BIOL 2Q04 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Earth, Oxygen, Ice
12 Oct 2018
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BIOL 2Q04
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
BIOL 2Q04 FW2018 Lecture 1 07/09/2018
• What is Ecology (oikos)?
o Eco is the scientific study of the abundance & distribution of organisms in
relation to other organisms & environment conditions. Large # of interactions
among species resembles business interactions. Darwin termed ecology as the
economy of nature. Climate factors can modify genetics. Eco is the study of our
home.
• Ecologists:
o David WT: disease is a huge driver of population success. Epidemiologist, poet,
fiction writer, veterinarian, and a specialist in the epidemiology of food and
waterborne diseases, zoonoses (diseases other animals share with people) and
ecosystem health. Founding president and CEO of Veterinarians without borders
o Jane G: behavioral ecologist. Studied the social aspects of chimps and how
humans have got to where we are now. One of the most famous scientists of the
modern age. Known for her work as a chimpanzee expert. Her most famous study
lasted 45 years and involved her living and learning about the chimpanzees social
and family life in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania
o Rachel C: discovered the DDT accumulation -> birds of prey being wiped out.
Beginning of the environmental movement in the modern world, her book “Silent
Spring” was the inspiration behind the our growingly environmentally conscious
modern world – DDT bioaccumulation in predatory species
o She was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter
• Ecological Systems exist in a Hierarchical
o Complexity
▪ nature is not organized into discrete packages. Each level of integration
involves separate problems and attributes. Many levels and problems,
levels of integration in eco. Eco looks at physical, genetics, behavior,
evolution, etc/ They overlap and present challenges. Biostats is important
in eco because nature is always changing.
o Ecological Systems
▪ bio entities that have their own internal processes and interact with their
external surroundings. The most basic unit we are interested in is
individuals which then make up the population, making up the
community, then the ecosystem and the largest level is the biosphere.
• Level of Organization
o Individuals
▪ the most fundamental unit of ecol. Individuals acquire nutrients and
energy and produce waste.
o Species
▪ individuals that are capable of interbreeding or share genetic similarity,
o Populations
▪ individuals of the same species living in a particular area; Separated from
individual by:
▪ Geo range: (distribution) is the extent of land or water within which a
population lives
▪ Abundance; total number of individuals
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
BIOL 2Q04 FW2018 Lecture 1 07/09/2018
▪ Density: number of individuals per unit area
▪ Composition: makeup in terms of age, gender, genetics,
o Communities:
▪ populations of species living together in particular area. Includes many
types of interactions such as predation and competition. I.e. cheetahs and
gazelles on the African planes.
o Ecosystems
▪ one of more communities of living organism’s interaction with their
nonliving physical and chemical environments (abiotic environment)
Movement of energy and matter between physical and biological components.
This includes the “flow” of material from “pools” of elements such as
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and phosphorus.
o The Biosphere
▪ all ecosystems on Earth. Distant ecosystems are linked together by
exchanges of wind and water and by the movement organisms. Linked
together by abiotic factors. Immigration. Emigration. Seeds spread when
birds eat them and move to other areas, released in feces.
o Studying Eco at Different Levels
▪ Individual Approach: understand show adaptations or characteristics of an
individual’s morphology, physiology, and behavior enable it to survive an
environment
▪ Population Approach: examines variation in the number, density, and
composition of individuals over time and space. Studies can take up to 20
years, 1 ecologist cannot study all approaches
▪ Community Approach: understand the diversity and interactions or
organisms living together in the same place. Focus on disease, parasitism,
species behavior, mutualism
▪ Ecosystem Approach; describes the storage and transfer of energy and
matter
▪ Biosphere approach: examines movements or energy and chemicals over
the Earths; surface.
▪ Each approach gets more complicated.
• 2) Ecological systems are governed by physical and bio principles.
o Governing principles of ecology:
▪ matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed but can change form
(law of conservation of matter, 1st law of thermodynamics) Eco systems
gain and lose matter and energy at all levels. A dynamic steady state
occurs when gains and losses are in balance. Net neutral.
o Evolution:
▪ Phenotype: an attribute of an organism (behavior, morphology)
▪ Genotype: the set of genes and organisms carries, determines an
organism’s phenotype.
▪ Evolution: a change in the genetic com or a population over time.
▪ Natural selection; a change in the frequency of genes in a pop through
differential survival and reproduction of individuals that possess certain
phenotypes.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
07/09/2018: what is ecology (oikos), eco is the scientific study of the abundance & distribution of organisms in relation to other organisms & environment conditions. Large # of interactions among species resembles business interactions. Darwin termed ecology as the economy of nature. Eco is the study of our home: ecologists, david wt: disease is a huge driver of population success. Epidemiologist, poet, fiction writer, veterinarian, and a specialist in the epidemiology of food and waterborne diseases, zoonoses (diseases other animals share with people) and ecosystem health. Founding president and ceo of veterinarians without borders: jane g: behavioral ecologist. Studied the social aspects of chimps and how humans have got to where we are now. One of the most famous scientists of the modern age. Known for her work as a chimpanzee expert. Beginning of the environmental movement in the modern world, her book silent.
