BILD 3 Stockwell Final 2018
Define a population
A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and have a chance to mate
Describe the process by which nutrients are made available to primary producers.
'Decomposers, consumers, and other producers produce poop and detritus.
List the date and main causes and effects of the Permian extinction
- 252 MYA - May have ben caused by enormous Siberian Traps volcanoes - May have caused extreme heating/cooling - Particulates --> cold --> glaciation --> lower sea levels --> shallow marine organisms become extinct - Eruptions --> CO2 --> acidic oceans, greenhouse effect --> global warming
Explain why the Cambrian "explosion" was important in animal evolution, give the rough date for it, and discuss reasons why so many animal phyla appeared in the fossil record over the comparatively short time of 20 million years.
- 542 MYA - First appearance of many extant animal phyla (big group of species that are distinguished by broad characteristics- having a backbone and head) - More complicated body structures --> eyes, shells, armor, jaws, spines (evidence of predation) - ...
Contrast fundamental and realized niches, explain what factors may drive these to be different, and interpret the results of an experiment to determine whether a particular population is occupying all of its fundamental niche
- Fundamental niche: The full range of conditions under which a species can survive and reproduce - Realized niche: The portion of fundamental niche that a species can actually occupy as a result of its interactions with other species.
Explain why organisms can't have many large babies that are well-provisioned every year. Be able to identify how trade-offs between offspring size and number can vary in different environments (e.g. lots of resources, or resources are scarce)
- All organisms face trade-offs in how to allocate finite resources - Principle of allocation: organisms have finite resources to partition among life history functions (growth, maintenance, and reproduction) - Food resources or ability of parent to deliver the resources may be limiting
For the following hominin species, describe their anatomical features (chimp-like and human-like traits), which continent(s) they lived on, and be able to place them in relative order: Ardipithecus ramidus, Australopithecus afarensis (also known as Praeanthropus afarensis), Homo habilis, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H. neanderthalensis.
- Ardipithecus ramidus: partly arboreal, grasping feet, partly bipedal, flatter face, canines found in Ethiopia - Australopithecus afarensis: semi bipedal, semi arboreal, feet are flat on the ground, chimp arms (ape like upper bodies but human like lower bodies) found in Africa - Homo habilis: found in eastern and southern Africa, larger brain, bipedal, not arborreal - H. erectus: tall (5-6 feet), long legs, larger brains originated in Africa but also found in India, China, Spain, Georgia (western Asia), Vietnam, Indonesia - H. heidelbergensis: found in Europe, China eastern and southern Africa, our immediate ancestors. European heidelbergensis were ancestors of neanderthals, but African heidelbergensis were likely to give rise to homo sapiens - H. neanderthalensis: lived in Europe to southwestern and central Asia
Give examples of characters shared by Bacteria and Archaea, and characters shared by Archaea and Eukarya.
- Bacteria and archaea: prokaryotic, metabolically diverse, monophyletic - Archaea and Eukarya: sister taxa
Define biomes, and identify the major factors used to define biomes in terrestrial environments. Explain how precipitation and temperature affect biomes
- Biomes: major life zones characterized by vegetation type or by the physical environment - Biomes result in large part from how plants respond to climate, especially temperature and precipitation - Biomes largely come from how plants respond to climate - Approximate boundaries of biome are determined by average annual temperature and rainfall
Describe population growth using conceptual (word-based) and mathematical models
- Births and deaths - Immigration and emigration dn/dt=rN dn/dt=rN(k-N/k)
Describe the major changes in each of these characters during the evolution of humans from the human/chimp ancestor: • Brain • Face • Teeth • Feet • Neck • Shoulders
- Brain became larger - Face became flatter - Teeth became smaller - Feet became flat/ twisted down (not turned in) - Neck/ spine became more vertical - Shoulders became less flexible (no need to swing in trees)
Describe mechanisms species use to avoid predation (including herbivory)
- Camouflage and coloration - Defense mechanisms (octopus and ink, thorns etc.) - for plants: thorns, bad taste, hard skin, waxy leaves
Describe traits uniting the Bacteria. Understand the important ecological roles these organisms play. Give an example of a harmful and a beneficial Bacteria species or genus.
