MSH Study Guide PDF

This is not designed to be entirely comprehensive. It’s a guide to get you started. Anything covered in lecture or in homework assignments is fair game for the exam. However, in applying concepts, you first need to understand the big concepts before you can work through the details. Consider how muc...

This is not designed to be entirely comprehensive. It’s a guide to get you started. Anything covered in lecture or in homework assignments is fair game for the exam. However, in applying concepts, you first need to understand the big concepts before you can work through the details. Consider how much time was spent in class or how many questions were asked on worksheets/quizzes about a topic. This should roughly equate to its importance and the number of questions you’re likely to see about a topic on an e am. For instance, if something was mentioned once in passing on a slide, but you haven’t encountered it again, it’s not likely to be on an exam, or at least not something that will be vitally important. If on the other hand, we spent two days on it in class and there were 3 weekly review quiz questions about it, you should expect to see that represented by a couple questions on the test. This guide should not be the only thing you’re using to prepare for the exam. There were lots of suggestions for studying in class as well as your notes, lecture powerpoints, worksheets, ICQs and weekly review quizzes. Equations: I will give you these 3 equations on the exam: S’ = 1-D D = Σ (pi)2 δN/δt = rN0 WEEK 1: INTRO TO BIOL1108 & INTRO TO MSH Definitions of scale: population, ecosystem, etc. Mount Saint Helens (MSH) Define an ecosystem: ○ What are its abiotic components? Averages and seasonality importance ○ What are the biotic components? ○ Disturbances - Natural and Human Scale, frequency and intensity ○ Mountains What changes with elevation (abiotic and biotic) Influence on biodiversity Relationship between elevation and latitude Which changes faster? The before of MSH ○ Describe the conditions of the environment before the MSH eruption (consider soil quality, vertical and horizontal biodiversity, biome type, species richness, elevation effects, etc.) ○ Relationship to the south slope The after ○ Describe the impact the eruption had on the surrounding ecosystem (consider soil quality, vertical and horizontal biodiversity, biome type, species richness, etc.) ○ Different zones of impact (pumice plain vs. scorch zone, etc.) ○ Why/how are different parts of MSH affected? ○ What is tephra and how does it impact reestablishment of organisms ○ What species will reestablish first? What organisms can reach MSH first? Seeds survive first? Establish first? Dispersal strategies? Seed size? Cotyledon and Seed coat pros and cons (evolutionary tradeoffs) Which tolerate the soil conditions? Timing of animal/plant reestablishment Evolutionary tradeoffs ○ What are they and why do they exist? ○ Graphical representations/interpretations of tradeoffs ○ Examples in animals? Plants? Dispersal/seed size/survivorship Early vs. Late Successional tree characteristics Shade tolerance, longevity, persistence and Max GR ○ Impact on fitness (definition of evolutionary fitness) Fitness vs. per capita survivorship ○ r vs. K selected Reproductive Strategies in animals impact on fitness characteristics of each WEEK 2: PLANT NUTRITION AND PROTEIN FOLDING General understanding of Chem ○ What is an atom/molecule/electron? ○ What is the octet rule and how does it apply to bonding and shared electrons? ○ What is the difference between a bond and an IMF ○ What is electronegativity and how does it affect electron behavior and charge within a molecule? ○ What are the cutoffs between non-polar and polar covalent bonds and covalent and ionic bonds in terms of electronegativity differences ○ How are partial charges and full charges formed in molecules? ○ Polar vs. non-polar bond behavior ○ DO NOT memorize specific electronegativities although you should know Oxygen and Nitrogen (and Fluorine) have high electronegativity compared to everything else ○ Review chemistry videos and be sure you are comfortable with those topics. Importance of N and Proteins ○ Where is N found in plants and animals? ○ Why is N important in the building of proteins? ○ What kind of proteins are there and why are they important? Made of amino acids (AA) joined together (translation) ○ Parts of an AA – which parts do they have in common? Which are different? Protein structure ○ What determines their folding? ○ Describe the four levels of protein folding? Bonds involved in each level what each level looks like ○ Primary Structure: Peptide bonds: what type of bond are they? What do they connect? Covalent Bonds (polar or non-polar? – how do you know?) ○ Secondary Structure What kinds of bonds are involved Does not involve R groups ○ Tertiary structure Caused by interactions between R groups Formed with both bonds and IMFs Types of Intermolecular forces (IMF): differ in strength H-bonds Dipole-dipole non-polar interactions (van der Waals) What does a hydrogen bond connect? How/why do partial charges form within molecules? What kinds of R-groups can form H-bonds/ionic bonds/disulfide bridges? How are hydrogen bonds different from covalent bonds that include hydrogen? What is necessary to create an ionic bond between two molecules? How do ionic bonds differ from covalent or hydrogen bonds? ○ Be able to ID which AAs will form the different types of bonds if you’re given the chart below Nitrogen Continued Nitrogen (N) and Resource Limitation What will affect recolonization? What are plants made of? ○ C,O, and H = Structure and Energy ○ N = Proteins and Enzymes ○ NPK ○ Micronutrients Where do plants get all these things? Why do organisms need N? ○ How do they obtain N? ○ Where is N on earth? In what form? Why can’t most things use it? Nitrogen Fixation: What organisms are N fixers? In what form do they take in/release N? How do we/plants assimilate N? In what forms? What were the N levels at MSH like pre-eruption? Post-eruption? How does lupine overcome the lack of N in the tephra? ○ What does each organism get from that association? ○ How would we describe that species interaction? Limiting Resources: Liebig’s Law of the Minimum – definition and application ○ Think of an example for how to determine the limiting resource How can you tell whether a certain nutrient or resource is the limiting factor? Why can we not always know what’s limiting? Assumptions when applying Liebig’s law ○ Liebig’s Law and Populations  ○ What is limiting in MSH pumice plain soils? Would the same necessarily be true elsewhere on MSH? Seed Distribution and Energetic (Evolutionary) Trade offs If there was one best way, everything would do it. Parts of a Seed ○ What is a cotyledon? What does it provide for a seed? ○ What is a seed coat? What does it provide for a seed? Seed Size ○ Why might a plant want to produce larger seeds? Smaller seeds? ○ How does seed size affect survivorship? ○ Describe the relationship between seed size and seed number Practice drawing graphs with different variables to understand the relationships. Fitness ○ Define fitness as it relates to biological tradeoffs. ANSWER: The capability of an organism to produce viable offspring in order to pass on genes (“how many genes can you pass on, and how many offspring can you have that will themselves survive to reproduce” - Dr. Pucko) Example: If an avocado tree makes 200 avocados each with a 1 in 100 chance of survival, you’d probably expect 2 to survive to adulthood. This means per capita survivorship is 1/100, while fitness is 2. ○ Describe the strategic trade offs plants and animals use to optimize their fitness ANSWER: Plants - Seed size vs. Seed Number, WEEK 3: SPECIES INTERACTIONS AND SUCCESSION 1) How do species on MSH interact and how might those interactions shape ecosystem recovery? 2) What is facilitation and how does it help to initiate ecosystem recovery? Reproduction Why were lupines the first species to establish in the pumice plains? ○ N-Fixing bacteria Why can’t other plants establish here first? Were lupines likely the first species to REACH the pumice plain? Species Interactions Symbiosis Definition and ID Mutualistic ○ N-fixing bacteria Parasitism  Predation Commensalism Herbivory Altruism ○ Kin selection Facilitation ○ Role in succession Competition Intraspecific competition: Interspecific competition: Succession What is the typical progression of communities? ○ What process leads to the turnover from one community to the next? ○ How does soil change? ○ What are other ecological advantages of older ecosystems? ○ Know the general communities and the MSH specific ones Primary Succession vs. secondary succession ○ Where? Structural complexity changes over time ○ Vertical – causes? How to identify? ○ Horizontal – causes? How to identify? ○ Traits of trees: Early-successional (what sp?) Shade intolerant Late-successional (what sp?) Shade tolerant Evolutionary Tradeoff between tree characteristics (tortoise vs. hare) Graphically depict tradeoffs Disturbances: How are they related to succession? Horizontal complexity? Vertical complexity? Biodiversity? Consider types, size, frequency WEEK 4: COMPLEXITY AND BIODIVERSITY  What increases with age of a forest: Complexity Vertical (why/how?) Horizontal (why/how?) Biodiversity ○ Species richness - # of species ○ S’ (Calculations) includes measure of abundance ○ How to compare S’ to one another ○ How does biodiv. Change over time/space/elevation/proximity to MSH eruption ○ What factors impact biodiversity If you’re given 2 places with different biodiversities, what can you hypothesize about them? (age, distance from eruption, elevation, latitude, successional stage, etc.) Evolutionary trade-offs: ○ Early vs. late successional trees ○ Long term vs. short term Stability: ○ Resistance and Resilience Biodiversity leads to complexity which leads to stability ○ Why is this important?