The hierarchy of ecological systems
- What does the Greek word oikos mean? By the way, the word ecology is derived from
this Greek word. - Know the hierarchy of ecological systems, i.e. levels of biological organization.
- Know definitions: population, community and ecosystem. For ‘ecosystem,’ know both
definitions. - Know about experimentation – replication, confounding variables (and how to control –
e.g. greenhouses, incubators, microcosms), control/treatment, microcosms, permanent
plots (and annual data collection to address variation over time), how to address spatial
variation. - What does the word phenology mean in “The National Phenology Network”
- What is iNaturalist and how might data from it be used by ecologists?
- Read the document (on D2L) related to sea otters and relate the text to figure showing
the interaction of species. - Know the sizes of soil particles and how size variation determines field capacity? What
is field capacity? - Know about photosynthesis – What organelle does it occur in? What are the reactants
and products? - What is photorespiration and what is rubisco’s role in photorespiration?
- What is the most common form of photosynthesis? What forms of photosynthesis are
found in dry habitats? How does CAM operate daily? In what cells does the Calvin
cycle occur – it differs between C3/CAM and C4? - Name some adaptations that plants may have to deal with hot, dry conditions.
- If a plant wanted to extract additional water from soil, would it increase/decrease solute
concentration in root cells? - From the reading on owls posted on D2L, know about the biology of skunk cabbage.
See page 8, Figure 4.8 on the “owl heat regulation text” document on D2L. - Name environmental events from smallest to largest spatial scale.
- What is the relationship between duration and spatial scale of environmental events?
Page 2 - Define phenotypic plasticity, phenotypic trade-off, acclimation, isozymes. What type of
traits respond most rapidly vs least rapidly to the environment? - How does root/shoot ratio change in relation to soil water availability?
- Know about the patter of monarch butterfly migration and the purpose of torpor in
hummingsbirds. - What is the solar equator? Where’s the location?
- Know about Earth’s rotation and how the sun shines on the Earth during the equinox.
- How does a Hadley cell function? How does it determine wet vs dry habitats? Where
are the wet vs. dry habitats found in relation to the Hadley cell? - What is the intertropical convergence zone? How does it determine wet vs dry season
and the timing of these seasons north and south of the equator? - What are the major precipitation effects of El Niño–Southern Oscillation around the
globe? - Describe a rain shadow and how it influences the environment.
