Bio 1M03 Test 2 Questions & Answers Correct 100%

Ecology - Answer The study of how living things interact with each other and their environment - Environments are changing more rapidly now than they have at any time in the past - Efforts to maintain human health and welfare depend on our ability to cope with these environmental changes - Most synthetic field in biology Primary goal of Ecology - Answer To understand the distribution and abundance of organisms 4 Main Levels of Ecology - Answer 1) Organisms 2) Populations 3) Communties 4) Ecosystems Organismal Ecology - Answer The branch of ecology concerned with the morphological, physiological, and behavioral ways in which individual organisms meet the challenges posed by their biotic and abiotic environments. Population Ecology - Answer The study of populations in relation to the environment, including environmental influences on population density and distribution, age structure, and variations in population size. Community Ecology - Answer The study of how interactions between species affect community structure and organization Community - Answer All the different populations that live together in an area Ecosystem Ecology - Answer The study of energy flow and the cycling of chemicals among the various biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem. Sockeye Salmon: Organismal Ecology - Answer After spending 4-5 years growing in the ocean they travel to the freshwater stream where they hatched. Females lay eggs in gravel and males compete to fertilize them. All adults die after breeding. Sockeye Salmon: Population Ecology - Answer Researchers use mathematical models to predict future of salmon populations. The factors that affect population size can be assessed by mathematical models. Look at impacts of proposed dams, changes in weather patterns, altered harvest levels, and protection efforts. Sockeye Salmon: Community Ecology - Answer Interactions among salmon and other species in the marine and stream communities where they live. At sea; salmon eat smaller fish and are eaten by whales, sea lions, and humans In freshwater; preyed on by bears and bald eagles Subject to parasitism and disease, also affected by disturbances (changes in food supply, overfishing, suburbanization) Sockeye Salmon: Ecosystem Ecology - Answer Link marine and freshwater ecosystems. Harvest nutrients in the ocean and transport the nutrients to the freshwater streams when they breed and decompose. Conservation Biology - Answer The effort to study, preserve, and restore threatened populations, communities, and ecosystems - David Schindler Abiotic - Answer Non-living Biotic - Answer Living Physical Components of an Ecosystem - Answer Temperature, precipitation, sunlight, wind Biotic Components of an Ecosystem - Answer The members of same or different species Nutrient Availability - Answer Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are in short supply Often in short supply, removed by currents in streams Sink to bottom, away from light (lake turnover, ocean upwelling) Ocean Upwelling - Answer Nutrients in the sunlit waters of the ocean are constantly lost in the forms of dead organisms that rain down into the depths 1) winds blow; along the coast of peru, the prevailing winds blow north, moving water at the surface 2) surface water moves; as the earth rotates, the moving surface water is forced offshore 3) upwelling; as surface water leaves, it is replaced by nutrient-laden water welling up from the bottom Lake Turnover - Answer Spring and fall turnovers occur in response to changes in air temperature 1) Winter stratification; dense 4 degree water at the bottom becomes nutrient rich while colder water near surface becomes oxygenated 2) Spring turnover; surface water warms to 4 degrees and sinks, carrying oxygen down and driving nutrients up 3) Summer stratification; dense 4 degree water at the bottom becomes nutrient rich while warmer water nest surface becomes oxygenated 4) Fall turnover; surface water cools to 4 degrees and sinks, carrying oxygen down and driving nutrients up Without this nutrients would remain on the bottom and aquatic ecosystems would be less productive Thermocline - Answer In water, a distinctive temperature transition zone that separates an upper layer that is mixed by wind (the epilimnion) and a colder, deep layer that is not mixed (the hypolimnion) Water Flow - Answer Critical factor in aquatic ecosystems because its presents a physical challenge; sweeping organisms away Driven by wind and temperature Water Depth - Answer Light availability changes with water depth Ocean water removes the violet and red regions of the