The goal of the Concept Map is to help you more explicitly relate course content
to larger ecological questions by diagramming in space the connections between
different concepts.
You will choose 3 of the 6 questions below and create a concept map for each
one. Each map should have at least 12 items in it (key terms or concepts), and
each item should be linked to at least one (ideally more) other items with labeled
arrows. Each map will be worth 12 points, for a total of 36.
1. What external and internal factors regulate the distribution, growth, and
dynamics of ecological systems (individuals to ecosystems)?
Hints: Climate, carrying capacity
2. How do evolutionary processes shape organisms’ interactions with their
environment and with other species?
Hints: Co-evolution, competition
3. How do energy and nutrients flow/cycle through ecosystems?
Hints: Primary production, decomposition
4. How and why do individuals, species, and ecosystems change over
space and time?
Hints: Phenotypic plasticity, succession
5. What does biodiversity mean? How is biodiversity produced and
maintained, why does it vary spatially, and how does it correlate with
ecosystem function?
Hints: Niche partitioning, time
6. How do ecological processes affect human society, and how might these
interactions shift under anthropogenic global change?
Hints: Disease vectors, domestication
These questions aren’t all created equal – for some of them, almost every class
will include a concept useful for answering it. Others are addressed only in
certain classes (but in greater detail). Some questions’ maps could be finished
relatively early in the semester. I encourage you to resist this temptation and at
least see what the whole semester has to offer each question before finalizing
your maps.
You can make your concept maps via PowerPoint/Google Slides, Microsoft
Word, Google Jamboard, pen and paper/post-it notes, or on a whiteboard
(photograph them). See the next page for an example of a concept map
addressing an ecology-related question.March 18 Update:
1. For any number of your concept maps, instead of answering one of the
questions, you can, if you prefer, make a “less guided” map simply
connecting concepts from three or more separate class days together.
The map will still need at least 12 concepts in it, and it will be helpful for
me if you clarify which days you’re drawing from in designing the map.
2. I’ve developed a brief rubric for the maps, which should help if you’re
unsure of what’s expected for them.
An acceptable map (10/12) will:
• Include at least 12 concepts (boxes) with at least one labeled arrow
leading to or from each one
• Have labels on all arrows
• If map if addressing one of the six questions: Effectively answers the
question (basically, if someone asked you the question, you could answer
them by guiding them through your map)
• If map is linking concepts from 3+ class days: Effectively integrates
concepts from each class together in a single map (basically, isn’t just
three separate maps with single connections between them)
A good map (12/12) will:
• Have arrow labels that are both concise (6-7 words at most) and specific
(using words more specific than “affects” or “influences” when possible, or
with A -> B specifying what aspect of B that A affects). An example of one is shown but please make it more creative. Please let me know what you decide. I have includded topics we have covered in class but please let me know if you would like to see slides.
