Problem set for the course Ecology I: The Earth System.

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! 

Goals: Measure the mean velocity in the laboratory flume using two different methods, and determine whether these estimates agree within the uncertainty.

Objective: Use a tracer study to estimate the dispersion coefficient, pore velocity and porosity of a sediment column.