You will need to choose two texts to consider in this paper (see below guidelines for a list of works that you may select from), but you should not write an open-ended comparison of the two texts; instead, you should choose an issue or theme that emerges in both of them. Most of you will end up working with writers who share many basic values; you will need to read and think carefully to uncover meaningful distinctions between them.

The quiz will cover everything through Lecture 7 (Biogeochemical cycles) including redox, primary productivity, and the thermodynamics of life. The questions will be primarily short answer, which can be responded to with a few sentences, a sketch with a description, or a brief calculation. We could also ask you to interpret a graph/data or give you a discussion question. 

Approximately 50% of the quiz will cover new material: everything from Lecture 14 (Human Population Growth on November 3rd) through Lecture 18 (Prof. Sterman’s Lecture on November 19th) including competition and the niche, predation, and biogeography. The remaining 50% will be cumulative, and may cover anything from Lecture 1 through Lecture 13.  This includes the early earth, redox reactions, energy transformations and metabolism, biogeochemical cycles, the carbon cycle, primary and secondary productivity, Redfield ratio and limiting factors, ecosystem experiments, food webs, population growth, chemostats, and life tables.  Like Quiz 1 and 2, the questions will be primarily short answer, which can be responded to with a few sentences, a sketch with a description, or a brief calculation. We could also ask you to interpret a graph/data or give you a discussion question. Use Problem Sets 1-3, the Quiz 3 Study Questions, the Lecture Notes, and the Lecture Handouts as a top priority for studying. Make sure you are familiar with the articles that have been assigned. Remember to bring a calculator! 

Exam questions for the course Ecology II: Engineering for Sustainability