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One important thing to remember when studying the flora and fauna:
The event handout from Karen Lancour clearly states THIS IS NOT AN IDENTIFICATION EVENT. There is no need to be able to identify the type of conifer or the type of rabbit. Specifics about each animal are probably useful for short answer questions - they add nice supporting details that will always impress a judge. Fun facts are nice too (ex: Did you know the taiga has 1/3 of all the trees on Earth?).

The thing find amazing about Ecology is for the principles, there is only so much to learn. It is pretty limited for a high school level. But the biomes, there are no rules limiting them! It is never-ending. Also, human impact is a big category.

Nerd95 wrote:One important thing to remember when studying the flora and fauna:
The event handout from Karen Lancour clearly states THIS IS NOT AN IDENTIFICATION EVENT. There is no need to be able to identify the type of conifer or the type of rabbit. Specifics about each animal are probably useful for short answer questions - they add nice supporting details that will always impress a judge. Fun facts are nice too (ex: Did you know the taiga has 1/3 of all the trees on Earth?).

At the last invite, we did have to identify some animals, which made me pretty mad. Also, they were crappy black and white copied pictures that made them very hard to identify. We got the musk ox and the raccoon, but we identified a dingo as a coyote, because it was pretty hard to see. The badger picture was so dark and hard to see, we thought the white stripe made it a skunk. On the answer key we got, the pictures were so dark to the point they were indistinguishable. The rest of the test was easy, but I hope that didn't cost us the medal.

courage7856 wrote: At the last invite, we did have to identify some animals, which made me pretty mad. Also, they were crappy black and white copied pictures that made them very hard to identify. We got the musk ox and the raccoon, but we identified a dingo as a coyote, because it was pretty hard to see. The badger picture was so dark and hard to see, we thought the white stripe made it a skunk. On the answer key we got, the pictures were so dark to the point they were indistinguishable. The rest of the test was easy, but I hope that didn't cost us the medal.

If it was hard for you, then it was probably hard for the other team too, so it probably wouldn't affect your placement that much.

Hey we're finally going to have our regional competition after a long postponement. Our only worry at this point is regarding our cheat sheet. Anyone have any advice for specifics on biomes that may be important. We feel like we have the general idea down, but is there anything you've seen thus far that you were unsure of?

In the rules, it says we need to have knowledge about extinction and migration. For extinction, do we need to know the causes of extinction in a species? For migration, do we need to know why animals migrate?

Any specifics on what should be put on the note sheet?
I have general information on both biomes, and ecological principles and diagrams. What else?

Aeri21 wrote:Any specifics on what should be put on the note sheet?
I have general information on both biomes, and ecological principles and diagrams. What else?

That's pretty much what I have. I would suggest putting some equations for population growth, doubling time, and etc. Other than that I think you should be fine.

Aeri21 wrote:Any specifics on what should be put on the note sheet?
I have general information on both biomes, and ecological principles and diagrams. What else?

Be familiar with how to calculate exponential growth. Include some historical events. Know CFCs. I hadn't thought about them, but my last invite test had a ton. Know stuff like global warming/greenhouse effect.

I'm brand new to the event this year, but it seemed interesting. (:
For the note sheet, are there any particular formulas I should know? I put down the one for exponential growth / decay (that was talked about sometime in this thread) and also the formula for population growth... (Also mentioned.) Anything formulas I'm missing?