A] BUTTERFLY GARDENS

1. Butterfly requirements for life
   1. Water
   2. Food for the adults (adult butterflies are pretty general feeders and will take nectar from a wide variety of flowers)
   3. Food for the caterpillars (butterflies are very selective in where they lay their eggs and the types of plants that the caterpillars will feed on.  Native butterflies have evolved to use particular native plants and other types of native plants or introduced plants will not allow survival of their young)
   4. Sheltered area for the pupae
2. Major difference between butterfly gardens and other flower gardens - the inclusion of native plants that are attractive for native butterflies to lay their eggs on and that the caterpillars like to eat
3. Niche - an organism's use of the living and non-living resources in its environment and its special role within an ecosystem

B] AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS

1. Aquatic environments - water environments
2. 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
3. Microscopic life in an aquatic ecosystem
   1. Phytoplankton - microscopic plant-like organisms which can undergo photosynthesis
   2. Zooplankton - microscopic animal-like organisms
4. 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
5. Sedimentation - the gradual filling-in of a pond or lake from the accumulation of organic materials (e.g. dead animals and plants)
6. 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)

C] TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS

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. Poison Ivy
   1. Aerial roots - adaptation for climbing support that involves the use of numerous hair-like roots that grow out of the stem and into the bark of the trees.
   2. Compound leaves - leaves that are subdivided into separate leaflets.  Poison ivy has 3 leaflets per leaf (much like clover leaves)
4. Detritus - dead organic material in an ecosystem (e.g. represented by the leaf litter layer in a woods)

D] 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)