- Can live anywhere and acquire food from the sun, organic and inorganic molecules - Broad diversity of metabolic and reproductive abilities - Can be beneficial or harmful - Bacteria used to make cheese/ yoghurt (Streptococcus thermopiles) - Vibrio cholera causes cholera
Identify what starts the "clock" for carbon-14 vs. uranium dating samples.
- Carbon 14: when an organism dies - Uranium: when lava hardens
Precambrian: Cause, effect, and evidence for increasing oxygen in the atmosphere.
- Cause: cyanobacteria (blue green algae) that photosynthesize - Effect: largest extinction. Increased oxygen concentrations in atmosphere caused many organisms to die because they were not used to oxygen - Evidence: Stromatolites (layered rocks that form when certain prokaryotes bind thin films of sediment together)
Demonstrate the consequences of latitudinal variation in solar intensity on global air circulation patterns. Be able to draw the bands of circulating air around the planet (Hadley cells) on a global map, identify regions of high moisture and arid (desert) regions, and explain how the cells create those regions
- Cells of rotating air create wet and dry latitudes - Hot tropics cause evaporation and warm, wet air rises - Rising air cools and looses its moisture, causing rain in the tropics - Dry air is pushed towards the poles - Cool air sinks, warms up and absorbs moisture, creating subtropical deserts - Latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity: Temperature differences result from how the angle of the sun relative to the Earth's surface changes with latitude
Describe the major synapomorphies (shared derived characters) for animals.
- Chemoheterotrophs - Multicellular eukaryotes that lack cell walls. Cells supported by structural proteins (e.g. collagen) and skeletons. - Most reproduce sexually - Many developmental homologies
Define climate, and explain how the sun drives global climate patterns. Specifically, describe why the poles are cold and the tropics are warm, and what leads to seasonal variation in climate
- Climate: the long term, prevailing weather conditions in a given area (not the weather on a particular day) - The sun's warming effect increases from the poles to the equator - Latitudinal variation in sunlight intensity: Temperature differences result from how the angle of the sun relative to the Earth's surface changes with latitude - Seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis
Describe the plant biodiversity of MTEs relative to other biomes
- Cover about 2% of the earth's land area but contain approximately 20% of named vascular plants - High diversity
Describe how chaparral responds to fire
- Crown sprout after a fire: underground part of plant lives during the fire, so after it can continue to grow/ sprout - Annual plants are often dominant following a fire -Seeds are present in seed bank and germinate after fire
Define cryptic and aposematic coloration and explain how they protect against predation. Explain the difference between Müllerian and Batesian mimicry.
- Cryptic coloration (camouflage) - Aposematic coloration (warning) - Mullein mimicry: two unpalatable (not tasty) species resemble each other - Bayesian mimicry: a tasty species resembles an unpalatable (non-tasty) one
List factors regulating population growth. Be able to identify factors as density- independent or density-dependent
- Density-dependent factors: birth and/or death rates change with density - Density-independent factors: affect a population regardless of its density
Describe the physical features that define Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs) such as the coastal San Diego region.
- Diverse but threatened - By summer plants are highly flammable - Mediterranean shrub habitats are fire prone - Seeds germinate after a fire
Precambrian: Endosymbiosis and the origin of eukaryotes. Be able to explain the process of endosymbiosis and list several lines of evidence for this explanation of the origin of eukaryotic cells
- Endosymbiosis hypothesis: a cell engulfed a bacterium and became its host. As a result the engulfed bacterium became a mitochondria inside a eukaryote (mutually useful relationship) - Later, a eukaryote engulfed a cyanobacteria. Result: chloroplast
Understand the phylogenetic relationships between Bacteria, Archaea, Animals, Plants and Fungi. Be able to interpret a phylogenetic tree to explain patterns of relationships between these groups.
- Eukarya and archaea are sister taxa - Archaea and bacteria branched from the same common ancestor - animals are more closely related to fungi than plants - Animals, plants and fungi are part
Compare and contrast the 3 domains of life. Be able to give an example of organisms found in each. Understand the evolutionary relationships between the 3 domains.
