Review sheet for BIOL 104 - Exam 1

Included here are important terms and/or concepts that you should understand. Related terms/ideas are grouped together. Do not approach this simply as a list of terms you need to define to be able to pass the exam. It is better used as a checklist of what you are learning, and a reminder of relationships. After each group of terms are examples of questions you should be able to answer once we have covered these topics.

Introductory stuff
zero population growth
renewable, nonrenewable resources
maximum sustained yield
degradable, nondegradable pollution

How does population growth relate to resource use and pollution?

Big picture stuff
ecosystem
laws of conservation of matter, energy
second law of energy
biosphere
community
population

What happens when matter and energy are changed from one form to another?
How does a community differ from an ecosystem?
Why is heat energy less useful than other forms of energy?

Biotic ecosystem components
producers, autotrophs
consumers, heterotrophs: primary, secondary, tertiary
decomposers
herbivore, carnivore, omnivore

What terms can be used to describe a plant? A bird that eats plant-eating insects?
Where do bacteria and fungi fit into the ecosystem?

Abiotic ecosystem components
outside energy source
physical factors determining climate, weather
simple chemicals
topography
organic, inorganic chemicals
limiting factor principle

What factors are most important in determining an ecosystem's climate?
How are air movements and precipitation linked?
What is the source of organic molecules within an ecosystem?
What are rain shadows, and how do large lakes affect precipitation?
How can simple chemicals control what happens within an ecosystem?

Ecosystem structure & processes
biomes
estuary
food chain, food web
trophic levels
primary productivity
secondary productivity
gaseous, sedimentary, hydrologic cycles
carbon cycle
nitrogen cycle
phosphorus cycle
primary, secondary succession
pioneer (opportunistic) species
equilibrium species
climax community

What are the major types of biomes? Of aquatic ecosystems?
What physical factors exert most control on biome type? On aquatic ecosystem type?
How much energy is lost when energy is transferred between trophic levels?
How does primary productivity differ from secondary productivity?
What distinguishes the three major types of biogeochemical cycles?
What processes drive the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles?
Why does secondary succession occur more rapidly than primary succession?
What types of species dominate climax communities?

General human population stuff
birth, death, migration rates
fertility rate
age structure
marriage age
exponential, logistic population growth
carrying capacity
cultural evolution

How can birth and death rates be used to determine population growth?
What is a replacement fertility rate and how does it relate to the time lag to ZPG?
What age structure typifies rapidly growing poopulations? Populations with ZPG?
What is the difference between exponential and logistic population growth?
What typeof growth does the human population display at present? In the past?
What sets the carrying capacity of the earth for humans?
Can carrying capacity of the earth for humans change?

Approaches to population control
economic development
demographic transition model
family planning (centralized, decentralized)
contraceptives (for example, IUD)
abortion
increased women's rights
economic incentives, disincentives
India versus China versus United States

Why are birth rates reduced in the demographic transition model of economic development?
What are some general approaches to family planning?
How do the official goals of economic development and family planning differ?
What approaches have the United States, China, and India used to control population growth?
What population growth controls have been successful? Unsuccessful?