattern in the Forest
Students will be able to:
- distinguish among random, uniform, and aggregated
spatial patterns.
- present a cogent argument for the causative relationship
between competition and uniform spacing.
- present a cogent argument for the causative relationship
between spatial heterogeneity and clumped spacing.
- identify trees as members of the forest canopy
or as members of the understory.
- lay out a quadrat and sample it in a forest.
- calculate the variance-to-mean ratio from quadrat
data.
- using the poisson distribution, calculate the
expected frequency distribution of tree densities among quadrats assuming
randomly dispersed trees.
- using the chi-square distribution, calculate
the probability that the trees are distributed randomly among quadrats.
- evaluate the spatial distribution of trees in
the quadrats sampled using the results from the three calculations above.
- point-quarter sample nearest-neighbor distances
along a transect line in a forest.
- plot nearest-neighbor distance versus total trunk
areas (at dbh) for nearest-neighbors.
- fit the distance - size data points to a line
using least squares.
- evaluate the evidence for uniform spacing and
competition among trees from the graph and estimate of slope from linear model.
Laboratory 06
Functional Response by Predators
Students will be able to:
- distinguish among the types I, II, and III predator
functional response curves using both text and graphic representations.
- derive the linear form of the type II predator
functional response equation.
- explain the effect of the shape of the type III
predator functional response curve on predator choice when alternative prey
types are available and on the stability of predator-prey systems.
- fit Type I and Type II predator functional response
models to data collected in class using sums of squares.
- correctly choose the best model and state the
criterion used to make the choice.