APES Guided Notes

Chapter 6 – Population and Community Ecology

Standard 3

Module 18 – The Abundance and Distribution of Populations

  1. Read the “New England Forests Come Full Circle” case study on pages 189-190. Be prepared to discuss the following questions:
  2. What does it mean for an ecosystem to be highly resilient?
  3. To what degree is the New England forest resilient?
  4. Identify and describe some abiotic factors that might affect the forests resilience.
  5. What biotic influences were responsible for changes to the New England forest ecosystem?
  1. Vocabulary: population, community, population ecology, population size (N), population density, population distribution, sex ratio, age structure, limiting resource, density-dependent factor, caring capacity (K), density independent factor
  1. Watch the video Population Ecology: The Texas Mosquito Mystery
  2. What are two factors that allowed the population of mosquitoes to grow at exponential rates in the summer of 2012?
  3. Why might this be important for population ecologists to know?
  4. How might residents of Dallas benefit from knowing mosquito population trends?
  1. Complete the following concept map by describing and explaining the significance of each population characteristic.
  1. Answer the Module 18 review questions:

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

Module 19 – Population Growth Models

  1. Vocabulary – population growth models, population growth rate, intrinsic growth rate (r), exponential growth model (Nt = N0ert), j-shaped curve, logistical growth model, s-shaped curve, overshoot, die-off, k-selected species, r-selected species, corridor, meta-population, inbreeding depression, survivorship curve, and type I, II, III survivorship curves
  1. Using the exponential growth model information and equation answer the following problem: You decide to invest $1,000 in a savings account with a growth rate of 10% interest each year. How much money will you have in 30 years?
  1. Calculating Exponential Growth - DO THE MATH – page 199
  2. Use the graph to the right to draw a line that represents the following population trends:
  3. Intrinsic growth rate
  4. Logistic growth
  5. A line that shows how a reproductive lag time can lead to a series of overshoot and die-off events
  1. Compare and contrast r-selected and k-selected species.
  1. Label each of the following organisms either as an r-selected species “r” or k-selected species “k”.

  1. Elephant
  2. Mosquito
  3. Sea turtle
  4. House mice
  5. Red wood tree
  6. Bald eagle
  7. Primates
  8. Dandelions
  9. Trout

  1. Answer the Module 19 review questions:

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

Module 20 – Community Ecology

  1. Vocabulary – community ecology, symbiotic relationships, competition, competitive exclusion principle, resource portioning, predation, parasitoid, parasitism, pathogen, herbivory, mutualism, commensalism, keystone species, ecosystem engineer
  1. What is the competitive exclusion principle? Why is the paramecia experiment representative of the principle? What type of limiting factor is competition?
  1. Compare/contrast the following categories of resource partitioning:
  2. Temporal
  3. Spatial
  4. Morphological
  1. Give an example of an organism for each type of defense mechanism:
  2. Chemical
  3. Morphological
  4. Behavioral
  5. Mimicry
  1. Be sure you know Table 20.1 on page 209.
  1. Describe what makes sea stars a keystone species?
  1. Answer the Module 20 review questions:

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

Module 21 – Community Succession

  1. Vocabulary – ecological succession, primary succession, secondary succession, pioneer species, climax community, theory of island biogeography
  2. Compare/contrast primary and secondary succession

Primary: / Secondary

  1. How does succession occur in aquatic ecosystems?
  1. How do latitude, time, habitat size, and distance from other communities impact species richness of a community?
  1. Research an island or island chain of your choice. Be prepared to share information about species richness of the island(s) and if the theory of island biogeography is supported or not.
  1. Answer the Module 21 review questions:

1.______

2.______

3.______

Answer all questions on page 221-223.

4.______

5.______