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NovaXY1 wrote:I was just put on Ecology because of national tournament scheduling conflicts. I understand the basic concepts of pretty much everything in the rules and I'm trying to learn more. Do you think I will need to learn chemotroughs, and all the sub-classes such as methanogens, halophiles, and more?

It is likely that you will not need to know those. I have only seen them on one test in the last two years. However, the national test is supposed to be difficult so if you have extra time, it really can't hurt.

photolithoautotroph wrote:

NovaXY1 wrote:I was just put on Ecology because of national tournament scheduling conflicts. I understand the basic concepts of pretty much everything in the rules and I'm trying to learn more. Do you think I will need to learn chemotroughs, and all the sub-classes such as methanogens, halophiles, and more?

It is likely that you will not need to know those. I have only seen them on one test in the last two years. However, the national test is supposed to be difficult so if you have extra time, it really can't hurt.

Ecology is supposed to be really quite a bit about the current topic, so I think if you're going to look up sub classes of organisms, the more useful ones to study first are intricacies of ecosystems in this year's biomes.

knottingpurple wrote: Ecology is supposed to be really quite a bit about the current topic, so I think if you're going to look up sub classes of organisms, the more useful ones to study first are intricacies of ecosystems in this year's biomes.

What specific types of organisms would you recommend? Ungulates? Rodents? Succulents?

Fridaychimp wrote:

knottingpurple wrote: Ecology is supposed to be really quite a bit about the current topic, so I think if you're going to look up sub classes of organisms, the more useful ones to study first are intricacies of ecosystems in this year's biomes.

What specific types of organisms would you recommend? Ungulates? Rodents? Succulents?

Honestly I'm not much help - I gave that advice because that's the way I went about things last year when the topics were forests, taiga, and tundra, but eco conflicted with another of my events this year so I haven't actually tried to study this year's topics...

Fridaychimp wrote:

knottingpurple wrote: Ecology is supposed to be really quite a bit about the current topic, so I think if you're going to look up sub classes of organisms, the more useful ones to study first are intricacies of ecosystems in this year's biomes.

What specific types of organisms would you recommend? Ungulates? Rodents? Succulents?

Im pretty sure they can ask questions about all animals and plants

Any idea what some prominent grassland invasive species are?

There is a plant called cheatgrass that is native to Europe but has invaded the plains of North America. Would that work?

Just wondering, will I need to go super in-depth with all the nutrient cycles (oxygen, carbon, sulfur, rock, water, phosphorus, nitrogen)? I do understand it and have notes on it but is it something that is frequently on the test?

NovaXY1 wrote:Just wondering, will I need to go super in-depth with all the nutrient cycles (oxygen, carbon, sulfur, rock, water, phosphorus, nitrogen)? I do understand it and have notes on it but is it something that is frequently on the test?

Nutrient cycles do show up on almost all of the tests I have taken.

How do you solve this: In a population of 100 jays, 35 individuals exhibit the recessive phenotype of brown feathers (bb) and 65 individuals exhibit the dominant phenotype of blue feathers (BB and Bb). What is the frequency of the allele for blue feathers?

I think this requires the Hardy-Weinberg equation, but I do not know how to use it in this case.

photolithoautotroph wrote:

NovaXY1 wrote:Just wondering, will I need to go super in-depth with all the nutrient cycles (oxygen, carbon, sulfur, rock, water, phosphorus, nitrogen)? I do understand it and have notes on it but is it something that is frequently on the test?

Nutrient cycles do show up on almost all of the tests I have taken.

How do you solve this: In a population of 100 jays, 35 individuals exhibit the recessive phenotype of brown feathers (bb) and 65 individuals exhibit the dominant phenotype of blue feathers (BB and Bb). What is the frequency of the allele for blue feathers?

I think this requires the Hardy-Weinberg equation, but I do not know how to use it in this case.

Let q be the frequency of the allele for brown feathers. Assuming only two alleles, q^2 is 0.35 by the Hardy-Weinberg equation, and 1-q is given to be the frequency of the allele for blue feathers, so the answer is 1- sqrt(0.35).