1. What is ecology?

2. Why do ecologists consider both individuals and ecosystems to be ecological systems?

3. What are the unique processes that are examined when taking the individual, population, community, and ecosystem approaches to studying ecology?

4. Describe how ecological systems are governed by general physical and biological principles.

5. How do the sources of energy acquired by plants, animals, and fungi differ?

6. Compare and contrast an organism’s habitat and an organism’s niche.

7. In the Northern Hemisphere, many species of birds fly south during the autumn months. Propose a proximate and an ultimate cause for this behavior.

8. When experimental manipulations are conducted to test a hypothesis, what is the purpose of including a control?

9. In what ways do manipulative experiments differ from natural experiments?

10. How can our knowledge of ecological systems help humans manage these systems?