- Eukarya: mostly unicellular, largely aquatic, tremendous phylogenetic diversity. Example: diatoms - Bacteria: prokaryotic, broad diversity of metabolic and reproductive abilities, more metabolically diverse. Example: Cocci - Archaea: prokaryotic, more metabolically diverse, some are extremophiles, more closely related to eukaryotes than bacteria. Example: halobacteriales - Bacteria and archaea are considered monophyletic
Define extremophiles, and give examples of categories of Archaea that are found in different extreme environments.
- Extremophiles live in extreme environments that few other organisms are able to survive in - Extreme halophiles: live in highly saline environments (for example Dead Sea) - Extreme thermophiles: live in extremely hot environments (for example sulfur rich volcanic springs) - Methanogens: archaea that release methane as a by product of their unique ways of obtaining energy
Given a life table or a description of a population's life history, be able to roughly sketch the survivorship curve of that population
- Flat at the start, reflecting low death rates during early and middle life, then drops steeply as death rates increase among older age groups (large mammals) - Drops sharply at the start, reflecting very high death rates of the young, but flattens out as death rates decline for those few individuals that survive (fish) - Immediate, constant death rate over the organism's life span (rodents)
Draw the 3 main types of survivorship curves (and know what goes on the horizontal and vertical axis of the graph). Compare and contrast each type with regards to life history strategy, and give an example of the types of organisms that show each type of curve
- Flat at the start, reflecting low death rates during early and middle life, then drops steeply as death rates increase among older age groups (large mammals) - Drops sharply at the start, reflecting very high death rates of the young, but flattens out as death rates decline for those few individuals that survive (fish) - Immediate, constant death rate over the organism's life span (rodents) - X axis: % of max life span - Y axis: # of survivors (log scale)
Precambrian: First evidence of multicellular life.
- Fossils of multicellular eukaryotes 1.3-1.5 BYA - Multicellularity = organism has cells that have specialized functions
Precambrian: Stromatolites: photosynthetic cyanobacteria found ~3.5 bya that persist today.
- Greatly changed the composition of gases in the atmosphere - Increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere, leading to the greatest extinction - Paved the way for oxygen breathing organisms to evolve
List some of the technological achievements (fire, tools, art, etc.) of: • H. erectus • Early H. sapiens
- H. erectus: first evidence of extensive group care, fire, hand axes - Early H. sapiens: advanced stone tools, language (maybe) and bone and ivory tools, elaborate shelters
Distinguish between interspecific competition and intraspecific competition, and give an example of each
- Interspecific: different species compete for a particular resource that limits their growth (light, space, nutrients) - Intraspecific: members of the same species compete for limited resources - competition can decrease population growth rates
Explain the evidence for the K-T [K-Pg] extinction being caused by an asteroid, and the effects of the impact on life on Earth. Give the date for this event and the animal groups most strongly affected.
- K-T mass extinction 65 MYA at the boundary of the Cretaceous/Tertiary periods - Almost all large vertebrates on earth on land, at sea, and in the air (all dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and pterosaurs) went suddenly extinct - Most plankton and tropical invertebrates disappeared - Many groups of organisms survived the K-T extinction including: mammals, birds, insects, corals, fishes, some mollusks, flowering plants - Evidence: worldwide iridium layer and there is a crater
Define carrying capacity (K). Explain how the relationship between K and N influences whether dN/dt is positive or negative, and whether the population is expected to grow or shrink in each circumstance. Given values of N, r, and K, calculate how the population is expected to change in the near future
- K: maximum population size that the environment can support - Under capacity: K > N--> (K-N)/ K is positive - Over capacity: K<N --> (K-N)/ K is negative - At capacity K = N --> (K-N)/ K is zero - N = population size - r = per capita population growth rate (b-m)
Describe how heat affects both the movement of air and the amount of moisture the air can hold. Sketch the consequences of these effects
- Latitudinal differences in solar intensity establish a net movement of energy from equator to poles - Warm air rises but cools as it does and cooler air falls - Warm air holds more moisture than cool air and when air cools, condensation occurs, forming clouds and rain
Describe the geographic range of H. neanderthalensis and which populations of H. sapiens interbred with them
- Lived in Europe to southwestern and central Asia (not Africa) - Direct ancestors of modern day humans interbred with Neanderthals in Europe and Asia (Middle East)
For each of these vertabrate clades (Mammals, Chondrichthyans, Amphibians, Birds, Ray-finned fishes, Lobe-finned Fishes, Reptiles), you should be able to: -List 1-2 major characteristics that define the clade. -Be able to give an example of an animal in the clade -State whether most of the animals in that clade have these traits: ability to reproduce away from water, amniotic egg, endothermic, jaws, external ears, hair/fur, legs.
