1. Why are the Greek Philosophers credited with the origins of modern science? (what common approach did they all take, especially Aristotle?)

10. What kind of information would you get from a climograph?

11. Diagram a “typical” soil profile and briefly describe the characteristics of each horizon.

12. Why are clay minerals important to soil fertility?

13. Diagram and describe the gradient of oxidized to reduced conditions in saturated soils.

14. What are some plant adaptations for living in anaerobic soils?

15. What is phenotypic plasticity?

16. What are the implications (effects) of water limitation for plants?

17. Briefly diagram/describe the biochemical difference between C3 and C4 CO₂ capture.

18. Diagram a typical nutrient uptake kinetics curve and label its features.

19. Fill in the blanks for energy flow in osmotrophs/phagotrophs/autotrophs

20. Do Poikilotherms (ectotherms) regulate their body temperature? Explain.

21. Describe osmoregulation in conformers and regulators (could be the same organism), using the terms Hypertonic, Isotonic, and Hypotonic.

22. What are the categories of respiration (metabolism) energy requirements?

23. Diagram activity patterns for diurnal, nocturnal and animals active during crepuscular periods

24. Describe spring-neap tidal cycles.

3. Diagram or describe the scientific method of testing knowledge and ideas.

4. Describe a “rain shadow” as changes in absolute and relative humidity in an air mass.

5. Describe how the following types of models are used to “manage” information: statistical, conceptual, simulation.

6. What is a “leaf area index”?

7. Seasons in the temperate zones are controlled by .

8. What factors determine the depth of a “photic zone” in water?

9. Define”PAR”.

10. Seasons in the tropical zones are controlled by .

11. With increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations and increasing temperature, would you expect C₃ or C₄ plants to have the advantage? Why?

1. Label (fill in the boxes) the features of this light response (irradiance) curve:

2. How would you expect the compensation and saturation points to be different for shade intolerant and shade tolerant plants? Why do some shade tolerant plants die in full sun?

3. Net Photosynthesis = -

What does this have to do with the compensation point?

4. What is meant by “heat sum” and how would it determine the northern limits (in the northern hemisphere) of plants?

5. How do Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemarianus handle excess salt?

6. What do k_m and V_max of this graph have to do with nutrient availability for plants?

7. Do poikilotherms regulate body temperature? Explain why/how or why not.

8. Describe how Grunion or Long Nosed Killifish take advantage of Spring-Neap tidal cycles for reproduction.

9. Define the terms Osmoregulator and Osmoconformer.

10. What is meant by “microbial enrichment” of detritus? How does this affect the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous content of detrital particles?

11. Diagram or describe the “microbial loop” concept.

12. List four emergent characteristics of populations.

13. How could a species display even, random, and clumped distribution patterns all at once?

14. How do social groups help protect against predators?

15. Contrast Physiological Longevity with Mean Natural Longevity (Life Expectancy; e_x).

16. Diagram the three idealized survivorship curves. What accounts for the difference between them?

17. How could you determine “r” from population counts over time?

18. In the equation: rN (K-N) = dN what is “K” and what does ”(K-N)” do to the equation?

K dt K

19. Diagram and describe five possible population responses to K.

20. Contrast deterministic and stochastic causes of extinction.

21. What is “self-thinning”? Is this density dependent or density independent?

22. Fill in the characteristics of r and K strategists:

	r	K
Age of Maturity
# Offspring
Size of Offspring
Lifespan
Parental care
Competitive Ability/type
Plant Reproduction

1. Describe types of macro and micro mutations. How do the micro mutations respond to natural selection?

2. What two ways can the Hardy Weinburg law be used in studies of evolution?

3. What happens to genetic variability in small populations? What processes cause this?

4. What is a “Minimum Viable Population”? How is the concept of an “Effective Population” involved in this?

5. Examples of competitive exclusion were presented for corals and parasitoid wasps. Chose one and provide details of the interaction.

6. What is character displacement and how does it relate to niches and resource partitioning?

7. Diagram, label the three types of functional response curves

8. Define “search image”. What does this have to do with prey switching and a type III functional response?

9. What is the basic premise of optimal foraging? How does minimizing risk relate to this concept?

10. Diagram graphically the generalized response of plant production to herbivory.

11. What are the conditions necessary for Batesian Mimicry to occur? Provide an example.

12. What selective pressures might account for the cyclic production of poor and bumper crops of seeds?

13. Define and contrast the terms Symbiosis and Mutualism.

14. What are mycorrhizae and why are they important?

15. Describe the mutualism known as zoochory. What happens at opposite extremes of this interaction?

16. Diagram and label a “Catch per unit Effort Curve”. What are these used for? What effect does technology have on the curve?

17. Is renewable resource management a scientific process? Why or why not?

1. What is a P/R ratio? What information does this ratio provide for an ecosystem?

2. How does tissue growth efficiency of homeotherms and poikilotherms affect trophic transfer efficiencies at the ecosystem level?

3. Describe/diagram the process of bioaccumulation/biomagnification of hydrophobic toxins.

4. According to the Island Biogeography Theory, what determines species numbers and species composition at equilibrium on “islands”?

5. Describe the stratification of a mature forest system. What happens at newly cut edges?

6. Describe primary and secondary succession processes. How are these integrated in community and ecosystem level structure?