AP Biology Summer Assignment Welcome to AP Biology!

As you probably know, AP Biology is the equivalent of 2 semesters of a college level biology course. This means that the scope of study and rigor in this class is meant to be the same as the introductory-level biology courses found at all the UC’s, CSU’s, and private universities. Not to scare you, but many of these university classes have fail rates of up to 45%, with many students changing majors after the first semester or quarter! Now you need to know that this is NOT because the class is impossible, but because students are not prepared for that level of work, nor are they committed enough to dedicate the time and discipline required to do well in that course. I’m not going to lie: it will be difficult; you will experience failure; you will feel like giving up. But you should remember that through these trials, you are building up critical skills needed for success in college, and more importantly, a resolve to get through anything hard that life throws at you. Another “side perk” is that you will be very ready for the AP Biology exam next spring, and possibly earn some college credit. Grades and AP scores are not everything!!! At the same time, AP Biology is an incredibly engaging and fulfilling course; we will start with the basics, and then dive into the complex workings of the beautiful things found in and around you. You will leave with a completely new outlook on life, and our hope is that, for many of you, Biology will become central in your passions, your studies, and your career. The Summer Assignment

Your assignment for the summer is just a preview of the work waiting for you next year. You are being asked to complete a reading guide for each of the six chapters (Chapters 50-55) that make up our first unit, Ecology; you’ll have one for every chapter next year! These reading guides have been painstakingly written to follow your textbook (sometimes word for word), and were designed to help students navigate the difficult, college-level textbook (Biology, 7th edition by Campbell and Reece). This is also our way to make sure that you have completed the assigned reading before lectures, a skill that is key to your success next year, and also something that will be expect of you in college. Do not sell yourself short by skimming through this assignment or copying from others; you will only screw yourself over and start the year with an F. Instead, plan out your summer and spread out the workload so you can relax, have fun, but still get this assignment done right! Here are some tips/requirements for the reading guides:

• Write (not typed!) directly on the reading guide, in the space provided. We’re not looking for essays, but one-word answers are not acceptable (unless prompted). The more thorough you are, the better you will understand the stuff.

• See those long labeled lines? (e.g. “Concept 50.1:_____________”)? Fill those in! These are key concepts for each section, and in one sentence, summarize what you should get out of this section.

• Be aware of two-part questions, such as “List and describe…” • A few abbreviations: i.e. means “that is”, or “in other words”. e.g. means “for example” • Items with a “•” do not require any writing; we just want you to read over it • We don’t expect that the average AP student to be able to read and understand every single piece of

information in these chapters. (If you could, teachers wouldn’t have a job!) Do your best to answer each question. Don’t freak out if you can’t answer 1 or 2 questions here and there.

• Put a star by the concepts that you would like the teacher to explain during class when we cover this material during the first few weeks of August.

• We don’t mind if you help one another to understand any concepts in this or any other assignment. We do mind if you copy work from another student. The former involves discussion and explanation; the latter does not. You are encouraged to compare completed answers, discuss any differences, and make appropriate changes when you feel that you have reached a more complete understanding of the concept together.

• A few questions may refer to the online textbook. We’ll be emailing out the registration codes and instructions over the summer, so keep an eye out for that.

What to expect on your first day next August:

• The reading guides for Chapter 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 are due and will be collected first thing. • A cheesy welcome speech, introduction to your AP Biology instructor, and a brief overview of the course • Your very first AP Biology Exam covering the summer assignment! It will consist of a small set of multiple

choice questions and an AP-style essay question covering the material in the reading guides. It will be worth an exam grade, will not be curved. You should definitely study for this.

AP Biology Summer Assignment Name: ______________________ Period:_______

Ch. 50 – An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere Concept 50.1: ________________________________________________________________________

1. Organisms and the Environment, and a basic scientific concept

a. Complete the table on ecosystem components:

Definition Examples Abiotic factors

Biotic factors

b. The description of red kangaroo habitats illustrates an important distinction: the difference between

Correlation (when 2 variables occur together) and Causation (when two variables occur together because one causes the other). With what variable does a dense red kangaroo population most closely correlate?

•And yet, what other factors might be the real underlying cause of this correlation?

•Sometimes, spotting a correlation is the first step to determining the causation, as shown in the cartoon. →

c. Read the following description of a real study, taken

from a textbook on scientific reasoning:

Several years ago, a large-scale study of the factors related to the use of contraceptives was conducted in Taiwan. A large research team of social scientists and physicians collected data on a wide range of behavioral and environmental factors. The researchers were interested in seeing what factors were often associated with a couple’s adoption of birth control methods. After testing all the variables, they found that the one that was most strongly related to contraceptive use was the number of electric appliances (toasters, fans, etc.) in the home (Li, 1975).

Hmm… Did this mean that in order for the Taiwanese government to reduce its country’s birth rate, all it needed to do was to give each newlywed couple a toaster, fan and coffeemaker to greatly increase their chances of using some form of birth control? Unlikely. With that factor is birth control correlated?

•What do you think is the real reason (the cause) for the correlation between appliances and birth control?

d. Define the following important terms:

population

community ecosystem

Concept 50.2: ________________________________________________________________________ 2. Experimental Design Terms Review (nothing to write – just read)

Here are the parts of a well-designed experiment, followed by an appropriate example in a simple experiment exploring the best way to prepare for the upcoming cross country season. You begin by dividing the Mills cross-country team into 4 groups. (FYI – in case you’re not familiar with the sport, cross-country athletes train for a 5000-meter race.)

a. Independent variable (IV) this is what is controlled by the experimenter; it is the factor that you think

can help explain some other factor. This is the factor that you are doing the whole experiment on – the thing that you want to investigate the effects of. It is the CAUSE. Most experiments can have only one of these. It is placed on the X-axis. When graphed, it can be as simple as time or trial number.

o The control and experimental groups should be identical in every way except one – the IV. (So the IV is the only difference between the groups.)

o There must be more than one level of the IV, so that each group can be different. o e.g. There are several types of special training beyond the regular running. These types of

traning are the 3 levels of the IV: Yoga, Wii Track & Field, and cycling. The X-axis will be labeled “Type of special training”.

b. Dependent variable (DV)—This is how you measure the response to the IV. This is the factor that you are measuring in your experiment. It shows the EFFECT of what you’re experimenting on; it depends on the independent variable, & is placed on the Y-axis.

o e.g. All runners compete in a race during the first week of school. The Y-axis will be labeled “Time in race”.

c. Controls - all the factors that you keep the same for all groups; usually more than one in an

experiment; also called constants. o e.g. Each group has the same average “before” time (i.e. they average the same time over a

5000-meter race as of June 1.) Each group also includes equal numbers of male and female runners, they run the same number of miles per week, they eat similar diets over the summer, each group spends exactly 3 hours weekly doing their special training, and none of them uses performance-enhancing drugs of any kind.

d. Experimental group(s) the group or groups that receive the experimental treatment o e.g. Three different groups spend 3 hours per week either doing yoga, Wii Track & Field or

cycling.

e. Control group the group that does not receive the experimental treatment. These results are used as a basis for comparison. This group shows what would be expected to happen normally, without changing anything.

o e.g. The 4th group spends 3 hours per week sitting quietly thinking fast thoughts.

f. A Hypothesis no longer defined as an educated guess. It is a prediction about the relationship between the two variables – the IV and the DV. The hypothesis MUST contain both the IV and the DV. It expresses a cause & effect relationship. It can be written as an “if…then” statement.

o e.g. Spending time doing yoga over the summer will make high school cross country runners faster.

g. Trial numbers – the numbe r of repetitions, objects or organisms tested at each level of the IV. (e.g. if

you wanted to know how long it takes your best friend to tie her shoes, you wouldn’t just time her once, you would have her tie them several times and take the average.) In some experiments, this might

simply be the number of subjects. o e.g. Make sure that there are several runners in each group.