visible spectrum. In turbid water blue regions are removed. Critical because red and blue light is necessary for photosynthesis. Productivity - Answer The total amount of carbon fixed by photosynthesis per unit area per year. David Schindler - Answer Conducted a series of whole lake experiments that identified phosphorus as the nutrient that limited cyanobacteria growth. Addressed the effects of acid rain on freshwater lakes. Demonstrated that decreases in pH caused significant decreases in lake biodiversity Studies the effects of climate change and drought on Canada's lakes and other freshwater resources Eutrophication - Answer A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria. Littorial Zone - Answer Shallow zone around edge of a lake or pond within which one finds rooted vegetation Warm and oxygenated Limnetic Zone - Answer In a lake, the well-lit (supports photosynthesis), open surface waters farther from shore. Warm and oxygenated Benthic Zone - Answer The muddy bottom of a lake, pond, or ocean. Made up of substrate Nutrient rich Photic Zone - Answer Portion of the marine biome that is shallow enough for sunlight to penetrate. Aphotic Zone - Answer Permanently dark layer of the oceans below the photic zone Plankton - Answer Tiny algae and animals that float in water and are carried by waves and currents. Live in the photic zone Wetlands - Answer Shallow ecosystems in which the land surface is saturated or submerged at least part of the year Presence of indicator plants that only grow in saturated soils Have emergent vegetation Slow, steady flow of water Emergent Vegetation - Answer Plants that grow above the surface of the water Bogs - Answer Low swampy lands Water flow is non-existent Unproductive habitats Marshes - Answer Wetlands without trees Swamps - Answer Wetlands with trees Streams - Answer Any body of flowing water confined within a channel, regardless of size Shallow enough that sunlight reaches the bottom. Not a limiting factor for organisms High oxygen levels in fast moving streams because water is exposed to oxygen when splashing over rocks, etc. No photosynthetic organisms due to the low nutrient levels. Low oxygen levels in slow moving streams. More nutrients rich because decaying material does not get flushed away Cold water holds more oxygen Creeks - Answer Small streams Rivers - Answer Large streams Estuaries - Answer A bay or drowned valley where a river empties into the sea Freshwater mixes with saltwater here, meaning slightly saline marshes which vary with 1) changes in river flow 2) proximity to the ocean Shallow enough to allow sunlight Water flow fluctuates with tides, storms, and floods Nutrient rich because sediments are deposited when flowing water slows as it enters the ocean Very productive Ocean - Answer A large body of salt water Nutrient availability is dictated by water movement Intertidal Zone - Answer Portion of the shoreline that lies between the high and low tide lines Tides and wave action Nutrient rich from rivers and upwellings High productivity Neritic Zone - Answer Area of ocean that extends from the low-tide line out to the edge of the continental shelf Currents bring up nutrient rich water from the benthic zone High productivity on outer edge Continental Shelf - Answer A gently sloping, shallow area of the ocean floor that extends outward from the edge of a continent Oceanic Zone - Answer Vast open ocean from the edge of the continental shelf outward Constantly loses nutrients due to steady rain of dead organisms drifting to the benthic zone Coral Reefs - Answer Prominent oceanic features composed of hard, limy skeletons produced by coral animals; usually formed along edges of shallow, submerged ocean banks or along shelves in warm, shallow, tropical seas Biomes - Answer Major groupings of plant and animal communities defined by a dominant vegetation type. - Arctic tundra - Boreal forest - Temperate forest - Temperate grassland - Subtropical desert - Tropical wet forest - Tropical dry forest - Tropical coniferous forest - Tropical grassland - Mangrove - Mediterranean forest - Flooded grassland - Montane grassland - Temperate coniferous forest Associated with a distinct set of abiotic conditions- climate and weather The type of biome is governed by; - Average annual temperature and precipitation - Annual variation in temperature and precipitation Climate - Answer The weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period. Weather - Answer The condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place. Biomes: Temperature - Answer Critical because enzymes that make life work only operate at a narrow temperature range.