Final Exam materials:
Here are the THREE open-book questions:
1. Choose one of the
papers we read this semester and propose a study that extends that
described by
the authors. Don't propose a study that
simply fixes some flaw in the authors' experiments, e.g. a lack of
replication. Rather, address an
interesting question that is raised by the results of the authors' work. Make sure you indicate how the results of your study would support or refute the
hypothesis you are considering. [Note: you may not propose a set
of
experiments to determine the mechanisms of individual and group
selection on Silene tatarica.]
2. Read
the paper by John Thompson (Evolutionary ecology and the
conservation of
biodiversity. Trends in Ecology and
Evolution 11:300-303. download from website ).
Thompson describes six observations from
evolutionary ecology that he claims are important to preserving
biodiversity. As a graduate of this
course, I chose you as an emissary to the managers of a threatened
ecosystem
(which you may choose), and assigned you the task of communicating the
relevance
of one of the six observations to the
managers. Explain to me (a) why you chose
the observation you did (i.e., why it's critical to the ecosystem's
conservation), (b) how you convinced the managers that they should take
heed of
this principle, and (c) what changes in their management policies this
implied.
3. The “keystone
predator hypothesis” is an ecological theory that species diversity in
communities is largely determined by predator species that feed
preferentially on prey species that are competitively superior. In
the absence of the keystone predator, these species exclude weaker
competitors and species diversity declines. [Note: some ecologists
expand this idea to include any species, whether a
predator or herbivore, with similar influence.] What important
concepts from evolutionary ecology does this theory
ignore? Would inclusion of these ideas alter the predictions or
usefulness of the ecological theory? Discuss your conclusions with
reference to a concrete example.
John Thompson's paper on EE and
Conservation
Here is the closed-book section of the Final
Course Information
Handouts
Links
Darwin's
Origin of Species Online (1st Ed.)