3. Applying your newfound Experimental Design knowledge

a. In Fletcher’s seaweed experiment, identify the following:

IV- DV- b. Underline the dependent variable and circle the independent variable for each of the following

sentences. e.g. Different study methods produce different AP Biology exam results.

- The more caffeine you consume, the faster your reaction time is.

- As the temperature increases, reptiles become more active.

- Risk of heart disease increases as dietary fat increases.

4. Climate

a. Which factors determine an areas’ climate? b. It’s not really correct to say that the equator gets more sunlight. Rather, the equator gets

________________________________________ sunlight than the poles. c. What causes the seasons? d. Use the diagram to explain global air circulation

patterns. e. Bodies of water: Our summers in Millbrae don’t get very hot, and our winters don’t get very cold.

Explain why: f. Mountains: We get more rain in Millbrae than they do in the East

Bay. Use the diagram to explain why:

g. Seasonality: What happens to lakes over the course of a year? (Don’t worry about the details – just

the main ideas here.) h. Long-term climate change: Briefly explain why this might create problems for trees like the beech tree:

Concept 50.3: ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Aquatic Biomes

a. What is the approximate salt concentration of marine biomes? _____

of freshwater biomes? ___________

b. Reasons we should care about marine ecosystems:

-Evaporation from the oceans… -Marine algae and photosynthetic bacteria…

c. Label the photic and benthic aquatic zones. d. What makes the photic zone special? e. Where is the benthic zone, what is its main food source, and

what are the deepest portions of the ocean benthic zones called?

f. How does temperature vary with depth? g. Complete the table comparing types of lakes:

Level of Nutrients

Oxygen levels How much organic guck on bottom

Rates of photosynthesis

Oligotrophic

Eutrophic

h. Reasons we should care about wetlands (including swamps, marshes and bogs): wetlands have a

high capacity to: i. What is an estuary? (FYI: The description exactly describes the way the water works coming in from the

SF Bay estuary up the Sacramento River…)

j. Pelagic biomes: What sort of organisms makes up…

phytoplankton: zooplankton:

k. Coral reefs: Reefs can only exist within a temperature range of ___-___°C. They are formed largely from

the ___________ _________________________________ of corals. Various types of algae live within the

coral, providing the coral with __________________________________________.

l. Benthic zones: Most of the ocean’s benthic zone receives __________ sunlight, and the very deep zones

(called the ________________ zone) have a constant temperature of about _______°C. Food producers

at great depths where there is no _______________ use a different energy source – they oxidize ________

that they get from deep-sea __________________________________________.

Concept 50.4: ________________________________________________________________________ 6. Climate and Terrestrial Biomes

a. Our best guess suggests that what two factors determine an area’s biome? b. Which biome or term: (these are not in the same order as in the text)

1. includes the Bay area (plus much of Italy and Spain)?

2. could also be called a tropical grassland, with wet and dry seasons?

3. includes a canopy and understory?

4. is the largest (land) biome on earth?

5. has the highest rainfall and the greatest biodiversity?

6. has a layer of permafrost?

7. occur in 2 places: a band around 30° north or south, plus on the leeward sides of mountains?

8. contains shrubs that may germinate best after fires?

9. also called a taiga?

10. cover most of the Arctic and very high mountaintops even in the tropics?

11. is located almost entirely between the tropics?

12. is the boundary area between biomes?

13. includes the plains and prairies of central North America ideal for growing grains?

14. When climbing a mountain, we can observe transitions in biological communities that are analogous to the changes in biomes at different ____________________________.

Ch. 51 – Behavioral Ecology Concept 51.1: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Animal behavior Intro

a. Define the following:

ethology:

FAP sign stimulus

b. Describe the behavior of the stickleback, including the proximate (immediate) and the ultimate

(evolutionary) cause: c. What is Imprinting, and how is it related to a Sensitive Period? Again, include both the proximate and

the ultimate causes:

•The image shows Dr. Lorenz followed by 7 ducklings which imprinted on the middle-aged Swiss professor, rather than on their real mother. →

Concept 51.2: _____________________________________________________ 2. Innate Behaviors

a. Innate behaviors are mostly controlled by your _____________________________.

b. Define Kinesis. c. Define Taxis. d. Positive taxis involves moving ________________ a stimulus; negative taxis involves moving _____________

a stimulus. e. Define Signal:

f. Define Pheromones:

-Pheromones often function in what sort of behavior?

