Ecology: Biology of Interactions. Appendix I. Ecology Course Program (=«Bioecology»)

Appendix I. Ecology Course Program (= "Bioecology")
The exam tickets for the ecology course adopted at V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University contain formulations corresponding to the main part of this program. Tests may also use questions related to additional program material.
The educational and methodological complex of the course is located here.
Part I. Biosystems. Biosphere
Section 1. Ecology and Biosystems it Studies
Basic Material. Subject and structure of ecology. Importance of ecological knowledge for modern humanity. Distinction between "ecology" - "environmental science" - "nature conservation". Profane and scientific ecology.
Concept of structural levels of biosystem organization; levels studied within ecology. Morphological, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary-historical approaches to biosystem study. Holistic and reductionist approaches to their description.
Concept of system and regulation. Positive and negative feedback. Regulation and stability of biosystems. Emergent features of complex biosystems.
Additional Material. History of ecological knowledge and ecology as a science. Scientific method; modeling and its significance in ecology. Universal features of biosystems. Selection as a cause of adaptations and biosystem stability. Problem of the leading level of selection; concept of multilevel selection.
Section 2. Biospherology
Basic Material. Features of Earth as a planet inhabited by life. James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. Concept of biosphere and noosphere; their different interpretations.
Sources of energy for biogeochemical cycles and ways of its transformation. Biogeochemical functions of living matter. Hydrological cycle. Sedimentary cycle. Biogeochemical cycles of Carbon, Nitrogen, Sulfur, Phosphorus, and other biogens. Mechanisms of biogeochemical cycle regulation.
Additional Material. Phenomenon of life and attempts to define it. Origin of life on Earth. Fates of Venus, Mars, and Earth. Main stages of life history on Earth, characteristic changes in ecosystems during its course. Search for extraterrestrial life. Anthropic paradox.
Part II. Biogeocenoses. Groupings. Populations
Section 3. Biogeocenology
Basic Material. Correlation between "ecosystem" and "biogeocenosis" concepts. Ecosystem components. Bionic classification of biogeocenoses. Comparison of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Ecosystem functioning. Ecological balance. Trophic networks and trophic levels. Ecological pyramids and ecological efficiencies. Circulation of substances and energy flow in ecosystems. Methods for assessing and measuring ecosystem productivity. Comparison of different biomes by biomass and productivity.
Succession: autotrophic and heterotrophic, primary and secondary. Serial and climax groupings. Dynamics of species diversity during succession. Causes of succession.
Features of agroecosystems. Ecological subsidies in agroecosystems.
Additional Material. Features of individual biomes, characteristic life forms. Influence of biome features on human cultures adapted to them.
Section 4. Population Ecology
Basic Material. Populations, their static and dynamic characteristics. Demographic characteristics of populations. Types of mortality curves according to Pearl.
Exponential and logistic models of population growth. Lotka-Volterra model. Classification of interaction types between populations based on this model. Mathematical models in ecology, limits of their applicability.
Types of interaction between populations (and species): interference and exploitation competition, exploitation (true and grazing predation, parasitism, parasitoidism), protocooperation, mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, neutrality. Significance of different interaction types for population regulation and maintenance of biological diversity in groupings. Adaptation of organisms to interaction with individuals of other species.
Population regulation. Population size fluctuations and their causes. Delay in response to regulatory factors as one of the causes of population size fluctuations. Ecological strategies according to McArthur and Wilson, and according to Ramensky and Grime.
Ecological niche. Fundamental and realized niches, influence of competition on ecological niche width. Gause's competitive exclusion principle.
Additional Material. Non-uniformity of individuals in populations, types of their interaction. Behavioral strategies; evolutionarily stable strategies.
Part III. Organisms and Environment
Section 5. Autecology and Fundamentals of Environmental Science
Basic Material. Environment and ecological environment: differences in approach. Classification of environmental factors by their origin. Classification of ecological factors. Comparison of conditions and resources.
Main habitats: land-air, water, soil, other organisms; features of these habitats. Adaptations of organisms to unfavorable environment, their types. Life forms. Ecological sub-environments, some features of adaptations to them.
Liebig's law of minimum and cases of its inapplicability. Shelford's tolerance rule. Steno- and eurybionts. Concepts characterizing organism tolerance.
Size classes of organisms, features of influence on them of different ecological factors. Allometric growth of organisms and its causes.
Solar radiation, its spectral composition, and absorption by atmosphere. Greenhouse effect. Different biological effects caused by solar radiation. Adaptations of organisms to interaction with solar radiation. Photoperiodism, its causes and manifestations. Adaptive biorhythms.
Temperature and its influence on organisms. Thermobiological types of organisms. Heat balance of organisms and different ways of its regulation. Bergmann's, Allen's, Gloger's rules, limits of their applicability. Concept of effective temperatures.
Regulation of water balance in organisms. Ecological significance of humidity and salinity.
"Interaction" of ecological factors (organism reactions to simultaneous action of different factors). Concept of adaptive compromise.
Additional Material. Influence of environment on ontogenesis. Stabilizing selection. Features of species as a reflection of their history and characteristic lifestyle.
Part IV. Humanity
Section 6. Human Ecology and Nature Conservation
Basic Material. Unique ecological features of Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 as a species: extremely accelerated evolution due to cultural heritage; partial escape from dependence on intra-ecosystem mechanisms of population regulation and consumed resources; extrasomatic use of resources with the help of technosphere; use of fossil and atomic energy; critical dependence on non-renewable resources; globality in inter-population redistribution of resources and information exchange; production of xenobiotics and substances weakly involved in biogeochemical cycles. Human as a bio-social being. Biological prerequisites of human social behavior. Comparison of cultural and genetic heritage.
General and unique features in mechanisms of human population regulation. Hyperbolic growth of human population, its causes. Demographic transition. Regulation of human population: achievements and prospects.
Main problems of the present: overpopulation; lack of food, energy, and water; destruction of natural ecosystems, decrease in biodiversity and global extinction of biota; pollution; climate change; soil degradation; military threat. Main resources used by humanity; renewable and non-renewable resources. Sources of energy for modern humanity, "alternative" energy. Problems of anthropogenic influence on greenhouse gas content in the atmosphere, destruction of the ozone screen, acid rain, biogenic and pesticide pollution; possible ways to solve these problems. Key problems of modern agriculture.
Main stages of development of human population relationships with their habitats. Instability of the current state of human and biosphere relationships. Concepts of rational use of natural resources, naturocentrism, sustainable (non-exhaustive) development. Possible future: scenarios of exhaustion and prosperity. Search for an optimal course of action for an individual, human groups, and humanity as a whole at the current stage of our development.
Additional Material. Key stages of anthropogenesis. Biological and social features of humans related to their evolutionary history. Evolution of human behavior mechanisms. Different views on nature conservation ("ecological") ethics.