ES100 Midterm Study Guide

ES100 Midterm Study Guide - ES100 Midterm Study Guide...


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Unformatted text preview: ES100 Midterm Study Guide Lecture 1-IntroductionWhat is Ecology? Name from latin/greek o OkiosHouse of the environment OlogyThe Study of o Ecology is the comprehensive relationshipstudying the distribution of organisms and their interactions that determine their distribution and abundance o Environmentalism vs. Ecology Why is ecology useful for Environmental Studies Majors? o Levels of Investigation Physiological, genetically, individual behavior, population, community, landscape, ecosystem Why do we study ecology? o Ecology gives us insight on resource problems For example, rare species, sustainable populations, fisheries, etc. Lecture 2Scientific Method, Evolution &amp; Ecological Genetics How do we do ecology? o The scientific method is a Testable Idea Observe, question, hypothesize, data collection, analyze, conclude, form theories o How to test a hypothesis (example) Observation: Young Oak Trees are largely absent in California Question: What factors limit oak recruitment? Observation: 85% of California woodland is grazed Hypothesis: Oak establishment limited by Livestock/deer/small mammals/grasses/low rainfall Data Collection: Establish grazing enclosures and plant acorns both inside and outside Add treatments with deer and/or small mammal exclusion Plant in multiple years for rainfall Analyze acorn survival sapling o Natural ExperimentBrown Tour in New Zealand Brown tout were introduced to New Zealand and scientists believe they may limit the growth of native species Hypothesis: Trout have no affect on native fish or the food web/Trout have an affect on native fish Compare food webs in streams with Trout, only native fish, and no fish Problem with comparisons: trout may be absent because of chemical or physical factors Thus, we must use waterfalls that form a natural barrier while keeping chemical variables constant Findings Native fish are mostly lacking where trout are present Where trout are present, there is a higher percentage of Algae, and a lower percentage of invertebrate which eat the algae o Power plant Before/After Experiment Observation: Power Plants produce warm water effluent Hypothesis: Effluent from power plants alters the marine community Test: Establish control are where effluent is not present but same chemical composition Monitor impact and control areas for 2+ years before and after power plant goes online Evolution Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. But equally, very little in evolution makes sense except in the light of ecology, providing the stage directions through which the evolutionary play is performed o Evolution is the change in heritable characteristics of a species over time Theory developed by Darwin and WallaceTheory of Natural Selection o Fundamental Elements of Evolution Individuals within populations are not identical Some of the variation between individuals is genetically based...
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This note was uploaded on 12/25/2009 for the course ENV S 100 taught by Professor Staff during the Fall '08 term at UCSB.

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ES100 Midterm Study Guide - ES100 Midterm Study Guide...


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