- Mammals: bear live young, human and bear - Chondrichthyans: Skeleton is predominantly cartilage, sharks and rays - Amphibians: respiration in both land and water, frogs - Birds: Bones are hollow, literally any bird - Ray-finned Fishes: fins have bony rays for support, trout - Lobe-finned Fishes: rod-shaped bones surrounded by a thick layer of muscle in their pectoral and pelvic fins, lungfishes - Reptiles: cold-blooded, scales contain keratin, lizards and snakes
Describe the main characteristics of protists. Why are protists not a true clade?
- Mostly unicellular - Largely aquatic - Tremendous phylogenetic diversity - The kingdom Protista is not monophyletic because it contains organisms which are more closely related to members of other kingdoms than they are to other protists
Understand which (if any) species benefits and which (if any) species is harmed in each of the following interactions: Parasitism, Predation, Competition, Mutualism, Commensalism. Be able to give an example of each.
- Parasitism: one is benefitted and one is harmed (flea) - Predation: one is benefitted and one is harmed (lion and gazelle) - Competition: both are negatively impacted (lions and hyenas) - Mutualism: both benefit (plant and fungi or coral and phytoplankton) - Commensalism: one benefits and one is neither harmed not benefitted (barnacle on a whale)
Give examples of conditions that can permit (temporary) exponential growth and factors that can limit exponential growth
- Permit: colonization of new habitat, recovery after catastrophe, pulse of new nutrients, introduced species - Limit: shortages in food and other limiting resources, greater intraspecific aggression, increased attention from predators, greater risk of disease outbreak (lower birth rates and increase death rates)
Compare and contrast punctuated equilibrium and phyletic gradualism, and sketch the patterns created by each process.
- Phyletic gradualism: new species arise by gradual change. Sudden changes are artifacts of the spotty fossil record. Darwin's point of view. - Punctuated equilibrium: rapid change during speciation, then long period of stasis
Define population density and methods used to estimate it
- Population density: number of individuals per unit area - Count samples using standardized census methods (plots, transects) and extrapolate - Count a proxy (nests, tracks, feeding damage) - Mark and recapture
Compare and contrast the following phyla: Porifera, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Annelida, Nematoda, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Chordata. Be able to give an example of each.
- Porifera: Asymmetric, sedentary, suspension feeders without true tissues, aquatic, e.g. sponges - Cnidaria: Radially symmetric, aquatic carnivores, e.g. jellyfish - Mollusca: bilaterally symmetric, more than 2 cell layers, body without a cavity, e.g. sails - Annelida: ringed/ segmented worms bilaterally symmetric, basic nervous system with no respiratory organs, e.g. earth worm - Nematoda: Ecdysozoa clade, free-living and parasitic forms, some are pathogenic, many are soil dwelling decomposers, plant parasites, e.g. roundworm - Arthropoda: Ecdysozoa clade, All arthropods have an exoskeleton composed of chitin and jointed legs, e.g. insects - Echinodermata: Deuterostomia clade, bilaterally symmetrical larvae but radially symmetric, five-part adult body plan, e.g. sea stars - Chordata: Deuterostomia clade, notochord: flexible rod providing skeletal support, dorsal and hollow nerve cord, pharyngeal slits: grooves along side of pharynx and muscular post-anal tail, e.g. mammals, amphibians and mammals
Know which species of ape are most closely related to humans. Identify 3 features that separate humans from other apes.
- Pygmy apes/ bonobo apes - big brain - no brow riges - flat face - bi pedal hands modified for fine grasping
Sketch each of the three major dispersion patterns and identify the distribution of a population based on their dispersion pattern. Identify the factors that most commonly give rise to each type of dispersion
- Random: position of each individual is independent of others - Clumped: individuals aggregate in patches. Influences by resource availability or social interactions (could be due to resources, defense or social interactions) - Uniform: individuals are evenly distributed (due to negative interactions such as territoriality or resource competition)
Explain how the evolution of seeds provided plants with an advantage over seedless plants. Give an example of a mechanism plants use to disperse their seeds.
