1. Forward looking eyes
2. Reduced sense of smell
3. Face instead of a muzzle/snout
4. Only 2 mammary glands
5. Grasping paws with 5 digits
6. Collarbone that braces the upper arm
7. Similar blood chemistry; blood groups
8. Tendency to catch the same diseases
9. Highly developed brains

1. To understand causes/consequences of changes in the distribution and abundance of species
2. To predict the consequences of environmental change
3. To produce intelligent voters and policy makers

The evolutionary response of species to interactions with one another

Ex. Predator-Prey, Parasite-Host

• Habitat destruction
• Introduced Species
• Pollution
• Diesease
• Over Exploitation

1. Individuals
2. Populations
3. Communities
4. Ecosystems

Physical factors: Temperature, light

Chemical factors: pH, oxygen nitrogen

1. Predation and parasitism
2. Competition
3. Mutualism
4. Commensalism
5. Social interactions

What are the 6 major types of vegetation?

Describe them.

1. Forest: landscapecovered by trees growing close enough for their crowns to touch to form a closed canopy
2. Woodland: lanscape dominated by trees, but too widely spaced to form a closed canopy
3. Savanna: landscape dominated by grasses, trees widely spaced
4. Grassland: landscape dominated by grasses, trees very limited
5. Shrubland: landscape dominated by shrubs
6. Desert: Dry landscape with little vegetation

• Within 10 degrees N/S of equator
• Warm, moist, low seasonal variation
• Broad leaf evergreen trees
• Nutrient poor, high in diversity

• Between 10-25 N/S of equator
• Distinct dry/wet seasons
• Deciduous trees and shrubs
• More nutrients than tropical rainforests

• South Africa, Australia and southern Asia
• Distinct warm/cool and wet/dry seasons
• Grass dominant, highly scattered trees
• Soils often have impermeable layers

• Many along 30 degrees N/S
• Hot or cold, dry, irregular rainfall
• Scattered vegetation with exposed ground
• Organisms show adaptations to prolonged drought conditions

• California, sw Africa/Australia, Mediterranean area
• Cool/moist winters, hot/dry summers
• Dominated by evergreen trees and shrubs
• fire is often important

• Central U.S./Eurasia, Southern Africa
• Low annual rainfall, hot/cold season

• Middle latitudes of northern hemisphere
• Marked seasonal changes, fairly high rainfall
• Deciduous hardwood trees
• May be deciduous or a rainforest 

• Northern latitudes or Europe and Asia
• Long, cold winters; short, wet summers
• Coniferous forest

• High northern latitudes
• Cold, short growing season
• Treeless, mosses and lichens
• High insect abundance during the summer

Emergent layer

Canopy

Understory

Herb layer

Plankton

Benthos

Neuston

Nekton

Periphyton

Intertidal zone

Neritic zone

Oceanic zone

Benthic zone

What are the 2 types of freshwater systems?

Describe them

Lotic: running freshwaters (streams, creeks, rivers)

Lentic: standing bodies of freshwaters (lakes, ponds) 

• Littoral zone
• Limnetic zone
• Benthic zone
• Photic zone
• Aphotic zone

When the water in a lake or pond is circulated due to seasonal temperature changes.

Brings oxygenated water from the surface to the bottom and nutrient-rich water to the top

Mangrove swamps

Salt marshes

Freshwater swamps

Freshwater marsh

Vernal pools

Occupy intertidal areas of tropical regions

Mangrove trees dominant

Highly developed root system

Found along flat mud/sandy bottom intertidal areas

Dominated by herbacious vegetation, particularly grasses

1. Competition
2. Predation and parasitism
3. Mutualism
4. Commensalism

What are the 2 major categories of competition?

Describe them

Exploitative Competition: competition based on the depletion of a limiting resource

Interference Competition: competition based on direct or indirect behavioral/chemical interactions

1. Camouflage
2. Mimicry
3. Chemical defenses

1. Number of species present
2. Relative abundances of species present
3. Species composition

1. Energy flow
2. Chemical cycling

1. Energy can be transformed from one form to another (solar energy to stored chemical energy)
2. Energy transformation isn't 100% efficient; some energy will be lost as heat

Study the diagrams of the following cycles:

Hydrologic, carbon, nitrogen, and phophorus

1. Size
2. Geographic Distribution
3. Dispersion of Individuals
4. Age structure
5. Genetic structure
6. Death rate
7. Birth rate
8. Dispersal rates
9. Population growth rate

1. Random
2. Uniform
3. Clumped

1. Age at first reproduction
2. Number of offspring produced per reproductive bout
3. Size of offspring
4. Number of reproductive bouts per lifetime

What can be said about the logistic growth model

(s-shaped curve)

Limited population growth, density dependent

K on graph = carrying capacity

• Competition for resources
• Predation
• Disease
• Accumulation of waste