Ecosystem Science Exam Prep

Exam Preparation Guide

• The exam will cover material from lectures and assignments.
• Understand the main concepts before focusing on details.
• The importance of a topic is related to the time spent on it in class and the number of questions asked on worksheets, quizzes, etc.
• Material mentioned briefly in class or not revisited isn't likely to be on the exam.
• Use your notes, lecture powerpoints, worksheets, in-class questions (ICQs) and weekly review quizzes as supplemental study resources.

Equations for the Exam

• S' = 1 - D
• D = Σ(pi)²
• δΝ/δt = rN₀

Definitions of scale

• Definitions of scale (population, ecosystem, etc.) will be included in the exam.

Mount Saint Helens (MSH)

• Ecosystem Definition:
  • Abiotic components: Averages and seasonality importance
  • Biotic components:
  • Disturbances: scale, frequency, and intensity
  • Mountains: Elevation, biotic and abiotic changes, relationship between elevation and latitude, rate of change
• Before MSH eruption:
  • Conditions: Soil quality, biodiversity (vertical and horizontal), biome type, species richness, elevation effects, relationship to south slopes.
• The Impact of the Eruption:
  • Describe the impact the eruption has had on surrounding ecosystems, covering soil quality, vertical and horizontal biodiversity, biome type, and species richness.

Other topics covered

• General Understanding of Chemistry:

  • Atoms, molecules, electrons
  • Octet rule, bonding, shared electrons, bond vs. IMF
  • Electronegativity and its effect on electron behavior and charge within a molecule
  • Covalent and Ionic bonds, non-polar and polar covalent bonds
  • Partial and Full charges in molecules
  • Polar and non-polar bonds/behaviors
  • Review chemistry videos.

• Proteins and Nitrogen Importance:

  • Location of nitrogen
  • Importance of nitrogen in protein structure
  • Different types of amino acids (AAs)
  • Protein structure:
    • Primary structure—peptide bonds; covalent bonds, (polar or non-polar)
    • Secondary structure—bonds involved
    • Tertiary structure—interactions between R-groups -IMFs (intermolecular forces) such as hydrogen bonds, dipole-dipole interactions, van der waals (non-polar interactions).
  • Describing the four levels of protein folding and bonds associated with each level

• Nitrogen and Resource Limitation:

  • Nitrogen (N) and resource limitations (affecting recolonization and structure)
  • Plant components (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, structure, energy, protein and enzymes, NPK, micronutrients)
  • Where plants get nutrients.

• Species Interactions and Succession:

  • How species on MSH interact and how these interactions influence ecosystem recovery.
  • Explain facilitation and its role in initiating recovery.
  • Reproduction (lupines, N-fixing bacteria, reaching the pumice plains)

• Biodiversity and Complexity:

  • How complexity varies with age
  • Relationships between species richness & abundance
  • Changes in biodiversity over time and space
  • Factors affecting biodiversity

• Succession:

  • Know the general communities and the specific ones on MSH
  • Changes in soil and ecological advantages of older ecosystems
  • Primary vs. Secondary Succession
  • Structural Complexity: Vertical and Horizontal
  • Recognize and identify traits, including early successional species, shade tolerance and shade intolerance, Evolutionary trade-offs, including tortoise vs. hare characteristics

• Disturbances:

  • How disturbances are related to succession
  • Importance of horizontal and vertical complexity, biodiversity, type, size, and frequency of disturbances