Topic 4: Ecology and Evolution

4.1 Communities and Ecosystems (5h)

4.1.1 Define 1
Ecologythe study of elationships !et"een living oganisms and !et"een
oganisms and thei envionment.

Ecosystema community and its a!iotic envionment.

#opulationa goup of oganisms of the same species "ho live in
the same aea at the same time.
Communitya goup of populations living and inteacting "ith each othe in an aea.
$peciesa goup of oganisms "hich can inte!eed and poduce fetile offsping.
%a!itatthe envionment in "hich a species nomally lives o
the location of a living oganism.

4.1.& E'plain ho" the !iosphee consists of intedependent and inteelated ecosystems. (

4.1.& Define autotoph (poduce)) 1
heteotoph (consume))
detitivoe
sapotoph (decompose).

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4.1.4 Desci!e "hat is meant !y a food chain giving thee e'amples) each "ith at least thee lin+ages
(fou oganisms). &
,ood chains ae !est detemined using eal e'amples and infomation !ased on natual
ecosytems. - ***. / indicates that - is !eing 0eaten0 !y / (ie the ao" indicates the
diection of enegy flo"). Each food chain should include a poduce and consumes) !ut not
decomposes. 1amed oganisms at eithe species o genus level should !e used. Common
species names can !e used instead of !inomial names.

4.1.5 Desci!e "hat is meant !y a food "e!. &
4.1.2 Define tophic level. 1
4.1.3 Deduce the tophic level of oganisms in a food chain and a food "e!. (
The student should !e a!le to place an oganism at the level of poduce) pimay consume)
seconday consume etc) as the tems he!ivoe and canivoe ae not al"ays applica!le.

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4.1.4 Constuct a food "e! containing up to 15 oganisms) given appopiate infomation. (
$ee 4.1.4.
4.1.6 $tate that light is the initial enegy souce fo almost all communities. 1
'ef* &.4.&* #hotosynthesis
7efeence to communities that stat "ith chemical enegy is not e8uied.

4.1.15 E'plain the enegy flo" in a food chain. (
Enegy losses !et"een tophic levels include mateial not consumed o mateial not
assimilated) and heat loss though cell espiation.

4.1.11 $tate that "hen enegy tansfomations ta+e place) including those in living oganisms) the pocess
is neve 1559 efficient) commonly !eing 15:&59. 1
7efeence to the second la" of themodynamics is not e'pected.

Topic 4* Ecology and Evolution (
4.1.1& E'plain "hat is meant !y a pyamid of enegy and the easons fo its shape. (
- pyamid of enegy sho"s the flo" of enegy fom one tophic level to the ne't in a
community. The units of pyamids of enegy ae theefoe enegy pe unit aea pe unit time)
eg ; m*& y*1.

4.1.1( E'plain that enegy can ente and leave an ecosystem) !ut that nutients must !e ecycled. (
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4.1.14 Da" the ca!on cycle to sho" the pocesses involved. 1
The details of the ca!on cycle should include the inteaction of living oganisms and the
!iosphee though the pocesses of photosynthesis) espiation) fossili<ation and com!ustion.
7ecall of specific 8uantitative data is not e8uied.

4.1.15 E'plain the ole of sapotophic !acteia and fungi (decomposes) in ecycling nutients. (
$pecific names of decompose oganisms ae not e8uied.

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4.& #opulations ((h)
4.&.1 =utline ho" population si<e can !e affected !y natality) immigation) motality and emigation.&
4.&.& Da" a gaph sho"ing the sigmoid ($*shaped) population go"th cuve. 1
4.&.( E'plain easons fo the e'ponential go"th phase) the plateau phase and the tansitional phase
!et"een these t"o phases. (
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4.&.4 Define caying capacity. 1
4.&.5 >ist thee factos "hich set limits to population incease. 1
1.
&.
(.
4.&.2 Define andom sample. 1
4.&.3 Desci!e one techni8ue used to estimate the population si<e of an animal species !ased on a
captue*ma+*elease*ecaptue method. &
?aious ma+ and ecaptue methods e'ist.
@no"ledge of the >incoln inde' ("hich involves one ma+) elease and ecaptue cycle) is
e8uied.
population si<e A
n1A num!e of individuals initially caught) ma+ed and eleased
n& A total num!e of individuals caught in the second sample
n( A num!e of ma+ed individuals in the second sample
Bt is impotant that students appeciate the need fo choosing an appopiate method fo ma+ing oganisms.
The limitations and difficulties of the method can !e fully appeciated and some notion of the impotance
of sample si<e can !e e'plained.
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(
& 1
n
xn n
4.&.4 Desci!e one method of andom sampling used to compae the population num!es of t"o plant
species) !ased on 8uadat methods. &
4.&.6 Calculate the mean of a set of values. &
Candidates "ill !e e'pected to +no" the fomula fo calculating the mean.

