Midterm | Chapters 1-7, 8.2, 9-10

On Earth, we have found that forms of life can exist between which of the following ranges in temperature, in degrees Celsius?

0 to 90

Which strategy is not part of the scientific method used in studying frog deformities? Observations of nature lead to questions about those observations Ethics studies and surveys to determine the public perception about frog deformities Use of previous knowledge to develop possible answers to the questions (hypotheses) Evaluation of competing hypotheses by means of experiments

Ethics studies and surveys to determine the public perception about frog deformities

Which of the statements below does not correspond with the list, or the conclusions, of the ecological maxims described in our text? Ecosystems change over space and time. At some point, every population will experience checks on its growth and resource use. Whatever affects one organism can affect others as well. Evolution took place in the past, but it is no longer occurring. These are all correct conclusions.

Evolution took place in the past, but it is no longer occurring.

Organisms which must cope with seasonal temperature changes are exposed to the most severe fluctuations at locations near the northern parts of Africa and Australia, and also near coast lines. Meanwhile, organisms living within central regions of northern continental main-lands such as in Asia, generally undergo much less severe fluctuations in temperature and are shielded by the land masses.

False

A wolf's fur is longer and thicker than that of a squirrel. Why?

a combination of more potential heat loss on the larger surface area of the wolf, combined with a slower metabolism of the wolf

Define Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)

a long term oscillation in sea surface temperatures and atmospheric pressures in the North Pacific Ocean that has widespread climate effects

Define alkalinity

a measure of the ability of a solution to behave as a base, a compound that takes up protons (H+) or releases hydroxide ions (OH-)

Define acidity

a measure of the ability of a solution to behave as an acid, a compound that releases protons (H+) to thewater in which its dissolved

Define salinization

a process by which high rates of evapotranspiration in arid regions result in a progressive buildup of salts at the soil surface

Define subsidence

a sinking (downward) movement of air in the atmosphere usually over a broad area, leading to the development of a high-pressure cell

Define tolerance

ability to survive stressful environmental conditions

A Pika (alpine rodent) that is experimentally exposed to decreased levels of oxygen initially cannot run as fast as usual, but after two weeks, its performance improves. This is an example of _______ to _______.

acclimatization; hypoxia

Some tiny organisms found in the ocean can change their solute concentrations in response to a change in levels of water salinity. This response is an example of _______ in the form of a(n) _______ adjustment.

acclimatization; osmotic

Define land use change

alternation of terrestrial surface, including vegetation and landforms by human activities such as agriculture, foresting, mining

Define North Atlantic Oscillation

an oscillation in atmospheric pressures and ocean currents in the North Atlantic Ocean that affects climatic variation in Europe, in northern Asia, and the East coast of USA

In wetland sediments (soil underlying standing water), the physiological functioning of organisms is most likely to be negatively affected by _______ conditions.

anoxic (low oxygen) conditions

Define landscapes

areas that vary substantially from one another, typically multiple ecosystems

Define community

association of interacting populations of different species that live in the same area

Define greenhouse gases

atmospheric gases that absorb and reradiate the infrared radiation emitted by Earth's surface including H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O

Kangaroo rats live in hot deserts. They have adaptations to this type of environment that are both the product of natural selection, and also are in the category of short-term acclimatization. What are two ways that they are adapted to a hot desert?

behaviorally limit water loss as well as produce water through food metabolism

Define benthic zone

bottom of a body of water, including the surface and shallow subsurface layers of sediment (home to invertebrates)

Define adaptation

characteristic of an organism that improves its ability to survive or reproduce within its environment

Many species live in area designated within the boundary of Cherry Creek State Park lake of Colorado. If one is specifically interested in studying how the different species interact with one another, it would be a study within the framework of which of the following?

community ecology

Define ecosystem

community of organisms plus the physical environment in which they live

Define stress

condition in which an environmental change results in a decrease in the rate of an important physiological process, thereby lowering the potential for an organism's survival, growth, or reproduction

Sensible heat flux includes convection and

conduction

Define biosphere

consists of all life on Earth plus the environments they live in, highest level of biological organization

Define Milankovitch Cycles

cycles of regular changes over thousands of years in the shape of Earth's orbit, in the angle of tilt of its axis, and in its orientation toward other celestial bodies that change the intensity of solar radiation received by Earth