- Seeds are detachable, mobile, capable of prolonged dormancy and withstanding periods of harsh physical conditions - Pollen: contains sperm, packaged to travel, is carried long distances by wind or animals
Describe the general characteristics of the Pleistocene megafauna, give a couple of examples of species, and suggest at least one cause of their extinction
- Surviving megafauna are mostly African - Ground sloth - Giant kangaroo - Sabre-toothed cat - The Pleistocene megafauna are probably the first human-caused extinctions
Describe the two major ocean currents discussed (the Gulf Stream and the California Current/Southern California Countercurrent)
- The Gulf Stream: carries warm water from the equator to the North Atlantic, making northwestern Europe warmer in winter than southeastern Canada - California Current/Southern California Countercurrent: cold water that flows southward along western North America, which supports a coniferous rain forest ecosystem along the Pacific coast
Identify the two major regional effects on climate (topography and continental vs. coastal climates), and explain how these features give rise to regional climate patterns
- Topography influences rainfall (rain shadows): as moist air moves from the ocean and encounters a mountain, it flows upwards, cools and drops large amounts of rain. On the leeward side of the mountain, there is little rain, creating a rain shadow - Oceans moderate coastal climate: Water has a higher specific heat (amount of energy required to raise temperature) than land or air. Water heats up and cools down more slowly than land does, creating climate that is more moderate near the coasts
For the examples of protists discussed in lecture (Trypanosoma, diatoms, brown algae, green algae), know the basic features that define each group and their ecological role.
- Trypanosoma: Single large parasitic cell, flagellated, blood pathogen that is carried by tsetse flies in tropical Africa, causes sleeping sickness - Diatoms: Cell wall composed of silica, freshwater and marine, very diverse, major component of plankton, make up diatomaceous earth - Brown algae: Contain algin, which is used as a thickening agent in many foods, marine and multicellular - Green algae: mostly multicellular, marine, freshwater and terrestrial, Paraphyletic (should include land plants)
Describe the main characteristics of fungi, including their basic body plan.
- Unicellular and multicellular - Widely dispersing spores - Decomposers, parasites, pathogens, mutualists - More closely related to animals than to plants - Take in nutrients via absorption - Fungal cell walls contain chitin (like insects) - Multicellular fungi are primarily composed of hyphae (tubes)
Compare and contrast Vertebrates, Chondrichthyans, Osteicthyans, and Tetrapods. Know the features that define each group, and be able to give an example of an organism in each. Understand the evolutionary relationships between these groups (HINT: these are nested clades).
- Vertebrates: Backbone composed of vertebrae, human - Chondrichthyans: Skeleton is predominantly cartilage, sharks and rays - Osteicthyans: Bony (ossified) skeleton of calcium phosphate, ray-finned fish, lobe-finned fish, tetrapods, eel - Tetrapods: lobe-finned ancestor developed limbs with digits, facilitating colonization of land, lizard
Discuss how the origin of vascular tissue provided plants with an advantage over non-vascular plants
- Water-conducting cells xylem and phloem - Roots anchor, absorb water and nutrients - Leaves increase surface area of plant body for photosynthesis - Could grow taller and be more competitive
Understand and give examples of species that have a strong influence on communities (dominant and keystone species)
- Wolf in Yellowstone - Beavers (dam creates a habitat for ducks etc. to live in) - Keystone species greatly influence biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem, so without them the ecosystem would not be healthy - dominant species: more abundant (trees)
Explain the difference between background extinction and mass extinction
- background extinction: extinctions that occur at a normal rate - mass extinction: High percentage of species go extinct within a short period of time due to some large event
Compare and contrast the 3 possible outcomes of competitive interactions (competitive exclusion, resource partitioning, character displacement)
- competitive exclusion: Two species cannot coexist indefinitely on the same limiting resource (bacteria in a lab) - resource partitioning: Interspecific competitors often have niches that differ slightly. Evolution by natural selection can shape the niche of a species in response to interspecific competition (anoles lizards differ from one another in their use of microhabitats) - character displacement: competition for the same resources imposes selection for using different resources (finches and beak size)
Be able to interpret the data in a life table, and describe some methods for getting life table data
- direct observation of a population - observed age at death - observed age structure
Define ecological niche and distinguish it from habitat
- ecological niche: the way a particular species makes its living and the "space" that it occupies to make that living. The sum total of an organism's use of biotic and abiotic resources in its environment - It's not just the habitat that a species occupies. It's the ways in which it interacts with other species and the physical environment - habitat: where an organism lives
Give evidence that a 6th mass extinction is currently underway and list its major causes
- major cause is habitat loss - animal and plant populations are declining - more people consuming more things
Compare and contrast the 4 main groups of plants (nonvascular, seedless vascular, gymnosperms and angiosperms). Be able to give an example of each.