4.&.15 $tate that the tem standad deviation is used to summai<e the spead of values aound the mean
and that 249 of the values fall "ithin C1 standad deviation of the mean. 1
,o nomally disti!uted data a!out 249 of all values lie "ithin C1 standad deviation
(s.d. o s o ) of the mean. This ises to a!out 659 fo C& standad deviations.

4.&.11 E'plain ho" the standad deviation is useful fo compaing the means and the spead of ecological
data !et"een t"o o moe populations. (
- small standad deviation indicates that the data is clusteed closely aound the mean value.
Convesely a lage standad deviation indicates a "ide spead aound the mean. Details of
statistical tests to 8uantify vaiations !et"een populations) such as standad eo) o details
a!out confidence limits ae not e8uied.

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4.( Evolution (&h)
4.(.1 Define Evolutionthe pocess of cumulative change in the heita!le chaacteistics of a
population. 1

4.(.& $tate that populations tend to poduce moe offsping than the envionment can suppot. 1
4.(.( E'plain that the conse8uence of the potential ovepoduction of offsping is a stuggle fo suvival.
(
4.(.4 $tate that the mem!es of a species sho" vaiation. 1
4.(.5 E'plain ho" se'ual epoduction pomotes vaiation in a species. (
>imit this to meiosis (see (.&) and 4.1) and fetili<ation (see 5.3.4).
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4.(.2 E'plain ho" natual selection leads to the inceased epoduction of individuals "ith favoua!le
heita!le vaiations. (
The Da"in:Dallace theoy is accepted !y most as the oigin of ideas a!out evolution !y
means of natual selection
.

4.(.3 Discuss the theoy that species evolve !y natual selection. (
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4.(.4 E'plain t"o e'amples of evolution in esponse to envionmental changeE one must !e multiple
anti!iotic esistance in !acteia. (

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4.4 Classification (&h)
4.4.1 Define $peciesa goup of oganisms "hich can inte!eed and poduce fetile offsping.1

4.4.& Desci!e the value of classifying oganisms. &
This efes to natual classification. Bnclude ho" the ogani<ation of data assists in
identifying oganisms) sho"s evolutionay lin+s and ena!les pediction of chaacteistics
shaed !y mem!es of a goup.

4.4.( =utline the !inomial system of nomenclatue. &
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4.4.4 $tate that oganisms ae classified into the +ingdoms #o+ayotae) #otoctista) ,ungi) #lantae and
-nimalia. 1
This system uses the five +ingdom classification system of Fagulis and $ch"at< (!ased on
Dhitta+e)) "hich is found in most te't!oo+s.

4.4.5 >ist the seven levels in the hieachy of ta'ausing an e'ample fom t"o diffeent +ingdoms fo
each level. 1
@ingdom 1. &.
#hylum
Class
=de
,amily
Genus
$pecies
4.4.2 -pply andHo design a +ey fo a goup of up to eight oganisms. &) (
- dichotomous +ey should !e used.

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4.5 (&h) %uman Bmpact
4.5.1 =utline t"o local o glo!al e'amples of human impact causing damage to an ecosystem o the
!iosphee. =ne e'ample must !e the inceased geenhouse effect. &
Bn studying the geenhouse effect students should !e made a"ae that it is a natual
phenomenon and that "ithout it oganisms may have evolved diffeently. The po!lem lies in
its enhancement !y cetain human activities. @no"ledge that gases othe than ca!on dio'ide
e'et a geenhouse effect is e8uied (eg methane and C,Cs).
4.5.& E'plain the causes and effects of the t"o e'amples in 4.5.1) suppoted !y data. (
4.5.( Discuss measues "hich could !e ta+en to contain o educe the impact of the t"o e'amples) "ith
efeence to the functioning of the ecosystem. (
1. T%E B1C7E-$ED
G7EE1%=I$E E,,ECT
&.
#henomenon
%uman activities
Causes
Effects
Feasues
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