AP Environmental Science



AP Environmental Science

Review Sheet: Exam 3 (Biodiversity and Biomes) chapters 5, 6 and 11

CH. 5.

Central Cases:

Golden toad in Monteverde Cloud Forest: What is a cloud forest and why was it so sensitive to global warming? Also, Costa Rica as an example of ecotourism as conservation. Golden toad as an endemic species.

-Natural (and artificial) selection:

the logic of natural selection (table 5.1)

directional, stabilizing and disruptive selection

speciation (allopatric and sympatric)

-What is a species?:

biological vs. other species concepts, especially as contrasted with the morphological species concept (this is not in the text, presented in class).

Biological species concept: ability to interbreed and leave viable offspring

-Mass extinction events: Contrast 5th and 6th especially, but know something about the others

-Levels of ecological organization: Niche vs. habitat vs. population. Generalists vs. specialists.

CH.6

-Invasive species (zebra mussel and cane toads), keystone species (sea otter, beaver, alligator)

-Species interactions:

Predation, parasitism, competition, mutualism, commensalisms: know definitions and at least one example of each

-Fundamental and realized niche, trophic level

-Food webs and trophic levels (producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, etc.)

energy/biomass/numbers pyramids (energy always decreases up the trophic levels, biomass and numbers usually do too, but remember the exceptions gone over in class of trees in the forest and marine phytoplankton)

-Primary and secondary succession in terrestrial biomes and ponds

-Net and gross primary productivity

-Biomes:

Plant types determined primarily by temperature and precipitation (Fig. 6.17)

Fig. 6.16: know the major locations on the world map of the biomes listed.

Understand the principles of the climatograms and be able to recognize the biomes from their climatograms

Be able to describe the basic characteristics of each biome

Major uses and environmental pressures on each biome

How does altitude mimic latitude in terms of changing biomes as one climbs a mountain?

ch. 11

-Central case: Siberian tiger: one of 8 subspecies (what is a subspecies?), role of politics and black markets in its decline, extirpation vs. extinction of several other tiger subspecies

-Levels of biodiversity and their inter-relationships: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity

-Measuring biodiversity (not easy!) example of Terry Erwin fogging rainforest trees (what assumptions were made in estimating biodiversity?). How many species exist on the planet (best guesses 5-30 million)? What species are most numerous?

-Unevenness of biodiversity:

globally: latitudinal gradient (why does it occur? Figs. 11-6 and 11.7), biodiversity hotspots

over time: mass extinctions and punctuated equilibrium (bursts of speciation)

-Species extinctions: 6 extinction events, background extinction rate, human’s role in 6th extinction (including megafaunal extinctions during migrations of humans to other continents)

-Causes of Biodiversity loss: habitat alteration, invasive species, pollution, overharvesting, climate change. Be able to give several examples of each and discuss them.

-Benefits of biodiversity: ecosystem services (give examples!), ecosystem function (stability vs. resiliency), food security, drugs and medicines, tourism and recreation, connections with nature (biophilia and nature deficit disorder!), ethical obligations

-Conservation Biology:

Equilibrium theory of island biogeography (EO Wilson and MacArthur). Immigration vs. Extinction and role of species number, distance to mainland and size of islands. How does this serve as a useful analogy to habitat fragmentation and conservation?

-Legislation: ESA and SARA, CITES, Convention on Biological Diversity (how well have they worked? ex. peregrine falcon vs “shoot, shovel and shut up”)

-Strategies of conservation: single species (including captive breeding), single species as umbrella species, habitat conservation (including biodiversity hotspots), community based conservation (give examples), economic incentives: debt-for-nature swap and conservation concessions

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