Define lapse rate

decrease in temperature with increasing height above the surface

Define desertification

degradation of formerly productive land in and regions resulting in loss of plant cover and acceleration of soil erosion

Define replication

each treatment, including the control, is repeated more than once

Define convergence

evolution of similar growth forms among distantly related species in response to similar selection pressures

Define detrius

freshly dead or partially decomposed remains of organisms

The rate of a physiological process for a living organism will generally fluctuate within an optimal range, changing in response to climate, external stress, or even conditions internal to the organism. Over what time periods listed below is adaptation considered to operate? (check all/any that apply, any time there are boxes for answer choices)

generations of a population over time

Which of the following could limit the distribution of a plant species in a region? (check all/any that apply, anytime there are boxes for answer choices)

grazing animals, survival of the plant through an extreme drought, the potential for the seeds of a plant to mature prior to winter, the salinity of soil in the region where the plant occurs, the presence of symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, which help the plant obtain water or nutrients, survival of flowers after a spring temperature drop and frost

Define population

group of individuals of a specific species that live in a particular area and interact with one another

Define latent heat flux

heat loss due to evaporation

Why does solar radiation have a greater influence with respect to seasonal changes in the northern and southern hemispheres, compared with equatorial zones?

how solar radiation impacts the planet fluctuates over the year due to changes in how Earth's north and south latitudes are facing the sun (due to the orbit of a tilted (on its axis) Earth

Define natural selection

individuals with particular characteristics tend to survive and reproduce at a higher rate

Long term climate change (think hundreds of years)

is associated with variation in Earth's orbital path.

The greatest seasonal variation of temperature is most likely to be seen over which of the following?

land within the central portions of a large continent.

Define biomes

large scale terrestrial biological organization consisting of all living organisms on Earth plus the environments in which they live, located between lithosphere and the troposphere

Define ferrell cell

large scale, #D pattern of atmospheric circulation in each hemisphere, located at mid-latitudes between the Hadley and polar cells

Define polar cell

large scale, 3D pattern of a atmospheric circulation in which air subsides at the poles, moves toward the equator when it reaches Earth's surface, and is replaced by air moving through the upper atmosphere from lower latitudes

Two cities near the eastern coast of the US: Boston, Massachusetts, and Albany, New York, are at about the same latitude, but Albany is farther inland away from the Atlantic Ocean. Based on this, you would expect Albany to have _______ humidity and _______ variation in temperature than Boston.

less; more

Define climate

long term description of weather, based on averages and variation measures over decades

El Niño events are associated with

much reduced or absent upwelling in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Define littoral zone

nearshore zone of a lake where the photic zone reaches to the bottom

The cells of a rainbow trout are about 0.8% salt. One liter of water is about 1,000 grams. Solution X contains 60 grams of salt in 15 liters of water. Solution Y contains 50 grams of salt in 10 liters of water. Solution Z contains 80 grams of salt in 10 liters of water. Which solution is hyperosmotic to the fish?

none of the solutions

Off the coast of California, and in other places near shores, there are large populations of underwater kelp. These are considered to be none of these green algae brown fungi fungi plants ciliates

none of these

Define Zooplankton

nonphotosynthetic plankton (occur throughout pelagic zone)

Define biotic

of or referring to the living components of an environment

Define abiotic

of or referring to the physical or nonliving environment

Define hypoxic

of or relating to a condition of oxygen depletion, usually below a level that can sustain most animals

Define lotic

of or relating to flowing water

Define lentic

of or relating to still water

Define pelagic zone

open water column of a lake or ocean

Define producer

organism that can produce it's own food from an external energy source without having to eat other organisms, or their remains

Define consumer

organism that obtains its energy by eating other organisms or their remains

Define acclimatization

organisms adjustment of its physiology, morphology, or behavior to lessen the effect of an environmental change and minimize the associated stress

Define tides

patterns of rising and falling o ocean water generated by the gravitational attraction between Earth, moon, and sun

Define net primary production (NPP)

per unit of time, the amount of energy that producers capture by photosynthesis and other means, minus the amount they lose as metabolic heat in cellular respiration

Define phytoplankton

photosynthetic plankton (limited to photic zone)

Define hyporheic zone

portion of the substrate below and adjacent to a stream bed where water movement still occurs, either from the stream or rom groundwater moving into the stream