Concept 51.3: ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Experimental design practice - In Etges’ experiment with the flies, identify the following:

a. Independent variable: c. Dependent variable: b. How many levels of the IV did he use?

4. Learning

a. Define Learning: b. Define Habituation: c. Define Associative Learning:

5. Pavlov:

Classical conditioning occurs when a normally Neutral Stimulus is paired with an Unconditioned Stimulus that automatically produces an innate behavioral response called the Unconditioned Response. After the pairing, the irrelevant stimulus produces the same automatic response that the neutral stimulus always

did, so it is then called a Conditioned Stimulus. Use the description of Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment to identify the following items: (Thanks to Wikipedia!)

a. neutral stimulus

b. unconditioned stimulus

c. conditioned stimulus

d. unconditioned response

6. Operant Conditioning

a. Operant conditioning is a type of _________________________________ learning in which an animal

learns to associate one of its own behaviors with a _____________________ or _____________________ and

then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior; it is also called ________________________________ learning.

b. Give an example of this type of learning: c. Briefly describe a way you could use this type of learning to help Mills freshmen learn to behave

properly:

Concept 51.4: ________________________________________________________________________ 7. Define foraging

Concept 51.5: ________________________________________________________________________

8. Mating Behavior and Mate Choice

a. Mating behavior is a type of _____________________ selection called _____________________ selection.

As such, it always enhances __________________________________ success in some way.

b. Why do you suppose the females of polyandrous species are the non-decorated ones, while the males of polygynous species are the decorated?

c. Remember – all mating choices must have a reason. There must

be some evolutionary advantage to all choices, no matter how arbitrary these choices may seem to us humans who observe the animals and try to figure out why the heck they do what they do. Skip down to the description of stalk-eyed flies, and briefly explain the evolutionary basis for why female flies think long eyestalks are sexier than short ones:

• Game theory: This will not be on the test, and you are under no

obligation to read any more of section 51.5, but it is a fascinating

The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov's dogs. During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence of meat powder, the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician who normally fed them. Pavlov called these psychic secretions. From this observation he predicted that, if a particular stimulus in the dog’s surroundings were present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would become associated with food, and it would cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment, Pavlov used bells to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the bell. Thus, a neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus as a result of consistent pairing with the unconditioned stimulus.

concept if you have some spare time to explore it. Have you seen the movie A Beautiful Mind? That’s the same John Nash mentioned in the text. If you find this concept interesting, try Googling something called the Prisoner's Dilemma. It might hurt your head a bit, but you could find yourself applying it to everyday situations…

Concept 51.6: ________________________________________________________________________ 9. Altruism

a. Define altruism. b. Altruism at first seems to disobey the ‘survival of the fittest’ rule. How do the concepts of Kin Selection

and Inclusive Fitness explain this apparent contradiction? (Don’t worry about the coefficient thing – just explain the main idea.)

10. Misc.

a. Sociobiology is the study of _____________________ behavior based on _______________________________ theory. Again, this is a fascinating area that we don’t have time to study in AP Biology.

Ch. 52 – Population Ecology Concept 52.1: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Population basics

a. Density: Give two examples of density measurement – one from the text, and one of your own. (It doesn’t need to be real.)

b. Define Dispersion: c. You decide to use the mark-recapture method to estimate the number of freshmen at Great America.

You capture 80 of them and mark them (writing “frosh” with red sharpie on their forehead.) The next day you recapture 20 of them, of which 2 had been previously marked. Based on this data, what is your estimate of the number of freshmen at Great America on that day? (Please show your work)

d. Label the 4 ways in which a population size can change. Then circle

the two that causes an increase in size. e. Sketch and label the 3 types of population dispersion:

2. Demography

a. Label types I and III.

b. Complete the table on the 2 types. If you need help finding the answers, try the activity “”Investigating Survivorship Curves.”

