Assignment
Read Chapter 52 - An Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere, watch the YouTube videos, and answer the questions below
YouTube video: "Ecology - Rules for Living on Earth: Crash Course Biology #40"
a) List and describe the levels of ecological hierarchy from simplest to most complex (see pg. 1163).
b) Choose a habitat and list two biotic and two abiotic factors that influence its ecology.
c) Describe two different biomes and note the characteristics that define them.
YouTube video: "Reasons for the seasons - Rebecca Kaplan"
a) Why is the northern hemisphere in summer and the southern hemisphere is in winter in late June?
b) Why are the north and south poles generally colder than the equator?
YouTube video: "Why Does Earth Have Deserts?"
a) Briefly explain why the area near the equator is often tropical rainforest whilet deserts are frequently found at 30 degrees of latitude north and south of the equator.
YouTube video: "Why Do More Species Live Near the Equator?"
a) Describe two reasons why there is more ecological diversity near the equator.
Read Chapter 53 - Population Ecology, watch the following videos, and answer the questions below.
YouTube video: "Population Ecology: The Texas Mosquito Mystery - Crash Course Ecology #2"
a) What is a population?
b) Name two ways populations can increase and two ways populations can decrease.
c) Why might individuals in a population show clumped dispersion?
d) Why might individuals in a population show uniform dispersion?
e) What was probably the limiting factor preventing large mosquito population growth Dallas that was removed in 2012, allowing for a population boom?
f) Would your answer to the previous question be a density dependent or a density independent factor?
g) What term (indicated by the letter K) represents the number of individuals that a habitat can sustain with the resources that it has available?
h) If resources are unlimited, organisms display ________________________ growth, whereas when there is an ultimate limit to resources organisms display ___________________ growth.
i) If a particular organism with a population (N) of 1000 has 500 births (B) and 300 deaths (D) in a particular year, what is the growth rate that year?
YouTube video: "Human Population Growth - Crash Course Ecology #3"
a) Mayflies can produce thousands of eggs during the reproductive stage of their lives, but they receive no parental care and most will die before they reach maturity. Elephants produce one calf at a time. Each calf requires a 22-month gestation period and intensive parental care for many years. The elephant calves are very likely to live to maturity. Classify elephants and mayflies as R or K-selected organisms.
b) Describe two ways that humans have increased our carrying capacity