Define atmospheric pressure

pressure exerted on a surface due to the mass of the atmosphere above it

Define climate envelope

range of climate variables, including temperature, humidity, precipitation, and solar radiation, that are associated with a species geographic distribution

Define interdial

referring to the portion of the shoreline that's affected by the rise and fall of the tides

Define avoidance

response to stressful environmental conditions that lessens their effect through some behavior or physiological activity that minimizes an organisms exposure to the stress

Define macrophytes

rooted or floating aquatic vascular plant

Define plankton

small of ten microscopic organisms that live suspended in water; although many are mobile, none can swim strongly enough to overcome water currents

Define scale

spatial or temporal dimension at which ecological observations are made

Define physiology ecology

study of the interactions between organisms and the physical environment that influence their survival and persistence

Define permafrost

subsurface soil layer that remains frozen year round for at least 3 years

Define photic zone

surface layer of a lake or ocean where enough light penetrates to allow photosynthesis

Define nekton

swimming organisms capable of overcoming ocean currents

Define heat capacity

the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of a substance

Define albedo

the amount of solar radiation that a surface reflects

Define Coriolis effect

the apparent deflection of air or water currents when viewed from a rotating reference point like Earth s surface

Define maritime climate

the climate typical of coastal terrestrial regions that are influenced by an adjacent ocean, characterized by low daily and seasonal variation in temperature

Define continental climate

the climate typical of terrestrial areas in the middle of large continental land masses at high altitudes, characterized by high variation in season temperatures

Define salinity

the concentration of dissolved salts in water

Define rain-shadow effect

the effect of a mountain range has on regional climate by forcing moving air upward, causing it to cool and release precipitation on the windward slopes, resulting in lower levels o precipitation and soil moisture on the leeward slope

Define environmental science

the interdisciplinary field that incorporates concepts from the natural sciences (including ecology) and the social sciences (politics, economics, ethics)

Define upwelling

the rising of deep ocean waters to the surface

Define uplift

the rising of warm, less dense air in the atmosphere due to heating of Earth's surface

Define evapotranspiration

the sum of water loss by transpiration and by evaporation

Define weather

the temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, and cloud

Define convection

the transfer of sensible heat through the exchange of air and water molecules as they move from one area to another

Define Hadley cell

the tropical uplift of air creates a large-scale pattern of atmospheric circulation in each hemisphere

Define the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

the zone of maximum solar radiation, atmospheric uplift, and precipitation within the typical zone

Define conduction

transfer of sensible heat through the exchange of kinetic energy between molecules due to a temperature gradient

Define savanna

vegetation type dominated by grasses with intermixed trees and shrub

Hot deserts are characterized by which of the following? Low solar availability as an important constraint on the abundance of desert plants. The lack of plants having succulent stems. Lack of plants that use the typical C3 photosynthesis (i.e. no plants with deciduous leaves) Moderate to high water availability in only some months of the year. They are usually located within 10 degrees of the equator.

Lack of plants that use the typical C3 photosynthesis (i.e. no plants with deciduous leaves)

Which statement about producers is false? Changes in plant production can have large impacts on ecosystem function. They are responsible for NPP. Producers do not require an outside energy source because they make their own food. They can be eaten by consumers

Producers do not require an outside energy source because they make their own food.

Define ecology

Scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment

Define evolution

A change in the genetic characteristics of a population (not an individual) over time and descent with modification change over time in the frequencies of different alleles in a population

If no greenhouse gases were present in our atmosphere, Earth would be about _______ than it is now.

33 C degrees cooler

Which statement about evolution by natural selection is true? Individuals can evolve by natural selection during their lifetime. Populations change only through natural selection. Adaptations are the result of evolution by natural selection. Natural selection does not act (have an influence on) the genes or traits of individuals.

Adaptations are the result of evolution by natural selection.

Conifers are very prevalent, as well as pines and spruce trees, in these regions. This is also one of the largest biomes in terms of square kilometers of area, and does not receive a lot of precipitation, but is still very moist because of the presence of permafrost.

Borreal forests?

How do connections in nature lead to unanticipated side effects in the case of amphibian deformities?

Increased nutrients to ponds stimulate the growth of algae and provide the snails with a more abundant food source, which also increases the number of Ribeiroia.