Worksheet  2

This is a worksheet to help you with the concepts of this class. Your quiz will come from this worksheet, notes, readings and in-class discussion.

vocabulary:

1 - scientific methods, science, science data, hypothesis, model, deductive and inductive  reasoning, systems, feedback loops, synergy, law of conservation of energy, 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics.

2 - ecology, organisms, species, habitat, ecosystem, biomes, abiotic, biota, limiting factor principle, range of tolerance, trophic pyramid, producers, consumers & decomposers; aerobic and anaerobic, biodiversity.

3-hydrologic cycle, nutrient cycle, biogeochemical cycle, carbon - nitrogen-sulfur-phosphorous cycles,

4 - evolution, gene pool, adaptation, ecological niche, generalist and specialist, extinction

concept questions:

How does an ecological niche help adaptation of a population to a changing environment?

How do extinction of species and formation of new species affect biodiversity?

What is evolution, and how has it led to the current diversity of organisms on the earth?

What are the major components of an ecosystem?

What happens to energy in an ecosystem?

What basic processes keep us and other organisms alive?

The scientific method has many approaches, what are they and do they differ?

How are the scientific laws governing changes of matter and energy from one form to another related to resource use and environmental degradation?

Application question:

An example of applying the individual concepts to a broader question could be like the following. In this class we will use the term "application" to mean that you are to use what you know to solve a new problem, you couldn't have just memorized the answer.

Describe a changing abiotic factor in the natural environment that has caused evolutionary changes in humans?