The final examination will include one long essay. You should plan to spend 45-60 minutes writing the about three to four pages.

This essay gives you opportunities to demonstrate your mastery of the subject. You should:

1. Develop a topic that you fell comfortable with, and along lines that interest you.

2. Outline your knowledge of some of the basic topics from the course.

3. Apply that knowledge by identifying and discussing linkages between ecological and evolutionary topics.

4. Demonstrate the breadth and depth of your conceptual understanding of ecology and evolution as closely integrated disciplines.

5.Take this opportunity to express your own thoughts, ideas, conclusions and questions that extend beyond the formal content of the course.

Over the next week, you can prepare for writing this essay in a variety of ways, including: reviewing parts of the textbook and lecture notes; additional reading or WWW searches for supporting information or examples; organizing your thoughts in written outlines; discussing aspects with faculty, TAs or other students.

Each question can be answered successfully in many ways. There is no one right or wrong answer. Choose an approach that best shows your grasp of some major themes and concepts, and demonstrates your ability to integrate different aspects of ecology and evolution into one cohesive theme. After deciding on your approach to the question, begin with an Introduction that defines your approach, gives reasons for choosing that approach, and outlines the logic you will follow in the body of the text. End with a Discussion and Conclusions that draw the argument and the reader back to the themes outlined in the Introduction.

Evaluation will be based on validity of the approach, logical structure and prioritization of points, strength of the arguments, use of appropriate examples, completeness, appropriateness of examples, and how well ecological and evolutionary topics are integrated. Clarity, conciseness, readability, English expression, grammar and punctuation will be considered. We encourage use of Tables, Figures, Graphs and Lists as succinct ways to convey information, providing they are well designed, relevant, and fully integrated with the text

Be prepared to cite relevant and appropriate EXAMPLES wherever possible to illustrate points.

This is a closed book exam, and notes will not be permitted. However, you should be clear about the order of topics in advance, and use this for writing the introduction.

1. Discuss the changing concept of "ecological niche", including an outline of the sequence of steps. Explain the various meanings of niche, and indicate their relevance in studies of a) individuals, b) populations, and c) communities. Discuss the evolutionary implications of the different concepts of "niche".

2. Explain what is meant by "life history characteristics", including a summary of the most important ones. Discuss how ecological, genetic and evolutionary properties and processes interact and contribute to variation in life history characteristics. Evaluate the origins (over the last 30 years) of current ideas about the evolution of life histories.

3. Compare and contrast the essential properties of Ecosystems and Communities. Describe current ideas about the processes which result in community succession, and discuss how succession may affect ecosystems. Include some discussion of the relevant temporal and spatial scales of these concepts during the history of life on earth.

4. Natural Selection is said to be a syllogism: if certain premises are established, the theorem of natural selection should operate as a logical consequence of those premises. Outline the key premises of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection, and briefly elaborate on the ecological and/or genetic aspects of each premise. Emphasize the life history implications of differential survival and reproductive success.

5. (a). The pattern of origination and extinction in the fossil record is thought to be governed by a simple model leading to an equilibrium diversity over time. Outline the model and include two graphs illustrating 1) the pattern of species abundance over time, and 2) the process underlying the pattern.

(b). The pattern of population growth in a species is governed by ecological processes. Describe how the macroevolutionary patterns in Q.5.(a) are analogous to the ecological processes governing population growth.