SUMMARY OF ECOLOGICAL
CONCEPTS COVERED IN
EV/BY
208 INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY
Following
is a list of topics / concepts / vocabulary that we have covered in class. As a good study guide, provide yourself
with 1) a definition or explanation of the topic, and when applicable, 2) at
least one (2 or more is better) real-world (not theoretical) examples of this
principle that you have learned from class, field trips, your textbook (this is
a great resource!), or your own experience. This list is not a comprehensive study guide and the exams will
not be limited to these topics; however, I hope it will provide you with a
framework which will help you remember these topics well into your future!
General:
- Levels of
Ecological Organization:
Organism (Physiology and Behavior), Population, Community,
Ecosystem, Landscape, Biosphere
- Kingdoms of life
and what these organisms do for a living: What do they eat (carbon source) and where do they get
their energy?
- Life on Earth is
controlled by oxidation-reduction reactions
- Natural selection
- Evolution
- Fitness
- Niche
- Ecological optimum
and activity space
- Ecological
variation over space and time
- Phenotypic
plasticity
- Acclimation vs.
Adaptation
- Life history
strategies: fecundity,
maturity, and parity
- Reproductive
strategies: Asexual vs. sexual reproduction, Hermaphroditism, Sex Ratio
- Reproductive
strategies: Mating systems
(Promiscuity, Polygamy, Monogamy)
- Sexual dimorphism,
sexual selection, and the handicap principle
Ecosystems,
Microorganisms, and Nutrient Cycling:
- Energy exchange
through food webs: ecological
efficiency
- Water, carbon,
nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles
- Decomposition:
mechanisms, reactants, and products
- Abiotic (climate,
soil properties) and biotic (litter quality) controls over decomposition
- Maintenance of soil
fertility: climate, vegetation, organisms, parent material, time (CLORPT)
- Eutrophication
- Nutrient cycling
and mixing in aquatic systems
- Fungal-Plant
symbioses
Abiotic
Environment:
- Climate: Global patterns
- Atmospheric
circulation: global and local
- Ocean
circulation: global and local
- Climate in aquatic
systems : Lakes
- Topography: climate, water/nutrient movement
- Soil
development: Weathering and
nutrient supply to plants
Plants:
- Photosynthesis: Benefits and tradeoffs between C3,
C4, and CAM pathways
- Respiration
- Controls over gross
and net primary production:
water, light, and nutrients
- Nutrient and water
uptake
- Plant growth
requirements: Light,
Nutrients, Water, CO2
- Plant nutrient
availability in ecosystems
- Strategies for
maintaining homeostasis: Morphological strategies for maintaining heat and
osmotic balance
- Strategies for
maximizing fitness: How plants maximize resource (nutrient, light, water,
light, and CO2) gain and minimize resource loss (adaptation and
acclimation)
- Variation in production
efficiency
Animals:
- Strategies for
maintaining homeostasis: Behavioral strategies for maintaining heat
balance: movement, migration,
dormancy, and storage
- Strategies for
maximizing fitness: How animals maximize resource (food and water) gain and
minimize resource loss (via both adaptation and acclimation): foraging and water conservation
strategies (optimal foraging, prey switching)
- Variation in
production efficiency
-
Ecological
Complexity: effects of human
activity on ecological systems
- Climate change
- Livestock grazing
- Agriculture
- Air pollution,
including acid rain and nitrogen deposition
- Hunting/Fishing
- Habitat
fragmentation
- Urbanization
- Invasive species
- Roads
Population
Ecology
- Causes of
population structure:
clumped, random, spaced
- Patch dynamics
- Ideal free
distribution and deviations from it
- Mark-capture-release
and uses
- Geographic range
and dispersal distance
- Exponential,
geometric, and logistic population growth: equations and meaning
- Age structures and
distribution
- Life tables and
important regulators of age distributions in populations
- Doubling time
- Carrying capacity
- Density dependent
factors in animals and plants
- Sources of genetic
variation
- Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium and devations from it
- Causes and effects
of genetic drift, founder events, population bottlenecks, inbreeding,
geographic isolation
- Genetic
consequences of stabilizing and directional selection
Community
Ecology
- Morphological,
chemical, and behavioral adaptations in prey (including plants)
- Parasite-host
interactions
- Defense compounds
in plants: causes,
consequences, and tradeoffs
- Effects of
herbivory/parasitism/predation on community structure and biodiversity
- Causes and
consequences of predatory –prey oscillations
- Assumptions of
predator-prey coexistence
- Dynamics of the
Lotka-Volterra model: Tests
and modifications
- Competition models
and theories of coexistence of species
- Resources vs.
environmental modulators
- Limiting vs.
non-limiting resources
- Competitive
exclusion principle
- Exploitation and
Interference competition in plants and animals
- Intermediate
disturbance hypothesis
- Influence of
predators on competitive interactions
- Dynamics of
intraspecific vs. interspecific competition
- Coevolution and
effects on genotypic variation
- Mutualism
- Holistic vs.
individualistic/continuum concept of community structure
- Species vs.
functional diversity
- Species richness,
diversity, abundance, dominance, rare species
- Ecotone
- Food webs and
ecological stability
- Keystone species
and predators
- Top down vs. bottom
up regulation of trophic dynamics
- Species-area
relationship
- Climax, Primary vs.
secondary succession, plant and animal traits within each
- Gap size and
succession
- Faciltiation,
tolerance, and inhibition
Biodiversity
and Biogeography
- Ways to increase
biodiversity in ecosystems
- Beta diversity,
niche breadth, niche space, niche overlap, and niche diversity,
- Species sorting
- Functional vs.
realized niche
- Equilibrium theory
of island biogeography and uses in continental systems
- Effects of
predators, herbivores, pathogens, disturbance, gap dynamics, on
biodiversity
- Convergent
evolution
- Origin of life on
Earth and Geologic time
- Continental drift
- Climate change over
geologic time
- Speciation on
continents