Number of offspring

Offspring Survival Rate

Amount of parental Care

Type I

Type III

Concept 52.3: ________________________________________________________________________ (No questions on 52.2; 52.3 and 52.4 questions are combined)

Concept 52.4: ________________________________________________________________________ 3. Per Capita Rate of Increase

a. Explain the terms of the equation r = b – m b. ZPG stands for ________________________________________________and occurs when:

4. Types of Growth

a. On the axes, sketch and label two curves, one for exponential growth and one for logistic growth.

b. Makes sure to label each axis; the units are not important, but the type

of measurement is. c. Define carrying capacity:

d. Label carrying capacity on the graph.

e. Complete the table comparing the 2 types of growth:

Type of growth

Letter the curve

resembles

Under what circumstances does each type of growth

occur?

What type of increase (r) is shown?

Type of selection

(K or r) (see 4f↓)

Exponential constant

Logistic

f. K-selection tends to maximize _______. By contrast, r-selection tends to maximize the ______. K-selection

populations tend to have few kids, but to give lots of parental care to ensure a high survival rate, while

r-selected populations tend to have as many kids as possible, with virtually no parental care, in hops

that at least some of them will survive. Give an example of each (preferably one that begins with the

letters K and R, to make them easy to remember…)

Concept 52.5: ________________________________________________________________________ 5. Negative feedback

•You can read more about this concept in chapter 1 if you wish, but here is the Sparknotes version:

•The levels of many naturally varying items are controlled by something called negative feedback. Examples include human blood sugar level, the stock market, the number of rabbits in Yosemite, and the temperature in your apartment.

•Technically, it is defined as the process by which the product of a process shuts odd its own production.

•An example is a thermostat: when enough heat is produced, the furnace is shut down (i.e. no more heat is produced.) When the level of heat drops enough, the production of heat resumes. The graph looks like this, with time on the X axis, and the level of whatever on the Y axis. You an see that the level of the item in question doesn’t stay exactly constant, but it is kept within a narrow range.

6. Density-Dependent Population Regulation

a. A density-dependent death rate goes up as __________________________________________ happens,

while a density-________________________________ death rate is not affected by it. Therefore density-

dependent factors exert their effects via _______________________ feedback.

b. List 6 examples of density-dependent factors on population size: c. Explain how one of those density-dependent factors exerts

negative feedback. d. Give some examples of density-INdependent factors that limit

population size.

e. Population cycles: Label and briefly explain the hare/lynx cycle.

Concept 52.6: ________________________________________________________________________ 7. Human Population

a. What letter shape is it? ______ What type of growth is it? ____________________________; Can this be

sustained? ______

b. In the demographic transition, a nation’s _____________ rate drops first due to better

____________________________________ . This leads to a drop in the _____________ rate. Together, these

lead to a stabilization of that nation’s ____________________________________.

c. Label the 3 pyramids: rapidly expanding, slowly expanding, shrinking.

d. What do the bulges in the middle pyramid represent? e. What problems will we face as the bulges move up the pyramid? f. Label the pyramids that best represent 2 types of nations: developing

and industrialized. g. Which of the pyramids represents nations that probably have the highest infant mortality rates?

8. Human Population Growth (online Activity)

a. Label each of the 5 important events in human population history. →

9. Global Carrying Capacity

a. What is the best estimate of human carrying capacity?

b. What sort of items are included in the ecological footprint?

c. All of these are converted into units of ___________.

d. All of the nations above the blue line are already above their _____________________________________ .

Ch. 53 – Community Ecology Concept 53.1: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Species interactions

a. Complete each space in the table with one of the following: +, -, 0 →

b. If an organism’s habitat is its “________________ ,” the niche is the organism’s

“________”.

c. Competitive exclusion: The concept that when _________________________ of

two similar species compete for the same limited ____________________, one

population will use the resources more _______________________ and have a

_______________________ advantage that will eventually lead to the

_______________________ of the other population.

d. Resource Partitioning: When two species have identical niches,

another option is for each of them to evolve to use a slightly different

set of __________________________, over time resulting in them

occupying slightly different _____________________.

