Ecology Past Paper, December 4th, 2024 PDF

10/30/24 Ecology 1 Dr. Todd Palmer Office: 411 Carr Hall Office hours (Starting Monday) Mon period 6 (12:50-1:40) Wed period 6 (12:50-1:40) 2 Exam Exam: Wednesday December 4th ** Exam 3 is NOT cumu...

10/30/24 Ecology 1 Dr. Todd Palmer Office: 411 Carr Hall Office hours (Starting Monday) Mon period 6 (12:50-1:40) Wed period 6 (12:50-1:40) 2 Exam Exam: Wednesday December 4th ** Exam 3 is NOT cumulative for all sections** 3 1  10/30/24 Logistics Exam will cover: lectures readings that relate to material covered in class online materials Lecture outlines, PDFs and PowerPoint slides posted before class 4 Who are you people? 5 How’s class going? 6 2  10/30/24 If you’re having trouble… Ø NOW is the time to do something about it Ø Things you should be doing: l Talk to Susannah (the online TA) about where you’re at grade-wise l Find students who are doing well, and study with them! l Start learning “actively”; read text and notes, re-write your notes in different ways, ask yourself questions, talk with friends from class 7 Your job in this class Come to class Read the relevant parts of text Ask questions Learn something Teach me some things Make mistakes! 8 THE DAILY ITINERARY Ø Ecology in the news Ø Outline of the day’s ideas and objectives (note: learning objectives will be posted online along with a few practice questions for each lecture) Ø The “lecture” Ø Points to ponder 9 3  10/30/24 For our time together Ø Intro to ecology, climate, biomes Chapter 38 Ø Population ecology Chapter 39 Ø Community ecology Chapter 40-41 Ø Ecosystem ecology Chapter 42 10 TODAY’S ITINERARY Ø Ecology in the news: Fastest jaws in the animal kingdom Ø Definitions: what is ecology? Ø Ecology: how it’s done Ø Why should we care? 11 News of the day The fastest jaws in the animal kingdom 12 4  10/30/24 News of the day Odontomachus bauri “trap-jaw” ant 13 News of the day Odontomachus bauri: A Central- and South-American ant 14 This is an example of an “exaptation” an adaptation that performs a function different from the function that it originally held 145 mph jaw strike 2300x speed of blinking eye Odontomachus bauri: A Central- and South-American ant 15 5  10/30/24 Today’s learning objectives: Ø Be able to define “ecology” Ø Be able to come up with an example of how ecological interactions affect evolutionary processes Ø Be able to describe different levels of organization in ecological systems Ø Be able to describe the basic steps in the Scientific Method 16 What’s comes to mind when you hear the term “ecology”? 17 Definitions: Ecology 18 6  10/30/24 Ecology The scientific study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. 19 There are two components of environments... Ø Abiotic (non-living) component: Ø Biotic Component: 20 Environments include… Ø Abiotic (non-living) component: chemical and physical factors (e.g., temp, light, water, wind, pH) Affect the ability of individuals to survive and reproduce Individuals differ in their “tolerance” 21 7  10/30/24 Environments include… Ø Abiotic (non-living) component: chemical and physical factors (e.g., temp, light, water) Affect the ability of individuals to survive and reproduce Individuals differ in their “tolerance” Biotic Component: the biota or organisms Can have dramatic influence on species survival and reproduction, and on abiotic environment 22 How are these hippos interacting with their biotic and abiotic environment? 23 Ecological interactions influence evolutionary processes Large body size High bite force (2000 psi) 24 24 8  10/30/24 What types of questions do ecologists ask? 25 Types of questions: What happens if we lose biodiversity? 26 Types of questions: What happens to African savannas when we lose the big animals? 27 9  10/30/24 We can approach the study of nature at different scales 28 Organism 29 Population 30 10  10/30/24 Community 31 Ecosystem 32 Biosphere 33 11  10/30/24 How do ecologists study nature? no elephants elephants 34 How do ecologists study nature? APPLY THE “SCIENTIFIC METHOD” 35 Example: how will large mammal extinctions affect East African savannas? 36 12  10/30/24 The experiment All animals Big and go extinct medium sized animals go extinct Natural savanna Biggest animals go extinct 37 The experiment NO ELEPHANTS MESO TOTAL EXCLUSION OPEN 38 Satellite image of experiment OPEN TOTAL EXCLUSION NO ELEPHANTS MESO 39 13  10/30/24 So who cares? 43 70%! 44 Learning Catalytics Ø There will be 2 questions based on today’s lecture. These questions will be open until Friday at midnight to answer. Don’t forget! 45 14  10/30/24 See y’all Friday 46 15