Choose a species of plant or animal and research its basic biology. Describe your species and its ecology. What kinds of factors are likely to regulate the population size of this species? Can you name any specific factors such as drought or predators that influence this species?

For a long time fire was considered destructive and was suppressed without regard to the role it might be playing in the environment. Now fire is recognized as a tool to help maintain healthy ecosystems. However, people living on the edge of lands susceptible to fires are nervous about allowing minimally controlled fires to burn. Imagine you are a government ecologist in charge of determining which wild areas would benefit by allowing naturally occurring fires to burn with minimal control and which have no need of fire as source of ecological disturbance. What criteria would help you make a decision?