•One of the 8 important themes in AP Biology is the link between STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION. A simple example is the neuron (nerve cell). It has a long, thin structure similar to a wire, which is perfect for its function, which is to conduct impulses throughout the body.

e. Cryptic Coloration and Aposomatic Coloration have one thing in common: they both help the animal to survive. However, they differ in 2 important ways. Describe how they differ in both structure and function:

Structure Function

Cryptic

Aposomatic

f. Again, both Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry have a common goal: protection. Again, they

differ slightly in methods. In Batesian mimicry, a _________________ species mimics a(n) ________________

one. In Mullerian mimicry, a __________________ species mimics a(n) ____________________ one.

g. Give an example of each:

Mullerian mimicry -

Batesian mimicry -

Species interactions

commensalism

competition

disease

mutualism

parasitism

predation

h. If a tapeworm invades your body, the worm is called the _______________________ , and you are its

lucky ___________.

i. Technically, a disease-causing agent (a ________________________) is not a parasite.

j. Briefly describe two examples of mutualism:

k. Briefly describe one examples of commensalism:

2. Interspecific Interactions (online activity): what is the relationship between:

a. …the duck and the shrew?

b. …the shrew and roundworms?

c. …the sparrow and the owl?

d. …egret and large grazing animals?

e. …nitrogen-fixing bacteria and certain

small plants?

Concept 53.2: _______________________________________________________________________ 3. Trophic Structure

a. Label the levels of the food chain with both terms for each level (e.g. “herbivore and primary consumer”)

b. Food chains are not isolated units but are linked together in ____________________.

c. According to the energetic hypothesis, why can’t food chains be too long?

4. Species with a Large Impact

a. Define Invasive Species.

b. Define Keystone Species:

c. Explain how the otter is an example of a keystone species:

Concept 53.3: _____________________________________________________________ 5. Disturbances

a. List some examples:

b. Complete the table comparing the two types of Ecological Succession:

*Incidentally, this is what is intended when you are asked to compare 2 concepts. To do this, you need to answer two questions: How are they different, and how are they similar?

Concept 53.4: _______________________________________________________________________ 6. Species richness

a. Briefly summarize the general relationship between area and species richness

Ch. 54 – Ecosystems Overview:

1. Definition of ecosystem:

2. Describe 2 important processes that affect the dynamics of an ecosystem.

Concept 54.1: ________________________________________________________________________

1. Ecosystems and Physical Laws

a. Label the energy and nutrient dynamics diagram.

b. Explain how the principle of conservation of energy relates to this diagram.

c. How does the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics apply to this diagram?

2. Trophic Relationships

a. How do scientists determine which trophic level an organism belongs to?

b. Which trophic level supports all others?

Type of succession

↓

When does it occur? (include examples)

How are they similar? (include a typical list of plants)

Primary

Secondary

c. Draw an energy flow chart using arrows to show the direction of energy flow. Be sure to at include at least 4 trophic levels.

3. Decomposition

a. Why are decomposers considered the major link between producers and consumers in an ecosystem?

Concept 54.2: ________________________________________________________________________

1. Ecosystem Energy Budget

a. What is primary production?

b. Why do ecologists use the rate of photosynthesis as the basis for the energy budget in an ecosystem?

c. Why is only a small portion of the solar energy that strikes the Earth’s surface stored by primary producers?

d. Why is an ecosystem’s net primary production lower than its gross primary production?

e. How can measuring biomass be used to determine net primary productivity?

f. Using the graph: • Which 2 types of ecosystems have

the highest NPP PER UNIT AREA? • Why does the ocean the open

ocean account for almost 25% Earth’s primary production despites its relatively low rate of primary production?

