Category: Ecology

Chapter 50 AP Obj – Intro to Ecology

 

 

Chapter 50    Introduction to Ecology & the Biosphere
Objectives
The Scope of Ecology
1. Define ecology. Identify the two features of organisms studied by ecologists.
2. Describe the relationship between ecology and evolutionary biology.
3. Distinguish between abiotic and biotic components of the environment.
4. Distinguish among organismal ecology, population ecology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, and landscape ecology.
5. Clarify the difference between ecology and environmentalism.
Interactions Between Organisms and the Environment Affect the Distribution of Species
6. Define biogeography.
7. Describe the questions that might be asked in a study addressing the limits of the geographic distribution of a particular species.
8. Describe the problems caused by introduced species and illustrate with a specific example.
9. Explain how habitat selection may limit distribution of a species within its range of suitable habitats.
10. Describe, with examples, how biotic and abiotic factors may affect the distribution of organisms.
11. List the four abiotic factors that are the most important components of climate.
12. Distinguish between macroclimate and microclimate patterns.
13. Provide an example of a microclimate.
14. Explain, with examples, how a body of water and a mountain range might affect regional climatic conditions.
15. Describe how an ecologist might predict the effect of global warming on distribution of a tree species.
16. Name three ways in which marine biomes affect the biosphere.
Aquatic and Terrestrial Biomes
17. Describe the characteristics of the major aquatic biomes: lakes, wetlands, streams, rivers, estuaries, intertidal biomes, oceanic pelagic biomes, coral reefs, and marine benthic biomes.
18. Define the following characteristics of lakes: seasonal turnover, thermal stratification, thermocline, photic zone.
19. Explain why the following statement is false: “All communities on Earth are based on primary producers that capture light energy by photosynthesis.”
20. Describe the characteristics of the major terrestrial biomes: tropical forest, desert, savanna, chaparral, temperate grassland, coniferous forest, temperate broadleaf forest, and tundra.
21. Give an example of a biome characterized by periodic disturbance.
BACK

 

Chapter 51 AP Obj Behavior

 

 

Chapter 51    Behavioral Biology
Objectives
Introduction to Behavior and Behavioral Ecology
1. Define behavior.
2. Distinguish between proximate and ultimate questions about behavior. Ask a proximate question and an ultimate question about bird song.
3. Explain how the classical discipline of ethology led to the modern study of behavioral ecology.
4. Define fixed action patterns and give an example.
5. Define imprinting. Suggest a proximate cause and an ultimate cause for imprinting in young geese.
Many Behaviors Have a Genetic Component
6. Explain how genes and environment contribute to behavior. Explain what is unique about innate behavior.
7. Distinguish between kinesis and taxis.
8. Distinguish between signal and pheromone.
9. Explain how Berthold’s research demonstrated a genetic basis for blackcap migration.
10. Describe Insel’s research on the genetic and physiological controls on parental behavior of prairie voles. Describe Bester-Meredith and Marler’s research on the influence of social behavior on parental behavior of California mice.
Learning
11. Explain how habituation may influence behavior.
12. Describe Tinbergen’s classic experiment on spatial learning in digger wasps.
13. Distinguish between landmarks and cognitive maps.
14. Describe how associative learning might help a predator to avoid toxic prey.
15. Distinguish between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
16. Describe an experiment that demonstrates problem solving in nonhuman animals.
Behavioral Traits Can Evolve by Natural Selection
17. Explain how Hedrick and Riechert’s experiments demonstrated that behavioral differences between populations might be the product of natural selection.
18. Use an example to show how researchers can demonstrate the evolution of behavior in laboratory experiments.
19. Explain optimal foraging theory.
20. Explain how behavioral ecologists carry out cost-benefit analyses to determine how an animal should forage optimally. Explain how Zach demonstrated that crows feed optimally on whelks.
21. Explain how predation risk may affect the foraging behavior of a prey species.
22. Define and distinguish among promiscuous, monogamous, and polygamous mating relationships. Define and distinguish between polygyny and polyandry.
23. Describe how the certainty of paternity influences the development of mating systems.
24. Explain why males are more likely than females to provide parental care in fishes.
25. Suggest an ultimate explanation for a female stalk-eyed fly’s preference for mates with relatively long eyestalks.
26. Agonistic behavior in males is often a ritualized contest rather than combat. Suggest an ultimate explanation for this.
27. Explain how game theory may be used to evaluate alternative behavioral strategies.
28. Define inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism. Discuss conditions that would favor the evolution of altruistic behavior.
29. Relate the coefficient of relatedness to the concept of altruism.
30. Define Hamilton’s rule and the concept of kin selection.
Social Learning and Sociobiology
31. Define social learning and culture.
32. Explain why mate choice copying by a female may increase her fitness.
33. State the main premise of sociology.
Back

 

Chapter 52 AP Obj Pop Ecol

 

 

Chapter 52    Population Ecology
Objectives
Characteristics of Populations
1. Distinguish between density and dispersion of a population.
2. Explain how ecologists may estimate the density of a species.
3. Describe conditions that may result in clumped dispersion, uniform dispersion, and random dispersion of individuals in a population.
4. Explain how a life table is constructed.
5. Distinguish between a life table and a reproductive table.
6. Describe the characteristics of populations that exhibit Type I, Type II, and Type III survivorship curves.
Life Histories
7. Define and distinguish between semelparity and iteroparity. Explain what factors may favor the evolution of each life history strategy.
8. Explain, with examples, how limited resources and trade-offs may affect life histories.
Population Growth
9. Compare the exponential model of population growth with the logistic model.
10. Explain how an environment’s carrying capacity affects the per capita rate of increase of a population.
11. Explain the meaning of each of the following terms in the logistic model of population growth:
a. rmax
b. K 2 N
c. (K 2 N)/K
12. Distinguish between r-selected populations and K-selected populations.
Population-Limiting Factors
13. Explain how density-dependent factors affect population growth.
14. Explain, with examples, how biotic and abiotic factors may work together to control a population’s growth.
15. Describe boom-and-bust population cycles, explaining possible causes of lynx/hare fluctuations.
Human Population Growth
16. Describe the history of human population growth.
17. Define the demographic transition.
18. Compare the age structures of Italy, Afghanistan, and the United States. Describe the possible consequences for each country.
19. Describe the problems associated with estimating Earth’s carrying capacity for the human species.
BACK

