EEB 2100 UConn Exam 1 Questions and Answers Already Passed Latest Update 2025-2026
1. How do humans alter earth
2. how do human alterations affect the biosphere
3. What can be done to alleviate human alterations of the biosphere - Answers Main questions of course
1. Nitrogen fixation
2. Water use
3. Land transformation
4. CO2 concentration rise
5. Ocean acidification
6. Bird extinction
7. Plant invasion - Answers Greatest ecological impacts of humans(most to least)
Limits between which global systems must operate to prevent abrupt and irreversible environmental
change - Answers Planetary Boundaries
1. Biogeochemical flows of Nitrogen and Phosphorous(Nitrogen fixation)
2. Genetic diversity (biodiversity loss) - Answers Planetary Boundaries that have been crossed
Restoration of the ozone layer - Answers Success story of planetary boundaries
Outcome is not proportional to input
- to revert back to a stable state, it will take more effort than getting to where you are now(It takes
much less equipment to pollute a pond than to clean it up after it has been polluted) - Answers Non-
linear dynamics
a critical threshold when a small change can have potentially drastic effects. Mostly linked to climate
change and pollution and the increase in the emmition of greenhouse gases - Answers Tipping Points
Result of increased burning of fossil fuels and land use change(getting rid of plants by burning which
uptake CO2)
-caused global warming of 0.8-1.2 degrees Celsius - Answers Increased atmospheric CO2
-25% of carbon from CO2 gets taken up by oceans
, -Caused the average ocean ph to drop by 0.1 units and because ph is a log scale resulted in 26%
increased acidity causing major changes to ocean ecology - Answers Oceanic CO2
process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use - Answers
nitrogen fixation
added to ecosystems through fixation by microorganisms and limits the growth of many ecosystems -
Answers Nitrogen in Ecosystems*dont understand*
97% of large mammal biomass is human(30%) or domestic animals(67%) - Answers Large mammal
biomass
-35% of all of the earths usable water goes toward agricultural needs while 15% goes to other human
needs
-37% of rivers globally including 2% in the US are UNimpeded by dams which makes it hard for
microorganisms and fish to travel - Answers Human water use
-100-1000 times the background rate
-Yearly loss of 11-58k species
-Rates only comparable to 5 times in last 500 million years which could indicate 6th mass extinction -
Answers Extinction rate on earth
Certain species coexist well with humans so they are favored in many areas throughout the world,
decreasing overall biodiversity in the world - Answers biotic homogenization
-mixing of biota(plant or animal life native to a certain region) across oceans
-many continental regions have 20% of plant life as exotic(not native to the area) - Answers Examples of
biotic homogenization
All these disturbances are connected to one another so one major change could result in an even large
change somewhere else due to the many indirect consequences - Answers Big picture behind planetary
boundaries
a new geological period dominated by human destabilization of the earth's natural systems - Answers
Anthropocene
Eras: Hundreds of millions of years
periods: 50-200 million years
epoch: 5-30 million years - Answers Common Geological time units
1. Must be stratigraphic evidence(evidence in rock layers) for start date all over the world.
1. How do humans alter earth
2. how do human alterations affect the biosphere
3. What can be done to alleviate human alterations of the biosphere - Answers Main questions of course
1. Nitrogen fixation
2. Water use
3. Land transformation
4. CO2 concentration rise
5. Ocean acidification
6. Bird extinction
7. Plant invasion - Answers Greatest ecological impacts of humans(most to least)
Limits between which global systems must operate to prevent abrupt and irreversible environmental
change - Answers Planetary Boundaries
1. Biogeochemical flows of Nitrogen and Phosphorous(Nitrogen fixation)
2. Genetic diversity (biodiversity loss) - Answers Planetary Boundaries that have been crossed
Restoration of the ozone layer - Answers Success story of planetary boundaries
Outcome is not proportional to input
- to revert back to a stable state, it will take more effort than getting to where you are now(It takes
much less equipment to pollute a pond than to clean it up after it has been polluted) - Answers Non-
linear dynamics
a critical threshold when a small change can have potentially drastic effects. Mostly linked to climate
change and pollution and the increase in the emmition of greenhouse gases - Answers Tipping Points
Result of increased burning of fossil fuels and land use change(getting rid of plants by burning which
uptake CO2)
-caused global warming of 0.8-1.2 degrees Celsius - Answers Increased atmospheric CO2
-25% of carbon from CO2 gets taken up by oceans
, -Caused the average ocean ph to drop by 0.1 units and because ph is a log scale resulted in 26%
increased acidity causing major changes to ocean ecology - Answers Oceanic CO2
process of converting nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that plants can absorb and use - Answers
nitrogen fixation
added to ecosystems through fixation by microorganisms and limits the growth of many ecosystems -
Answers Nitrogen in Ecosystems*dont understand*
97% of large mammal biomass is human(30%) or domestic animals(67%) - Answers Large mammal
biomass
-35% of all of the earths usable water goes toward agricultural needs while 15% goes to other human
needs
-37% of rivers globally including 2% in the US are UNimpeded by dams which makes it hard for
microorganisms and fish to travel - Answers Human water use
-100-1000 times the background rate
-Yearly loss of 11-58k species
-Rates only comparable to 5 times in last 500 million years which could indicate 6th mass extinction -
Answers Extinction rate on earth
Certain species coexist well with humans so they are favored in many areas throughout the world,
decreasing overall biodiversity in the world - Answers biotic homogenization
-mixing of biota(plant or animal life native to a certain region) across oceans
-many continental regions have 20% of plant life as exotic(not native to the area) - Answers Examples of
biotic homogenization
All these disturbances are connected to one another so one major change could result in an even large
change somewhere else due to the many indirect consequences - Answers Big picture behind planetary
boundaries
a new geological period dominated by human destabilization of the earth's natural systems - Answers
Anthropocene
Eras: Hundreds of millions of years
periods: 50-200 million years
epoch: 5-30 million years - Answers Common Geological time units
1. Must be stratigraphic evidence(evidence in rock layers) for start date all over the world.
