Qualifying Exam Topic Areas

Following are some focal topic areas that have been assigned to guide preparation for the written component of EEB qualifying exams. Topics are sorted by broad areas; each bullet point within an area is a separate qualifying exam topic. Some topics have example exam questions linked.

Species interactions and community ecology

Food webs, trophic structure, and the role of abiotic forces (especially temperature). Consider green webs and brown webs, including basal resources. Exam question.
The intersection of forest science and ecology. Exam question.
Multi-species plant-animal interactions. There is growing recognition that community context can alter the direction and intensity of pairwise species interactions. Be able to invoke theory and empirical work from community and evolutionary ecology to compare and contrast how community context can alter the ecological and evolutionary consequences of pairwise interactions. Are there patterns that transcend multiple interaction types? Do not limit yourself to multispecies mutualisms. You should consider other types of plant-animal interactions, and in fact, some of the best work on multispecies interactions may lie outside of the plant-animal interactions realm.
Pollination Ecology.
The evolutionary ecology of mutualisms vs. other species interactions. Be able to invoke theory and empirical work from community ecology and evolutionary biology to compare and contrast mutualisms vs. other types of species interactions. Consider mutualisms more broadly than plant-pollinator interactions. You should be able to readily discuss works from many different types of mutualisms (e.g., plant-pollinator, mycorrhizae, lichens, marine symbioses, etc). What, if any, are the useful theories that transcend interaction types? What are the most useful theories that are specific to one interaction type, and what limits their generality?
Conditional interactions. There are exciting research programs in quite a few different disciplines that are showing how the nature of interspecies interactions change depending upon the context (e.g., 3 of our 6 ecology job candidates). Review this broad literature (including, for example, plant-pollinator, mycorrhizal relations, and invertebrate interactions, as well as vertebrates). Consider mechanisms, consequences, theory, and emerging questions.
How are herbivore population dynamics influenced by plants? In addition to ungulates, pay particular attention to other groups (e.g., birds, insects, etc.)
Diversity, food webs, functional groups, and functional redundancy across different types of ecosystems.

Ecosystem ecology

Drivers, feedbacks, and pattern-process relationships in ecosystem disturbance systems, with special reference to biotic disturbance and the challenges of scale. Exam question.
Carbon fluxes and pools in terrestrial ecosystems. Exam question.
Environmental chemistry and chemical limnology, with a focus on fate and transport of C,N,P,O, Hg and Cd in aquatic ecosystems. Exam question.
Global change freshwater ecology. What are the large predicted drivers of ecological change in freshwater systems, and how will these drivers interact with one another?

Physiological and behavioral ecology

Semiochemicals, communication, movement, and aggregation behavior in animals, with emphasis on evolutionary and mechanistic processes, as well as implications for dispersal, dispersion, and spatiotemporal patterns in abundance. Exam question.
Identify and master the most important theories of Behavioral Ecology (e.g., the theories that would organize how you would teach an upper level undergraduate course in Behavioral Ecology).
Be able to critique the theoretical structure of Behavioral Ecology. For example, be prepared to identify gaps in the theory, nascent promising theories, and time honored theories that appear to be threatened by new data.
Be prepared to outline and rationalize a research proposal that would make fundamental contributions to Behavioral Ecology (and which does not involve odonates or sexual selection).
Behavioral ecology, including foraging behavior and habitat selection as it relates to population regulation and community interactions.
Sexual Selection Theory.
Thermal physiology, ectotherms, and climate change.
The biology of communication.
The evolutionary and ecological consequences of omnivory.
Physiology of elemental flux through organisms, including stoichiometry and energetics.

Microbial ecology

Strengths and weaknesses of using microbes to test ecological and evolutionary theory.
Competition theory and its applications to microbes. How does interspecific competition influence the structure and function of microbial communities? Do well known theories that have been developed for plants and animals (e.g., "r-K selection", Grime's model of "3 primary strategies", and Reynolds' modification of Grime's model for phytoplankton) also apply to microbes? What would it mean if microbial communities were – or were not – like plant and animal communities in the causes and consequences of interspecific competition?

Spatial ecology

How does the spatial and temporal distribution of resources influence the evolution of social systems and movement behavior (dispersal and migration)? In addition to ungulates, pay particular attention to other groups (e.g., birds, insects, etc.).
Spatial ecology and evolution.

Populations and evolution

Evolution of continuous traits. Exam question.
Plant-herbivore interactions, with special reference to evolutionary processes. Exam question.
Molecular Evolution.
Ecology and evolution of host-pathogen (and host-parasite) interactions.
Life history theory.
Life history theory, with an emphasis on similarities and differences between plants, animals, and microbes (including fungi).
Population genetics.
Sexual selection, species recognition, and speciation.
Plant population dynamics, Especially dynamics of rainforest trees.
Coexistence and co-occurence of species and genotypes.
Invasion biology.
The consequences of body size for demographic patterns in extant animals and plants (in ecological time, ignoring evolutionary change). B. Factors influencing the evolution of body size in animals and plants.
Models for disease dynamics, including cholera. Exam question.

Cross-scale effects and interactions

Plant population and community ecology
Vegetation mediated feedback systems in ecosystems, e.g. feedbacks between vegetation-soil, vegetation-climate, and vegetation-animals.
Plant-herbivore interactions. Including but not restricted to chemical ecology, nutritional ecology, plant defense theory, and foraging behavior. Consider the gamut of taxa and ecosystem types. Note the historical development of important ideas.
Temperature and biological processes. How does temperature influence biological processes at various levels of biological organization? What are emergent properties from increased levels of biological complexity, and what patterns are predictable?
Plant physiological ecology and ecosystem ecology.
Epidemiology: what is it; what are the important theories, data, papers and research trajectories; how does epidemiology intersect with ecology and evolution; how does it relate to "emerging infectious diseases"?
Physiological ecology of arthropods, with emphasis on consequences for distribution and abundance.
Natural selection in the early life stages of plants. Includes seed and seedling predation/herbivory, i.e. these aspects of consumer-resource relations.
Fisheries biology and management; stream hydrology and morphology; forest-stream-watershed interactions (physical and biological); knowledge of the Hubbard Brook research data base on streams, limnology, evolutionary ecology of salmonids.
Nitrogen in biological systems. What is the role of N in biological systems? Consider the scale from molecules to ecosystems. Be proficient with the important theories to explain (1) the functional importance of N in physiological systems, (2) pools and fluxes of nitrogen in individual organisms, (3) consequences of variable N supply rates for populations and communities, and (4) pools and fluxes of N in ecosystems of all sizes. At a more general level, be able to contrast the biogeochemistry of N, P, and C.

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Qualifying Exam Topic Areas

Species interactions and community ecology

Ecosystem ecology

Physiological and behavioral ecology

Microbial ecology

Spatial ecology

Populations and evolution

Cross-scale effects and interactions

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Qualifying Exam Topic Areas

Species interactions and community ecology

Ecosystem ecology

Physiological and behavioral ecology

Microbial ecology

Spatial ecology

Populations and evolution

Cross-scale effects and interactions