Biodiversity+&+Endangered+Species

Readings:

Goals: Natural Selection
 * Explain and evaluate several hypothesis that explain the origins of life.
 * Describe what the fossil record has shown scientists
 * Explain the process of natural selection
 * Cite evidence for natural selection
 * Compare allopatric and sympatric speciation
 * Describe three major types of selection (directional, stabilizing & disruptive)
 * Contrast background extinction rates with periods of mass extinction
 * Discuss reasons for species extinction and mass extinction events
 * Identify the mass extinction events that have occurred on Earth

Goals: Biodiversity & Population Extinction
 * List the levels of ecological organization
 * Outline the characteristics of populations that help predict population growth
 * Compare logistical and exponential growth
 * Explain how limiting factors and carrying capacity impact population growth
 * Describe types of survivorship
 * Use the growth rate formula to determine a population's growth rate
 * Compare K-selected species to R-selected species, give examples and characteristics of each group
 * Compare density-independent and density-dependent limiting factors
 * Define the term biodiversity
 * Describe the ways that evolution influences biodiversity
 * Explain the Theory of Island Biogeography
 * Characterize the scope of biodiversity on Earth (species, genetics, and ecosystems)
 * Evaluate the primary causes of biodiversity loss
 * Describe the major benefits of biodiversity (be sure to know specific examples of each)
 * Describe the field of conservation biology