Ecology and Evolution Flashcards

ECO 1: Cycling of Matter in the Biosphere

  • Water and Carbon Cycles: Connected.
  • Organisms acquire oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon directly.
  • Cycling supports macromolecule creation.
  • Humans alter carbon and water cycles.
  • Water Cycle: Major processes and water forms.
  • Carbon Cycle: Photosynthesis, cell respiration, human impact.
  • Nitrogen Cycle: Major processes.
  • Nutrient cycling is important.
  • Major reservoirs of water, nitrogen, and carbon.
  • Abiotic vs. biotic factors.
  • Graph analysis: e.g., corn yield and nitrogen.

ECO 2: Population Dynamics

  • Population Growth: Exponential and Logistic.
    • Resource availability relates to growth pattern.
    • Carrying capacity.
    • Density-dependent vs. density-independent factors.
  • r-selected vs. K-selected species: Contrast, label on survivorship curves.
  • Energy Pyramids:
    • Trophic levels and biomass: primary producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers; primary producers have greatest biomass.
    • Ecological roles/niche: herbivores, carnivores, omnivores.
    • 10% Rule: Only 10% of energy transfers to the next trophic level.
  • Environmental Changes: Alter abiotic/biotic resources, impacting food webs and survival.

ECO 3: Defining Ecological Communities

  • Mark & Recapture Method: Best uses.
  • Quadrat Method: Best uses.
  • Biodiversity: Importance, increased diversity increases stability.
  • Biomes: Climate, soil, animals/plants.
  • General characteristics of biomes.
  • Ecological services provided by biomes:
    • Provisioning, regulating, supporting, cultural.

ECO 4: Ecological Community Dynamics

  • Interspecies Interactions/Symbiosis: competition, predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism.
    • Characteristics, benefits/impacts.
  • Keystone Species: Importance in ecosystems.
  • Niche Partitioning: Species coexistence.
  • Predictions: Short-term and long-term effects on food webs.

ECO 5: Changes in Ecological Communities

  • Predicting changes in ecosystems when disruptions occur; biodiversity impact.
    • Disruptions: human-induced or natural.
  • Keystone Species & Ecosystem Engineers.
  • Invasive Species: Effects on ecosystems.
  • Human-induced Environmental Changes: Anthropogenic climate change.

EVO 1: Patterns of Evolution

  • Evidence for Evolution:
    • Fossil evidence, anatomical/molecular homologies.
    • DNA structure and function.
  • Phylogenetic Trees

EVO 2: Mechanisms of Evolution

  • Darwin's Influencers: Lamarck, Lyell, Hutton.
  • Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection.
  • Selective Pressures: Affect fitness, cause phenotype shifts.
    • Abiotic & biotic ecosystem components as selective pressures.
    • Adaptations: Heritable traits increasing fitness.
  • Favorable traits: Relative to the environment.
  • Coevolution, artificial selection, sexual selection.

EVO 3: Speciation

  • Allopatric vs. Sympatric Speciation.
  • Pre-zygotic & Post-zygotic Barriers.
  • Biological definition of a species: Reproductive isolation.
  • Geographic separation leading to speciation.
  • Gradualism vs. Punctuated Equilibrium.
  • Mass Extinction Events: Causes/impacts.
  • Human-induced Extinction Events