Lesson 11 - Community and Ecosystem Ecology

Introduction
 
"Community ecology is concerned with how populations of different species interact with each other. The number of individuals in each population is influenced by negative interactions such as competition, predation, and parasitism. But positive interactions such as mutualism are also fairly common and are presumed to increase or maintain population sizes. Perhaps one of the most important recent discoveries about communities is that they are highly dynamic, meaning that the number of species, kinds of species, and sizes of populations within most communities are constantly changing."
 
Getting Started "Instead of studying the composition of communities, some ecologists concentrate on the movement of energy and nutrients through communities. The physical environment has a large influence on energy flow and chemical cycling. Therefore our study of communities must include the abiotic environment."


Focus on Learning
 
Use the course competencies listed below to focus your learning and use the lesson objectives to sharpen that focus.
 
Competencies By the end of the lesson , you should be able to:

  1. Identify and analyze the basic principles of ecology.
 
Objectives

To master the competencies, you should seek to understand how:

  1. A community contains several interacting populations in the same locale.
  2. A community develops and changes over time.
  3. An ecosystem is a community interacting with the physical environment.


Reading Assignments
 
Reading Assignment Reading is a very important component of an internet course. Read the assigned pages from your textbook before proceeding to the Activities, Study Help, and Assessment Sections.
 
Textbook Read the Assignment in Mader Concepts of Biology Textbook:
Community and Ecosystem Ecology: Chapter 38


Activities
 
Complete the Animation Activities. Feel free to open your book and notes as you work on them. The information in these activities is very helpful when completing the Animation Quiz that follows.
 
Animations
Complete the Animation Activities by Clicking the Links Below:
Animation Activity 1 - Community Structure
Animation Activity 2 - Energy Flow
Animation Activity 3 - Nutrient Cycles
Animation Activity 4 - Salmon Farming
 
Complete the Virtual Lab Activity. Feel free to open your books and notes as you work on it. Complete the activity by reading the instructions, performing the lab exercise, downloading the post lab quiz and report and filling it out. Be sure to complete and print out the data table embedded in each lab exercise. The information in this lab activity is very helpful when completing the Virtual Lab Quiz and Worksheet that follow.
 
Virtual Lab
Complete the Virtual Lab Activity by Clicking the Link Below:
Virtual Lab Activity: Model Ecosystem


Study Help

 
It's time to review and practice what you have learned from your reading and instruction activities. Slide presentations, Chapter Outlines, Flashcards, and Student Learning Outcomes are provided to help you study. Feel free to open your book and notes as you use them.
 
Slide Presentation
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Textbook Reading Folder, click into the Reading Review Slide Presentation Folder, and click the Slide Presentation Link:
Slide Presentation - Chapter 38 Mader Web Presentation
 
Practice Quiz
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Textbook Reading Folder, and click the Reading Practice Quiz Link:
Reading Practice Quiz - Chapter 38


Assessing Your Learning

 
It's time to assess what you have learned from your reading and instruction activities. The following reading, animation, virtual lab, and essay quizzes are graded assignments. Feel free to open your book and notes as you work on them. Be sure to submit your work as you complete it. Good luck!
 
Reading Quiz
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Textbook Reading Folder, and click the Reading Quiz Link:
Reading Quiz - Chapter 38
 
Animation Quiz
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Animations Folder, and click the Animation Quiz Link:
Animation Quiz - 11
 
Virtual Lab Quiz
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Virtual Lab Folder, and click on Virtual Lab Quiz Links:
Virtual Lab Quiz and Worksheet - 11
 
Essay Quiz
Log-in to BlackBoard, navigate to the Essay Quiz Folder, and click on the Essay Link:
Essay Quiz - 11



Related Web Sites

 
Here is a website that I like. Click the icon to pursue this topic on the internet:

Have You Met The Objectives For This Lesson?