- nonvascular: Non-woody, occur in moist environments, form low mats, e.g. moss - seedless vascular: occur in moist environments, e.g. ferns - gymnosperms: no flowers, seeds exposed on modified leaves that form cones, seeds not enclosed in ovaries, e.g. pine tree - angiosperms: seeds protected in fruits, seeds enclosed in ovaries, e.g. sunflower
Give an example of a photoautotroph and a chemoheterotroph, and explain why each organism is given that label. Explain what each part of those two words mean
- photoautotroph: energy source is light and gets its own carbon from the atmosphere. Example: plant - chemoheterotroph: energy source is from chemicals (glucose) and gets its carbon from other things (organic compounds/ eating other organisms). Example: Fungi
Compare and contrast top-down and bottom-up control of communities.
- top down: Community structure is determined from above by predation. Lots of Predators means fewer herbivores, which means more vegetation - bottom up: Abiotic nutrients are the primary determinant of community structure. Nutrients control vegetation (primary production), which controls herbivores, which control predators.
Given a diagram of a food chain and information about whether it is a top-down or bottom-up system, predict how a change in the population size of one species would affect the population size of another species in the chain.
- top down: Community structure is determined from above by predation. Lots of Predators means fewer herbivores, which means more vegetation - bottom up: Abiotic nutrients are the primary determinant of community structure. Nutrients control vegetation (primary production), which controls herbivores, which control predators.
Recognize a general category of biome if you are standing in it (tropical rainforest, grassland, desert, chaparral, etc.)
- tropical rainforest: constant rainfall, typically high temperature - grassland: dry winters and wet summers, cool winter and warm summer - desert: low precipitation, either very hot or very cold - chaparral: highly seasonal, rainy winters, dry summers, cool fall, spring and winter - Savanna: seasonal, long dry season - Coniferous forest: cold winters, moderate summers - Tundra: cold winters and cool summers
Give the approximate dates for the following events and which continent they occurred on: • Divergence of human and chimpanzee lineages • Origin of H. neanderthalensis • Origin of H. sapiens
1. 4.6 - 6.2 MYA 2. 400,000 to 28,000 ya in Europe to southwestern and central Asia 3. 200,000 YA to present
List the 4 synapomorphies (shared derived characters) for chordates. Explain the function of the notochord and dorsal hollow nerve cord and describe the form they take in adult humans.
1. Muscular, post anal tail 2. Notochord: flexible rod providing skeletal support 3. Dorsal, hollow nerve cord 4. Pharyngeal slits: grooves along side of pharynx. - notochord is the backbone in human adults - dorsal, hollow nerve cord is the central nervous system in adult humans
Oldest fossils of eukaryotic cells
1.8 bya
Start of Mesozoic Era (Dinosaurs)
251 mya
Precambrian: Origin of cells
3.5 BYA
Oldest fossils of cells (prokaryotes appear)
3.5 bya
Origin of Earth
4.6 bya
End of Precambrian/Start of Cambrian/Paleozoic Era
542 mya
Start of Cenozoic Era (Mammals)
65.5 mya
Explain how carbon in the atmosphere sets the carbon-14/carbon-12 ratio during an organism's lifetime.
