Biology 3445F Chapter Notes - Chapter Assignment 1 : Abscission, Beauraing, Bottomland Hardwood Forest

1.What is an ecological footprint? What is the greatestcontribution that you make to your footprint? How could you reduceit?

2. Are humans a keystone species? Support your answer.

3. Why does community connectedness matter?

4. Why does community change matter?

5. What kind of environmental features favor pioneer species,what kind favor climax/late succession species? What kinds ofadaptations favor pioneer species, and what kinds favor climaxspecies?

5. What do we mean when we say that landscapes are stable?

6. What would a community ecologist be able to learn from the USCensus?

7. What does evolution have to do with community ecology?

8. What role does disturbance play in ecology? Giveexamples.

9. You will be expected to be able to calculate species richnessand determine evenness and species diversity indices.

10. You will be expected to make a connection between carryingcapacity, population growth, and community succession in NewJersey.

11. What are the factors that can or could influence thecarrying capacity of NJ?

12. Rank the following three factors in terms of their impact onhuman carrying capacity: space availability, food availability,money availability.

13. Why are some invasive species more successful (i.e. havegreater fitness) in their introduced environment compared to theirnative environment?

14. What is global change about and how do our actions affectit? How is NJ going to be affected by global change?

15. Why, if it is summer in the southern hemisphere and winterin the northern hemisphere, do we see an overall increase in globalCO2 concentrations?

16. What is a dead zone and how is it created? What humanactivity (ies) help create a dead zone?

17. How would a fire that burns most of a forest affect theenergy, water, nutrient, and carbon cycles?

18. What are ecosystem services? Give an example of two.

19. Show how the energy and carbon cycles are inter-related.Explain what is happening in your diagram.

20. You need to be able to explain why nitrogen is important andwhy too much nitrogen is bad.

21. Which gas is more important for global warming:CO₂ or methane? Why?

22. What are the major carbon sinks and sources on earth?

23. What evidence do we have that CO2 concentration of theatmosphere has increased in the last 200 years and what evidence dowe have that that increase is due to human activity?

24. What is happening to our oceans in response to the increasein CO2 in the atmosphere. Be complete, there is more than one partto this answer.

25. How do we know that global warming is and will have animpact on populations, communities, and ecosystems?

26. Given what we know about Japanese knotweed, global change,and human activity, explain the interactions and consequences ofJapanese knotweed invasion on our water supply. You need toinclude, the physiology of the plant, the population ecology of theplant, the water cycle (ecosystems), and global change.

27. Regional climate change models predict that this area willget warmer and receive more rainfall. They also predict thatagriculture (i.e. growing plants) will suffer. Explain why. Becomplete in your answer. There are several factors at workhere.

28. Why are sea-levels increasing globally? Give a detailedanswer. What are some likely consequences going to be (other thanlosing land).

1. Human Impact/Conservation

Okay...you’ve (hopefully) learned a lot about biology this semester. We have gone

from atoms, molecules, and cells through organisms and homeostasis, to populations,

communities, and ecosystems. Whew! Even though we started small, we still addressed

larger topics early on. Conversely, now that we have ended our intellectual journey with

ecosystems, we have circled back to talk about elements and molecules and cells. Over

the last couple of lectures, we have talked about human impact and conservation issues

that are challenging the global community.

1a. Of the human impact issues we talked about in class over the last week or two,

take one of them further.

• Clearly identify the issue you will be focusing on, and explain why

it is an important issue to address.

• Explain the biological principles addressed with this kind of

human impact.

• Examine what the natural order of things would be like without

humans being a part of the picture

• Next, re-insert humans into the picture. Identify the normal

biological properties that are impacted by this human activity,

and explain the impact disruption.

the issue would be deforestation.

In your answer, be sure to use specific biological examples and facts from your

notes and text. Use your new-found knowledge by applying it to show the

scientific basis behind one of the environmental crises our planet faces.

1b. Okay, now that the problem is identified and the nature of the disturbance is

explained, let’s talk solutions.

• How would you resolve this issue? What kind of societal things

can you install to bring about solution? Be practical in your

response. Identify stakeholders in the problem/solution, and the

(sometimes) competing interests

• Using what you know from this course (your notes and text),

explain how your above solution(s) resolve the underlying

biological problem(s).

In your answer, be sure to use specific biological examples and facts from your

notes and text. Use your new-found knowledge by applying it to show the

scientific basis behind a solution to one of the environmental crises our planet

faces.