STATION #1: PLANT-PLANT AND PLANT-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS

1. Symbiosis - a close relationship between two different species
   1. Mutualistic relationship - a type of symbiosis where both species benefit
      1. example - crown vetch plants (or other legumes) and the nitrogen fixing bacteria in their specialized root nodules
   2. Parasitic relationship - a type of symbiosis where one species benefit and one species is harmed
      1. example - grape vines (or other types of vine) and the trees that support them
2. Competition
   1. Examples of resources that plants may compete for:
      1. sunlight
      2. water
      3. nutrients in the soil
   2. Competitive exclusion principle - if two species are competing with one another for the same limited resource, the species able to use that resource most efficiently will eventually eliminate the other species in that location
   3. Why do we see so many species in a given area if this is true?
      1. The environment exists as patches of small microhabitats (small areas that differ from one another in such things as moisture, light, soil chemistry, etc.)
      2. Every species is different from every other in their ability to thrive and succeed in a given microhabitat
      3. Microhabitats change from year to year as the weather changes from year to year and due to change caused by the life itself
      4. Competition ensures that each species grows and lives where it has an advantage 
   4. Things that cause differences in microhabitats
      1. Natural: the amount of light, water, nutrients, etc.
      2. Human: disturbance such as mowing grass, laying down gravel, clear cut forestry, bulldozing, etc.
      3. Animal and/or plant: shading from growing plants; feeding preferences of herbivores; digging of moles; etc.

STATION #2: PLANT LIFE STRATEGIES & HUMAN IMPACT

1. Different life cycles
   1. Annuals - plants that germinate, grow, flower (reproduce) and die each year
   2. Biennials - plants that germinate and grow the first year then grow and flower (reproduce) and die the next year (a 2 year life)
   3. Perennials - plants that grow and flower (reproduce) for many years before they die
2. Protection against herbivores
   1. Detachable parts (e.g. the leaves of grass)
   2. Structural defenses (e.g. thorns, needles, spines, etc.)
   3. Chemical defenses (e.g. poisonous, tastes bad, smells bad, etc.)
3. Biodiversity - the number of different species of living things in a given area
4. Habitat destruction - the main activity of humans that is linked to declining biodiversity and extinction
5. Examples of human actions that help the natural environment: placing nest boxes for birds; repair of the pond on campus; supplying trash cans and picking up litter; etc.

STATION #3: FOSSILS AND THE GEOLOGICAL TIMETABLE

1. Geological timetable - time scale used to categorize major biological and geological events in the Earth's history
   1. Era - largest subdivision of the geological timetable
   2. Period - subdivision of the Eras
2. Local fossils
   1. Marine organisms - organisms that live in oceans (salt water)
   2. Found in a type of rock called limestone
   3. Represent life from the Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era
   4. These organisms were alive approximately 450 million years ago
   5. The Northern Kentucky area was covered by a great inland ocean at that time
   6. Two most common fossils seen in the rocks around here are the brachiopods (seashell-like fossils) and bryozoa (twig-like, coral-like fossils)

STATION #4: SUCCESSION, FOOD CHAINS, AQUATIC & TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS

1. Terrestrial environments - dry land environments
2. Ecological succession - process of community change which occurs in an area after disturbance
   1. Primary succession - the process of life starting in a habitat where there was no life before (newly exposed bare rock, concrete areas, etc.)
   2. Secondary succession - community change after disturbance when soil, seeds, and the beginnings of life are left behind (bulldozed dirt turning into a field, field changing into a forest, etc.)
3. Aquatic environments - water environments
4. Levels of ecological organization
   1. Population - members of one species in a given area
   2. Community - all living things in a given area
   3. Ecosystem - all living things in a given area and the non-living factors that can affect the living things in that area
5. Trophic levels of a food chain (feeding levels)
   1. Producers (autotrophs) - the green plants
   2. Primary consumers - the herbivores
   3. Secondary consumers - carnivores that feed on herbivores
   4. Decomposers - living things that feed on dead organisms
6. Algae bloom - the rapid growth of algae on a pond or lake caused by the introduction of nutrients (e.g. fertilizer or animal dung) into the water
7. Sedimentation - the gradual filling-in of a pond or lake from the accumulation of organic materials (e.g. dead animals and plants)
8. Two basic strategies for obtaining oxygen in an aquatic environment
   1. coming to the surface to obtain oxygen from the air (e.g. turtles and frogs)
   2. capturing oxygen from microscopic bubbles of air that is mixed in the water (e.g. fish)

STATION #5: DETRITUS ON THE GROUND AND LICHENS UP IN THE TREE BRANCHES

1. Detritus - dead organic material in an ecosystem (e.g. represented by the leaf litter layer in a woods)
2. Lichen - a mutualistic life form composed of both algae and fungi
   1. Lichens are good indicators of air quality
   2. We would need to know what the lichens look like in similar locations with little pollution and lots of pollution in order to understand what the numbers of lichens here indicates (we need something to compare with)

STATION #6: POLLINATION

1. Two major pollination strategies
   1. Wind pollination (flowers usually without petals)
   2. Insect pollination (flowers usually with petals)
2. Reproductive parts of a flower
   1. male reproductive part: the stamen (composed of the filament and anther)
   2. female reproductive part: the carpel (composed of the stigma, style, and ovary)