AP Biology Unit 11

Big Idea:

Student Expectations:

Main Ideas

Big Idea 4: System - Biological systems interact, and these systems and their interactions possess complex properties

Enduring Understanding

4.A: Interactions within biological systems lead to complex properties.

4.B: Competition and cooperation are important aspects of biological systems.

4.C: Naturally occurring diversity among and between components within biological systems affects interactions with the environment.

Essential Knowledge

4.A.5: Communities are composed of populations of organisms that interact in complex ways.

4.A.6: Interactions among living systems and with their environment result in the movement of matter and energy.

4.B.2: Cooperative interactions within organisms promote efficiency in the use of energy and matter.

4.B.3: Interactions between and within populations influence patterns of species distribution and abundance.

4.B.4: Distribution of local and global ecosystems changes over time.

4.C.3: The level of variation in a population affects population dynamics.

4.C.4: The diversity of species within an ecosystem may influence the stability of the ecosystem.

Student Learning Targets:

Introduction to Ecology and the Biosphere

• The role of abiotic factors in the formation of biomes.
• Features of freshwater and marine biomes.
• Major terrestrial biomes and their characteristics.

Population Ecology

• How density, dispersion, and demographics can describe a population.
• The differences between exponential and logistic models of population growth.
• How density-dependent and density-independent factors can control population growth.

Community Ecology

• The difference between a fundamental niche and a realized niche.
• The role of competitive exclusion in interspecific competition.
• The symbiotic relationships of parasitism, mutualism, and commensalisms.
• The impact of keystone species on community structure.
• The difference between primary and secondary succession.

Ecosystems

• How energy flows through the ecosystem by understanding the terms in bold that relate to food chains and food webs.
• The difference between gross primary productivity and net primary productivity.
• The carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles.

Essential Questions:

• What is the energy flow through the ecosystems?
• How do humans impact the tropics levels/
• If carbon is what we are made of why is it causing a problem now?

Extra Information:

Adopted Textbook:

District Grading Policy

Texas Gateway Online Resource Center