Lecture # Date

SUBJECT

Problem
x3 01
20 March
Biomes and climate; Major vegetation types are controlled by temperature and precipitation patterns. Six biomes are recognized, tundra, boreal forest, temperate forest, temperate grassland, desert, tropical forest; Tree Canopy, biogeography, invasive species Why does the wind come predominantly from the west?
x3 02 30March Aquatic environments, fresh water -wetlands, lakes, rivers; saltwater -ocean; rain is fresh, but most water is in oceans; estuary; overfishing; Lake Michigan -exotic fishes, BOD, Eutrophication What fish species were in Lake Michigan 200 years ago?
x3 03 1 April Prairie: what is a prairie? prairie quality? autochthonous or native? native vs. exotic, prairie crayfish as soil builder, prairie management How is vegetation height related to precipitation?
x3 04 3 April Behavior: proximate versus ultimate explanations, learned vs innate, fixed action pattern, conditional strategy, game theory, learning, imprinting, can animals think?, deception, migration, altruism, cooperation, kin selection and relatedness, group enforcement What is altruism?
x3 05   6 April Population dynamics: models with the variable N, births, deaths, immigration and emigration, census history, mark-recapture, geometric and exponential models, growth rates, logistic growth, abundance cycles, outbreaks Calculate r given a population size of 100 in 2000 and 1000 in 2010.
x3 06   8 April Demography: Survival and Reproduction differ according to age, S(x), D(x) and l(x); fecundity, m(x); using life tables, calculating R0, population projection, age structure, total population size, capacity of population to grow,  If I mark and release 100 fish, and later capture 120 fish, 20 of which are marked estimate the population.
x3 07   10 April Competition and Mutualism: Species interact positively, negatively or not at all as assay by grown together versus results when grown alone, competition versus mutualism, niche describes how species live, the Rhizobium/legume mutualism is responsible for much nitrogen fixation in nature. If species A reached 800 per ml & B reaches 1000 when grown alone, but grown together thay reach 800 and 900 per ml, respectively, what is the relationship of these species?
x3 08 13 April Herbivory, Predation, & Parasitism: Relationships where one species benefits itself at anothers expense. The species being consumed will generally have defenses. Plants are source of biological molecules -which are so valuable to other organisms, diseases generally don't kill its host, reducing organisms that prey on herbivores has increased the number of herbivores. Sometimes prey and predator show cycles of abundance, explain how you think that works.
x3 09 15 April Species Diversity: Abundant species dominate, but 'keystone' species have greater influence than abundance, Gleason's idea of assemblage, specialist species are tightly linked to particular species, species dependent of humans, succession, measures of diversity- species richness, Simpson index, Shannon-Weaver Calculate SR, D and H for the bird community described.
x3 10 17 April Global Change: Impacts of growth in knowlegde of resources extraction and transportation have dramatically impacted the oceans, the surface of the earth and its atmosphere. What is the mass of the atmosphere? How much does the oxygen weigh?
x3 11 20 April Ecosystem Energy Flow: light is source of energy, producers capture light energy, consumers eat other organisms, energy can be accounted for, NPP = net primary productivity, consumers can be divided into herbivores, carnivores and decomposers, many organisms get energy from dead organisms or parts Calculate the grams per square meter NNP at Hubbard Brook from Fig. 54.8
x3 12 22 April Ecosystem Material Cycles: Elements can be thought of as being in compartments, each compartment has an input and output rate, body burden of toxic elements, biomagnification, biogeochemical, recycling detritus, fungi & bacteria as major decomposers, pumping of nutrients to surface, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle What do you think are the implications of the information in Fig. 54.16? How does N get back the atmosphere?
x3 13 24 April Environmental Organizations: People want healthy environments, Conservation land is owned by all levels of Government, and Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) and private individuals. TNC and Local Land Trusts promote conservation What is an NGO? In what ways are Natural Areas valuable?
x3 14 27 April Our Biological Future: Disaster prediction has a long history, ecologists have become doomsayers, what is important for the future of the humanity? money as a distorter of biological values, democracy may be a problem rather than a solution Will global changes result in a very different humanity or just be a blip in a pattern of change?
x3 15 29 Aprl Restoration and Revitalization: Most species are not dependent on humans, but that does not mean humans do not effect their future, restoration includes all activities that attempt to 'restore' a function, regulations attempt to reduce damage, changes in human use, E & T species, reconstruction versus revitalization What is a healthy natural area?
Exam 3 1 May Look for special instruction about exam 3! Practice Exam 3 questions