A living organisms contains carbon 12 and carbon 14. When the organism dies, it stops accumulating carbon and the amount of carbon 12 in its tissues remains constant. Carbon 14 that it contains at the time of death slowly decays into nitrogen 14. By measuring the ration of carbon 14 to carbon 12 we can determine the fossil's age.
|———————|—————————-|———————|——| 550 mya A B C Present day 1. K-T extinction 2. Beginning of Mesozoic Era 3. Colonization of land by arthropods
Answers: A=3, B=2, C=1
Explain why energy transfer is inefficient within communities (trophic efficiency), and identify the consequences for biomass at each trophic level (energy pyramid). Know what approximate proportion of the energy at each trophic level is transferred to the next level up. Use these ideas to explain why food chains are generally short (<6 links). Explains how this trophic inefficiency is relevant to human diet choices.
Biological energy transfer is inefficient. Less energy = less biomass. Which each step you lose about 10% biomass and 10% energy. Going vegetarian takes out a step of energy transfer and thus increase the amount of energy available for everyone.
Explain the pathways and processes in the cycling of carbon. How does it get into the atmosphere (and in what form)? How does it get into primary producers and from there to consumers and decomposers?
CO2 in atmosphere from cellular respiration. Back into producers by photosynthesis.
Periods of the Precambrian era
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian
Explain the major challenges faced when plants colonized land, and the advantages to living on land.
Challenges: -Relative scarcity of water - Lack of structural support - Herbivores Advantages: - access to stronger sunlight for photosynthesis - access to a greater concentration of carbon dioxide in the air as compared with the concentration in the water - many possible pollinators - many types of seed dispersal - ability to grow taller
Know that arthropods dominate the list of described species (~75%) but most species are microbes
Compare and contrast the 3 domains of life. Be able to give an example of organisms found in each. Understand the evolutionary relationships between the 3 domains.
Identify the types of data scientists use to determine historic global temperature.
Corals, Pollen, tree rings, ice cores, ocean and lake sediments
Describe the major threats to biodiversity. For each, identify how these changes lead to losses in biodiversity.
Deforestation, ocean acidification.
Describe the process of continental drift
Earth continents have moved around (Pangaea)
Describe the major processes in the water cycle: what moves water up, what moves it down, and how it mover from ocean to land and back again.
Evaporation from sea to cloud. Precipitation over land. Percolation through soil. Runoff and groundwater back into ocean.
Define ecology and its components
Ecology: scientific study of the interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms components are evolutionary, descriptive and functional
Identify which group of algae is most closely related to land plants
Green algae
Give two examples of the harmful effects we have observed of the warming that has already occurred (~1 degree C).
Increased coastal flooding, increased air pollution (its a cause though, not a result).
Describe how climate change affects the following: sea levels, glaciers, range of diseases, extreme weather events.
Increases sea level, melts glaciers, increases potency of diseases, makes weather more extreme.
Explain what is special about the California Floristic Province
It is a biodiversity hotspot
Describe the experiment at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: what was measured, what experimental treatment was performed, what the consequences were for water and nitrogen runoff, and what was concluded about the role of plants in nutrient and water retention.
It measured levels of nitrate runoff in relation to deforestation. Nitrogen runoff increased drastically. Plants play a vital roll in nitrogen runoff regulation.
Evaluate evidence indicating that changes in greenhouse gases are due to human activities. Identify the 2 major ways that humans have contributed to greenhouse gases.
It mostly proven by correlation and absence of another explanation for rising temperature. Burning fossils fuels and deforestation.
Use the trophic pyramid to explain why persistent toxins are more concentrated in organisms at higher trophic levels.
Lower biomass = high concentration.
Explain what causes ocean acidification and what effects it has on marine life.
More CO2 uptake due to increased level of CO2. Kills marine life.
Explain how humans have changed the balance of the carbon cycle, giving specific examples as to how particular sources have changed.
More wood and fossils fuel burning add CO2
Given a world map or a description of ecosystems, be able to predict which large areas have higher or lower net primary production and explain why.
Mostly dependent on amount of light. NPP largest toward the equator.
Explain where phosphorus comes from naturally and the two main sources that humans have used for phosphorus in fertilizer.
Mostly in marine sedimentary rocks. It is mined and gotten from manure/guano.
