Low level Bloom’s taxonomy terms:
• List – provide a list of names from memory
• Describe – provide a definition from memory
Higher level Bloom’s Taxonomy terms:
• Compare – clearly state the similarities between two or more objects, ideas, or phenomena
• Contrast – clearly state the differences between two or more objects, ideas, or phenomena
Short Answer The following questions represent the main themes for the short answer questions on Test #3. 5-7 will be on the exam. The remaining questions could serve as topics for completion questions.
1. Describe the significance of the Carboniferous Period to our modern times. What event(s) during the Carboniferous are so important to us and why?
2. What is the Cambrian Period so famous for? Describe what monumental biological event occurred during this period.
3. The Permian and Cretaceous Periods are famous for their endings. Briefly describe what is so dramatic or significant about their endings.
4. Describe the Earth, in biological and geological terms, as it was during the Precambrian Time.
5. List and describe the layers in a typical soil profile not from Georgia. Then compare this typical soil profile to the one you would find in north Georgia.
6. Describe the process of soil formation. Provide all necessary details for soil formation.
7. If you were a farmer, someone who uses the soil for his or her livelihood, describe the ideal location to place your farm. Which variables are most important to the formation of soil.
8. Compare and contrast humus and hummus.
9. Soil loss is a monumental problem in the modern era, and historically as well, briefly describe why human accelerated soil loss is so bad.
10. Compare and contrast the terms autotroph and heterotroph.
11. List and briefly describe the four metabolic processes that are central to the C and N biogeochemical cycles.
12. What does the term anaerobic respiration mean, which organisms do this form of respiration, and where might you expect to find them?
13. Use the 10% rule to explain why UNICEF provides needy people rice and corn to eat instead of steaks.
14. What is chemosynthesis, who does it, and where do they live? Why are astrobiologists so excited about chemosynthesis?
15. Describe Lamarck’s mechanism of evolution.
16. “Evolution acts within an organisms lifetime, allowing individuals to change during their lifetimes to adapt to changes in the environment.” Is this statement a correct interpretation of modern evolutionary theory? Explain.
17. Describe the continuum from ecology to microevolution to macroevolution.
18. Define the term population.
19. Compare and contrast divergent and convergent evolution.
20. Draw the Keeling Curve and describe (in words) what it means. (added 11/20/08)Essay 1-2 of the following essays will be on Test #3.1. Anthropologists and ecologists have recently discovered that ancient Amazonians were able to maintain productive farms in the Amazon, a place that until the time of this discovery it was widely held that agriculture could not be sustained there. Describe why it was thought that the Amazon basin could not support sustained agriculture and what the ancient residents of the Amazon did to create sustainable agriculture in this region.
2. Compare and contrast the way energy and matter travel through an ecosystem.
3. Human caused green house warming which is driving global climate change is at its most fundamental level a nutrient imbalance problem for global biogeochemical cycles. Describe this statement, in detail. Which elements are out of balance and what would we need to do to correct the problem?
4. Natural selection is the mechanism Darwin proposed, and numerous scientific researchers since, to explain evolution. Describe the process of natural selection, in detail, including the three models of natural selection in your answer.
