ECOLOGY (BIO 366)
FALL 2020

Below is a list of terms and concepts that will be discussed in lecture each week. A selection of these terms will be included in a definitions section in the lecture exams. You will be asked to define each term plus provide a statement of its significance to ecology for a total of 2 points per term. Thus, you need to know more about these terms than just their definition. A common mistake on exams is to define a term, but neglect to mention its significance. For example, the solar constant is the average amount of light energy from the sun that reaches the outer atmosphere of earth. It is significant because it is not constant, but varies with fluctuations in solar energy that can influence our climate. If you define it correctly on the exam, but do not state its significance, you will receive only 1 of the 2 points for that term.

Follow the links below to access the objectives and goals, as well as definitions for terms, for each lecture section. Links to Powerpoint slides for each lecture also are provided, but note that these presentations have been reduced down from what is shown in class to save space and protect against copyright infringement for photos.  You need to attend lecture and see the full presentations to obtain the best understanding of the lecture material.  Use the terms provided as a study guide for the exams. However, only the definition and not the significance is given for each term. The significance of these terms, with examples, will be given in lecture.  Once you know all the terms and concepts, you should do well on the exams. However, do not limit your studies to only these terms. There will be many other questions on the exams that will require you to draw and explain graphs presented in lecture, or write short essays on major concepts from the text and lecture using examples. Be sure to study all sections of your notes and text readings to prepare for these exams. There will be questions on the tests based on text material not covered in class and lecture material not covered in the text.

HINT: Spend at least part of your study time with one or more other students in the class. You may have missed some concepts, examples, or other information in your notes. By studying with at least one other person, you will gain a different perspective of the course material that will help you in the exams. Also, do not simply read over your notes to prepare for the exam. Make a list of major terms and concepts, then go over the list without looking at your notes to see how well you can recall and explain the information. When you're stuck, look at your notes and then go back to memorizing your list. Keep at this until you can define and explain all concepts without having to check your notes. Do this several times the night before the exam and once in the morning on the day of the exam. This method will help you feel more relaxed and confident during the exam and you will do better.

*Note*: All of these terms and more are now available to help you study on Quizlet. To access this program for this class, go to: https://quizlet.com/join/dgwXp7PND. You do not need to request my permission for access to this program.

WEEKLY TERMS AND CONCEPTS PRESENTED IN LECTURE:

Lecture Goals and Objectives

Lecture I:  The Physical World

   MY GOAL:  To explain variation in climate and ecology from the tropics to the poles and how energy varies along this axis.

    YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand why light energy varies in intensity from tropics to poles, how that energy is distributed, and how it determines major atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns.

Lecture II:  Photosynthesis and light energy

    MY GOAL:  To explain how light energy is converted to chemical energy and how this process varies between different ecosystems.

    YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the process of photosynthesis, what factors limit photosynthesis, and how plants are adapted to be most efficient in energy transfer in their environment.

Lecture III:  Physiological ecology of plants

    MY GOAL:  To explain how plants have adapted to different environments and how they acclimate to changes in climate.

    YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the importance of morphology and physiology in plant adaptations to different environmental conditions and how they can alter their physiology to tolerate seasonal changes in temperature.

Lecture IV: Physiological ecology of animals

  MY GOAL:  To explain how animals have adapted to different environments and how they acclimate changes in climate.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the importance of morphology and physiology in animal adaptations to different environmental conditions and how they can alter their physiology to tolerate seasonal changes in temperature.

Lecture V:  Soils and weathering

  MY GOAL:  To define a soil, how it forms, and how its structure and texture are important for nutrient cycling to the plant and animal communities it supports.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the process of soil formation, how soils are described and classified, how nutrients are cycled through soils, and how disruption of the cycle may occur.

Lecture VI:  Nutrients and biogeochemical cycles

  MY GOAL:  To explain how important nutrients, including carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, cycle from abiotic sources to biotic communities and back; also, the ecological consequences of disruptions to these cycles.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  Know the major source pools for nutrients on earth and in the atmosphere; be able to diagram and describe these four nutrient cycles and why they are needed by plants and animals; understand how these cycles may be disrupted and the consequences of these disruptions.

