The definition of symbiosis is controversial among ecologists

The definition of symbiosis is controversial among ecologists; some regard symbiosis should only refer to mutual-isms, while others believe it should apply to any types of biological interaction. What do you think about the meaning of symbiosis? Compare concisely between metabolic symbiosis and parasitism with named examples. Q5. As you are an ecology student, can you explain to your friends who do not study ecology some main reasons why Hong Kong has rich and diverse flora? Q6. If you had visited some European countries, when you go to the old forests in this region, you may be surprised to find that the forest floor usually contains much thicker litter layer than you normally observe in the local forest floor. Can you give some reasons for this phenomenon? Q7. When you visit the country parks, you often find made-made forests called plantations in the water catchment areas and some natural secondary forests on the hillsides. You may observe there are some contrasting characteristics between these two types of forests. Compare concisely the main characteristics of an old secondary forest with those of a plantation of similar age. Q8. As you live in Hong Kong, you must have visited some of our country parks and urban parks. Can you give some major differences between country parks and urban parks? 4 Section B Long questions The long questions consisting of writing two essays, each carries 30 marks. Planning essays First you should write out a plan for the essay, where you select appropriate information including examples and diagrams, and organize your information in a logical sequence before writing your essay. To plan your essay, you can either write short paragraphs in note form with key words or concepts, or present in a flow diagram which shows the linking of the main ideas. The style of a plan is your personal choice, but the plan is necessary for you to develop a good, coherent essay, because you can adjust and improve on as you develop the essay during the planning stage. On planning your essays, first read through the essay title carefully. You will need to select information from Unit 1 for Q9 and Unit 2 for Q10. So you must read these units before answering these two questions. You are expected to write a discussion and try to reach a general conclusion about the subject of the essay. You must support your ideas or arguments with examples. This plan should be not more than 200 words. Writing essays After you have identified the range of topics appropriate for the essays, you can now determine about the sequence you will discuss them and proportion of essay you will allocate to each topic or main idea. Remember that an essay should open with an introduction where you can establish the range of topics and end with a conclusion which draws together the main ideas you have presented in your ideas or arguments. To sum up, your essay should have a PLAN outlining the introduction, main body and conclusion. Your ESSAY should have an introduction, main body and conclusion which describes or discusses the content in details with distinct headings. Your essays should be written in proper sentences and paragraphs following the sequence developed in your plan. You should include simple drawings and diagrams where you think they help to explain your idea or arguments. Again, you must not copy any detailed diagrams or large paragraphs from the course materials or from the Internet. You are asked for an essay of about 1,200 words, so you must be selective in the information you choose to include, especially in the main body. You have to organize information 5 logically and relevantly as the presentation style can gain marks. Please refer the following allocation of marks for the essays. Allocation of marks for Q9 and Q10 in this section PLAN (Introduction, main body, conclusion in short note form or flow chart) Q9. Write an essay to critically discuss the statement ‘Ecology is the study of the interaction between organisms and their environment’. To answer Q9, please note this question is an argumentative essay. In this essay, you not only have to give information but also present an argument with the pros (supporting ideas) and cons (opposing ideas) of an argumentative issue. You should state whether you agree or disagree with the statement, so you must select information and examples from Unit 1 to support your argument if you agree with the statement or vice versa. You must be aware that there are different levels of organization for organisms (see p. 5 of Unit 1) and both antibiotic and biotin environment are involved. Q10. What are the major factors affecting the distribution of varied and diverse terrestrial habitats in Hong Kong? (30 marks) To answer this question, please note both major abiotic and biotic factors in local conditions and various local terrestrial habitats in Unit 2 are involved.