 

Chapter 53 AP Obj Community

 

 

Chapter 53     Community Ecology
Objectives
Interspecific Interactions and Community Structure
1. List the categories of interspecific interactions and explain how each interaction may affect the population densities of the two species involved.
2. State the competitive exclusion principle.
3. Define an ecological niche and restate the competitive exclusion principle using the niche concept.
4. Distinguish between fundamental and realized niche.
5. Explain how interspecific competition may lead to resource partitioning.
6. Define and compare predation, herbivory, and parasitism.
7. Give specific examples of adaptations of predators and prey.
8. Explain how cryptic coloration and warning coloration may aid an animal in avoiding predators.
9. Distinguish between Batesian mimicry and MŸllerian mimicry.
10. Describe how predators may use mimicry to obtain prey.
11. Distinguish among endoparasites, ectoparasites, and parisitoids.
12. Distinguish among parasitism, mutualism, and commensalism.
13. Explain the relationship between species richness and relative abundance and explain how both contribute to species diversity.
14. Distinguish between a food chain and a food web.
15. Describe two ways to simplify food webs.
16. Summarize two hypotheses that explain why food chains are relatively short.
17. Explain how dominant and keystone species exert strong control on community structure. Describe an example of each.
18. Describe and distinguish between the bottom-up and top-down models of community organization. Describe possible features of a model that is intermediate between these two extremes.
Disturbance and Community Structure
19. Define stability and disturbance.
20. Provide examples of how disturbance may increase or decrease species diversity.
21. Give examples of humans as widespread agents of disturbance.
22. Distinguish between primary and secondary succession.
23. Describe how species that arrive early in succession may facilitate, inhibit, or tolerate later arrivals.
24. Explain why species richness declines along an equatorial-polar gradient.
25. Explain the significance of measures of evapotranspiration to species richness.
Biogeographic Factors Affect Community Biodiversity
26. Define the species-area curve.
27. Explain how species richness on islands varies according to island size and distance from the mainland.
28. Define and contrast the following pairs of hypotheses:
a. interactive hypothesis versus individualistic hypothesis
b. rivet model versus redundancy model
BACK

 

Chapter 20 AP Objectives

 

Chapter 20    DNA Technology
Objectives
DNA Cloning
1. Explain how advances in recombinant DNA technology have helped scientists study the eukaryotic genome.
2. Describe the natural function of restriction enzymes and explain how they are used in recombinant DNA technology.
3. Explain how the creation of sticky ends by restriction enzymes is useful in producing a recombinant DNA molecule.
4. Outline the procedures for cloning a eukaryotic gene in a bacterial plasmid.
5. Describe techniques that allow identification of recombinant cells that have taken up a gene of interest.
6. Define and distinguish between genomic libraries using plasmids, phages, and cDNA.
7. Describe the role of an expression vector.
8. Describe two advantages of using yeast cells instead of bacteria as hosts for cloning or expressing eukaryotic genes.
9. Describe two techniques to introduce recombinant DNA into eukaryotic cells.
10. Describe the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and explain the advantages and limitations of this procedure.
11. Explain how gel electrophoresis is used to analyze nucleic acids and to distinguish between two alleles of a gene.
12. Describe the process of nucleic acid hybridization.
13. Describe the Southern blotting procedure and explain how it can be used to detect and analyze instances of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP).
14. Explain how RFLP analysis facilitated the process of genomic mapping.
DNA Analysis and Genomics
15. Explain the goals of the Human Genome Project.
16. Explain how linkage mapping, physical mapping, and DNA sequencing each contributed to the genome mapping project.
17. Describe the alternate approach to whole-genome sequencing pursued by J. Craig Venter and the Celera Genomics company.
18. Explain how researchers recognize protein-coding genes within DNA sequences.
19. Describe the surprising results of the Human Genome Project.
20. Explain how the vertebrate genome, including that of humans, generates greater diversity than the genomes of invertebrate organisms.
21. Explain how in vitro mutagenesis and RNA interference help researchers to discover the functions of some genes.
22. Explain the purposes of gene expression studies. Describe the use of DNA microarray assays and explain how they facilitate such studies.
23. Define and compare the fields of proteomics and genomics.
24. Explain the significance of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the study of the human evolution.
Practical Applications of DNA Technology
25. Describe how DNA technology can have medical applications in such areas as the diagnosis of genetic disease, the development of gene therapy, vaccine production, and the development of pharmaceutical products.
26. Explain how DNA technology is used in the forensic sciences.
27. Describe how gene manipulation has practical applications for environmental and agricultural work.
28. Describe how plant genes can be manipulated using the Ti plasmid carried by Agrobacterium as a vector.
29. Explain how DNA technology can be used to improve the nutritional value of crops and to develop plants that can produce pharmaceutical products.
30. Discuss the safety and ethical questions related to recombinant DNA studies and the biotechnology industry.
BACK