Lecture VII: Terrestrial Biomes

  MY GOAL:  To describe biomes, patterns found within them, and physical factors that determine their location and structure.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES: To understand the concept of a biome and how they are structured using polar and desert regions as examples.

Lecture VIII: Aquatic Systems

  MY GOAL:  To explain how nutrients cycle in lakes and the factors that help determine lake productivity.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand how aquatic systems differ from terrestrial systems in terms of nutrient cycling and productivity, as well as how lakes become stratified, and how they mix.

Lecture IX:  Marine systems and El Nino

  MY GOAL:  To explain how marine systems differ from other aquatic ecosystems, how nutrients are cycled, and how currents develop.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the importance of marine ecosystems in global climate and nutrient cycling, how El Nino events form and their impacts.

Lectures X-XI:  Populations and population growth and regulation

  MY GOAL: To describe how ecologists study populations and the factors that influence growth rates.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To know how to define, describe, and study a population, how it grows both with intrinsic and realized growth rates, and how to model growth mathematically.

Lecture XII:  Intraspecific Competition

  MY GOAL:  To explain the role of intraspecific competition density-dependent factors in population growth.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand how competition influences a population, how individuals may avoid intraspecific competition, and the costs and benefits of these avoidance strategies.

Lecture XIII:  Life History Patterns

  MY GOAL:  To describe how reproductive strategies and demography further influence the growth rate of population and how long-lived species balance costs and benefits of reproduction toward their life-time reproductive success.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand sexual selection and fitness in a population, the role of demography in population growth, and how reproductive effort is a part of life history strategy in a long-lived species.

Lecture XIV: Interspecific Competition

  MY GOAL:  To explain how competition between species acts to depress the carrying capacity for each species, how to model competition (mathematically and graphically), and how the relative amount of competition can alter the outcome of this interaction.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand how species can influence each other's growth rates and K through competition, how this interaction relates to community structure, and how to illustrate outcomes of competition graphically and mathematically.

Lectures XV-XVI: Predation and Herbivory

  MY GOAL:  To explain how predation influences growth and K of both predator and prey, how this interaction can be modeled graphically and mathematically, and why predator-prey cycles exist.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand how species can influence each other's growth rates and K through predation, how this interaction relates to community structure, and how to illustrate outcomes of predation graphically and mathematically. Also, how herbivores and plants interact as a form of predation and adaptations each group has as a result of this interaction.

Lecture XVII: Parasitism and Mutualism

  MY GOAL: To describe various types of parasites and parasite:host interactions, how hosts try to avoid parasitism, and how co-evolution of parasites and their hosts may lead to mutualism.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand the relationship between parasites and hosts, co-evolutionary pathways of this relationship, and the development of obligate versus facultative mutualisms.

Lecture XVIII: Communities

  MY GOAL:  To explain how ecologists define and study communities, how they are structured, and how interactions within communities maintain their structure.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand patterns in communities, factors that control species diversity and community structure, and how communities change with environmental change.

Lectures XIX-XX: Community development and structure

  MY GOAL:  To explain some of the many interactions that occur in communities that give them their structure and how they change by successional processes.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand community processes and the role of disturbances in maintaining community structure and diversity.  Also, how succession and the study of succession is useful in understanding these processes.

Lecture XXI: Ecosystems and energy flow

  MY GOAL:  To describe ecosystem processes and how, on a larger scale, these processes are essential for community health.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand biogeochemical cycling, resource dynamics, and trophic structure in ecosystems and the complex interactions that maintain a community.

Lecture XXII: Trophic levels and food webs

  MY GOAL: To explain food web theory and energy flow in an ecosystem through the tropic levels.

  YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To realize the importance of energy balance by tropic levels and how communities may be stable or unstable based on nutrient flow, climate, and species diversity.

Lecture XXIII: Introduced species

   MY GOAL: To describe the impact of introduced species on ecosystem function.

   YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To understand how introduced species reach new areas and under what conditions they become successful in these new area. Also, how these species can impact native species and community structure.

Lecture XXIV: Paleoecology

   MY GOAL:  To explain how ecologists can reconstruct past environments and communities using the fossil record.

   YOUR OBJECTIVES:  To recognize the importance of paleoecological research and how it helps ecologists understand current community structure and ecosystem function.