Give examples of ecosystem services and explain why they are worth money to humans.
Movement of water.
List the overall pathways and processes in the cycling of nitrogen. What is the major reservoir of nitrogen? How does it get into primary producers and from there to consumers and decomposers? Be able to briefly describe the role that bacteria and legumes play. Describe how human activities have influenced nitrogen cycles, and how this has affected ecosystems (e.g., dead zones).
N2 in the atmosphere is the major reservoir. Bacteria use nitrogen fixation to bring nitrogen into the ecosystem, so do legumes. Factories release a lot of nitrogen, which then runoff into the ocean and produce seasonal dead zones.
Define net primary production [NPP] and explain why it is an important measurement.
NPP is equal to gross primary production minus the energy use by primary producers by cellular respiration. NPP = GPP - Ra. Its the amount of new biomass added in a given time. It shows population growth.
Period where genus Homo originated and date
Pleistocene, 0.01 mya
Identify one way in which biodiversity helps human health.
They better regulate natural cycles.
Describe the mechanism by which greenhouse gases increase the temperature of the Earth.
They trap more light in the troposphere.
List these major events of the Mesozoic Era: a. Radiation of dinosaurs b. Emergence of mammals (know what mammals generally looked like during this time) c. Replacement of earlier vascular plants with conifers; emergence of angiosperms
a. Late Triassic (250-200 MYA) b. Late Triassic (220 MYA) - small rodent like mammals c. Cretaceous: forests of fern like plants, cycads and gingkos shifted to conifer forests with seeds. Then angiosperms (flowering plants) appeared by the end of the era (65.5 MYA)
List these major events of the Cenozoic Era: a. Adaptive radiation of mammals b. Evolution of humans
a. Mammals underwent an adaptive radiation after the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 MYA b. 400,000 YA origin of Neanderthals and 200,000 YA origin of modern humans
List these major events of the Paleozoic Era and give the period in which each occurred: a. Colonization of land by plants b. Evolution of terrestrial vascular plants (list the adaptations that allowed them to survive out of the water) c. Colonization of land by arthropods d. Colonization of land by vertebrates (Tiktaalik) e. Radiation of terrestrial amphibians and bony fish f. Development of the amniotic egg, allowing reproduction on land and leading to reptiles
a. Ordovician b. Silurian period (plants had to retain liquid- not dry out, circulate water/liquid throughout bodying have structural support) - rigid cell wall c. Early Devonian d. Late Devonian e. Devonian f. Carboniferous period
Provide the rough time scales and know what kinds of samples for which carbon-14 dating vs. uranium dating are appropriate.
carbon 14: 75,000 years is the oldest we can measure with carbon dating , so carbon dating is useful for recent organic things - uranium dating is used for dating much older things, such as lava (500 million years)
Explain why nutrients cycle within ecosystems but energy flows through them. Using those ideas, explain the consequences if an ecosystem stopped receiving solar energy. Trace the cycling of matter and flow of energy through ecosystems.
energy conversions are inefficient but matter in always conserved. If there is no solar energy, no energy. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fslideplayer.com%2Fslide%2F260668%2F1%2Fimages%2F7%2FMicroorganisms%2Band%2Bother%2Bdetritivores%2BSecondary%2Band%2Btertiary%2Bconsumers.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fslideplayer.com%2Fslide%2F260668%2F&docid=eraE6eZfU-pK6M&tbnid=nVFJpTK7EQf2SM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjHtrrz3YzfAhUP3Z8KHc6HBi0QMwg9KAAwAA..i&w=960&h=720&bih=910&biw=1177&q=an%20overview%20of%20energy%20and%20nutrient%20dynamics%20in%20an%20ecosystem&ved=0ahUKEwjHtrrz3YzfAhUP3Z8KHc6HBi0QMwg9KAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8
What does ecosystem ecology include that community ecology does not?
energy flow and chemical cycling,
Sketch the overall shape of the tree of life, including the effects of mass extinctions.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Phylogenetic_tree.svg/675px-Phylogenetic_tree.svg.png
List cellular traits shared by all eukaryotes but not by Bacteria or Archaea
internal membrane bound structures (e.g. nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplast)
Define ecological community
the scientific study of the interactions between species in communities