2. Primary Production in Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems

a. Describe the 2 main limiting factors in aquatic environments and their effects on primary production.

b. How does upwellings relate to high primary productivity?

c. What is eutrophication?

d. What impacts might eutrophication have on aquatic environments?

3. Primary Production Terrestrial and Wetland Ecosystems

a. Describe the 2 key factors that control primary productivity in terrestrial and wetland environments.

b. Using the graph, list the biomes with the: • Highest productivity: • Lowest productivity:

c. Explain how evapotranspiration relates to primary productivity.

d. What kind of soil nutrients are limiting factors to primary productivity?

Concept 54.3: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. Production Efficiency

a. What is secondary production? b. Label the diagram. c. Circle the amount of secondary production for this diagram.

d. Write the equation for production efficiency.

e. If an insect that eats plant seeds containing 100J of energy uses 30J of that energy for respiration and excretes 50J in its feces, what is the insect’s net secondary production? What is its production efficiency?

2. Trophic Efficiency and Ecological Pyramids

a. What is trophic efficiency? b. Approximately how much energy is lost when moving up each trophic level?

c. Label the energy pyramid diagram.

d. How do biomass pyramids differ from production pyramids?

e. In figure 54.12b, explain how a small standing crop of

producers can sustain such a larger standing crop of primary consumers.

f. Why is eating meat a relatively inefficient way of trapping photosynthetic production?

g. What implications does this have on addressing worldwide hunger?

Concept 54.4: ________________________________________________________________________ 1. A General Mode of Chemical Cycling

a. What is a biogeochemical cycle? b. Label the general model of nutrient cycling

diagram. →

c. What are the 4 main biogeochemical cycles?

2. Water Cycle

a. Label the diagram. → b. What is the biological importance of water?

c. What are the forms available to life?

d. What are the main water reservoirs?

e. What is transpiration?

f. What single most important factor drives the water cycle?

3. Carbon Cycle

a. Label the diagram. b. What is the biological importance of carbon?

c. What are the forms available to life?

d. What are the main carbon reservoirs?

e. What is combustion?

f. How does carbon get from the environment into living systems?

4. Nitrogen Cycle

a. Label the diagram. → b. What is the biological importance of nitrogen?

c. What are the forms available to life?

d. What are the main nitrogen reservoirs?

e. How does nitrogen go enter into living systems?

f. What is denitrification? g.

5. Decomposition and Nutrient Cycling Rates

a. Label the diagram. b. Describe the biological process that

controls the rate of nutrient cycling in an ecosystem.

c. What 2 factors control the rate of decomposition?

d. Explain how it is possible for the tropical rainforest to thrive and have such high productivity while its soils are so nutrient poor.

6. Vegetation and Nutrient Cycling: The Hubbard Brook Experimental forest

a. What did this study demonstrate? b. Why does deforestation of a watershed increase the concentration of nitrates in streams draining the

watershed? c. What 2 factors control the rate of decomposition? d. Explain how it is possible for the tropical rainforest to thrive and have such high productivity while its

soils are so nutrient poor.

Concept 54.5: ________________________________________________________________________ Describe some ecological consequences to the growing human population size. 7. Nutrient Enrichment

a. How humans have disrupted the nutrient cycles? b. Describe the impact that agriculture has had on the nitrogen cycle.

c. How can the addition of excess nutrients to a lake threaten its fish population?

8. Acid Precipitation

a. How does acid precipitation form?

b. Describe the effects of acid precipitation on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

9. Toxins in the Environment

a. Label the diagram. → b.

c. Describe the process of biological magnification.

d. In the face of biological magnification of toxins, which trophic level is the healthiest to feed on?

10. Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

a. What trend does the graph show? b. How might increased productivity lead to an increase in

atmospheric CO2?

c. How does an increase in atmospheric CO2 affect forest ecology?

d. Explain the greenhouse effect. e. How do humans affect the CO2 concentration in the

atmosphere?

f. Describe 2 consequences that would arise as a result of global warming.

11. Depletion of Atmospheric Ozone

a. Label the diagram. →

b. Describe the consequences to the depletion of

ozone in the atmosphere.

Chap 55: Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology Overview: The Biodiversity Crisis

3. What is conservation biology?

4. What is restoration ecology?

5. What is biodiversity?

6. If extinction is a natural phenomenon that has been occurring since life has evolved, why should we be concerned with it today?

Concept 55.1: ________________________________________________________________________

4. The Three Levels of Biodiversity

Label the 3 levels of biodiversity in the diagram.

a. Genetic Diversity

• Genetic diversity comprises the individual genetic variation ___________________ a population but also the genetic variation ___________________ populations that is often associated with adaptations to local conditions.

b. Species Diversity

• Species diversity, or __________________________, is the variety of species in an ecosystem or throughout the entire biosphere.

• What is the difference between an endangered and threatened species?

c. Ecosystem Diversity

• The variety of the ______________________ ecosystems is the third level of biological diversity.

• The local extinction of one species, especially a _______________ ________________, can affect an entire community.

5. Biodiversity and Human Welfare

a. Habitat destruction

• Human alteration of habitat is the single greatest _______________ to biodiversity throughout the

biosphere. • The IUCN states that destruction of physical habitat is responsible for the ____________ of species

designated extinct, endangered, vulnerable, or rare. • Approximately ________ of the tropical dry forests of Central America and Mexico have been cut

down. • About _________ of the world’s coral reefs have been damaged by humans. • The prairies of southern Wisconsin now occupy less than 0.1% of the ________________ hectares they

covered when the Europeans arrived in North America. • Aquatic habitat destruction and species loss also result from dams, reservoirs, channel

modification, and flow regulation affecting most of the world’s _____________________.

b. Introduced Species

• Introduced species, also called __________________ species,

are those that humans move from native locations to new geographic regions.

• Describe how non-native species arrive to new habitats.

• Why are some invasive species so successful in their new environment?

• Choose an example of an invasive species and describe its affected on its new environment.

c. Overexploitation

• Overexploitation refers to the human harvesting of wild plants and animals at rates that exceed the ability of those populations to ______________________.

• Large organisms with low intrinsic _______________________ rates are especially susceptible to overexploitation.

• Species with restricted _________________________, such as small islands, are also especially vulnerable to overexploitation.

d. Disruption of Interaction Networks

• Ecosystem dynamics depend on networks of ___________________ interactions within biological communities.

• The extinction of one species can doom others, especially if the extinction involves a _______________________ species, an ecosystem engineer, or a species with a highly specialized ________________________ with other species.

Concept 55.2: ________________________________________________________________________

4. Small Population Approach

g. Explain why small populations tend to experience an extinction vortex.

h. Label the diagram.

i. Explain why low genetic variability does not necessarily lead

to permanently small populations.

j. How small does a population need to be before it starts down an extinction vortex?

k. What does MVP stand for and how does it relate to population changes?

l. What is PVA?

5. Declining Population Approach

e. Contrast the small-population and declining-population approaches in terms of the remedies they recommend for preventing extinction of a species.

6. Weighing Conflicting Demands

a. Describe some focuses for conservation biologists.

Concept 55.3: ________________________________________________________________________

3. Landscape Ecology f. Why is landscape ecology important in conservation efforts? g. Why are boundaries or edges defining features of landscapes? h. How can corridors connecting habitat fragments help protect endangered population? How might

such corridors harm populations?

4. Establishing Protected Areas

a. What are some challenges that conservation biologists face when setting up protected areas?

b. What is a biodiversity hotspot?

c. How do zoned reserves provide economic incentives for long-term protection of protected areas?

Concept 55.4: ________________________________________________________________________

a. What are the goals of restoration ecology? b. How do bioremediation and biological augmentation differ? c.

Concept 55.5: ________________________________________________________________________

Issue Recovery Efforts

Truckee River, NV

Australia

Kissimmee River, FL

Tropical Dry Forest,

CR

Rhine River, Europe

Coastal Japan

Succulent Karoo, SA

d. What is meant by the term sustainable development? e. How might biophilia influence environmental ethics?