GC100 Exam 2

What are the six main groups in Köppen's climate system (know the letter, name, general characteristics, and location of each)?

(A)Tropical Humid Climates , near equator (B)Dry Climate, Desert and steppe climates (C) Mild Mid-latitude Climates, Also called "mesothermal" climates, (D) Severe Mid-latitude Climates, Also called "microthermal" climates (E) Polar climates, Tundra climate and ice-cap climate (H) Highland climates, Climate influenced by elevation

Which climate group is Marquette, Michigan?

(D) Severe Mid-latitude Climates, Also called "microthermal" climates

How do the soil-water zone, unsaturated zone, and saturated/groundwater zone differ?

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How does that affect vegetation?

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How is water distributed around the world?

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Which vegetation region has the highest diversity? only a few species of trees covering large areas? the world's largest trees? the highest net productivity?

- ??

Which vegetation regions are likely to grow in warm vs. cold conditions? in wet vs. dry conditions?

- ??

What is a drainage basin?

- A drainage basin is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water.

What are the major biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem?

- Biotic (living) components, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers - Abiotic (non-living) components, Energy (sunlight & heat), Gases (oxygen, CO2) Water, Minerals & nutrients, Disturbance (fire, winds, storms)

Which is unaffected by biological processes?

- C Horizon

What is the boundary separating two drainage basins called?

- Drainage divide

What are the components of the hydrologic cycle?

- Evaporation, -Condensation, -Precipitation, -Transpiration, -Infiltration, -Runoff

Where are deforestation rates highest?

- Highest rates are occurring in the tropics

How does groundwater become polluted?

- Industrial injection wells • -Septic tanks -Buried hazardous waste -Agricultural pesticides & fertilizers - Landfills -Spills

What are aquifers and aquicludes?

- Layer of rock or soil that is permeable to water • Feeds wells & springs (e.g., sand and sandstone) -rock layer that does not conduct water in usable amounts (e.g., clay or shale)

What texture of soil is best for plant growth?

- Loam soils are best for plant growth

How do wildfires influence ecosystems?

- Moderate fires remove undergrowth and dead organic material, but leave the over-storey untouched In grasslands: Fires destroy woody plants; grasses regrow from extensive root systems

How do waves change as they move from open water to the near shore?

- Orbit of water particles is vertically restricted (elliptical), Friction along sea floor slows wave, shorter wavelength, As water shallows, wave rises upward larger wave height, Wave becomes so steep that crest falls forward breaker

What are parasitism, predation, and herbivory?

- Parasitic: long-term interaction between 2 or more species that is harmful to one species and beneficial to the other -Predation: interaction where one animal species feeds on other animal -Herbivory: interaction in which an animal grazes on a plant

How do they change with soil texture?

- Plants thrive if soil moisture content is between the field capacity and the wilting point - Plants wilt and die if moisture content is below the wilting point

Why does lake level change over time?

- Rain, Snow, Runoff

How does urbanization affect flooding?

- Road, buildings, parking lots: make it more difficult for water to infiltrate into ground, Heavier overland flow -• Storm sewers move water to streams more quickly-

What is old-field succession?

- Succession following abandonment of agricultural land

What is a climate classification?

- Temperature (annual, summer, winter) - Precipitation (annual, dry season, wet season) - Soil moisture - Frequency of different air mass types

What is succession?

- The process whereby older assemblages of plants & animals are replaced by different communities

What are the five major factors influencing soil development?

- Translocation: migration of soil materials between layers -Decalcification: removal of calcium carbonate from upper layer, May be leached entirely from profile or deposited lower down -Calcification: deposition of calcium carbonate in lower layer, May form cemented layer: "hardpan" -Salinization: upward movement of salts -Podzolization: removal of organic matter, iron, and aluminum from upper horizon, by acidic water

Which can plants use?

- Unsaturated Zone

What is a flood?

- a high water level that overflows natural riverbank along any portion of a stream

What is the water table? What inputs and outputs influence the water table?

- a line marking the top of the saturated zone - Input: -Output:

What are photosynthesis and respiration?

- a photochemical reaction that produces carbohydrates - conversion of sugars and oxygen to energy

What is stream order?

- a process to characterize the hierarchy of stream segments in a drainage basin

What is cation exchange capacity? Of sand, silt, and clay, which has the highest cation exchange capacity?

- ability of colloids to exchange cations between surfaces and soil water - Clay

What is cultural eutrophication?

- addition of nutrients via human processes (e.g. agricultural runoff, sewage)

What is steppe?

- aka short-grass prairie, Short grass in sparse clumps/bunches

What are hotspots?

- areas with high biodiversity and many endemic species, that are threatened 35 hotspots: 2% of land, but 35% of "ecosystem services" for vulnerable human populations

What are gyres?

- cell-like circulation of surface ocean water that encompasses entire ocean basin

What is eustatic change and what can cause it?

- change in sea-level due to change in volume of water in ocean/lake • Melting of glaciers adds water to oceans • Growth of glaciers removes water from oceans • Changes in lake level happen due to changes in hydrologic cycle

What is extinction? How do mass extinctions change ecosystems?

- end of group of organisms - Mass extinctions accelerate evolution One group becomes extinct A new group expands into niches

What is overdrafting? How does it affect groundwater supply?

- extracting groundwater beyond the safe or equilibrium yield of an aquifer -contamination, increased groundwater pumping costs, and the costs of well replacement or deepening. An increasing number of people with domestic wells are seeing them dry up

How does water return from land to oceans?

- hydrologic cycle ???

What is a pioneer community? a climax community?

- initial community in an area, found on new surfaces or those that were stripped of life -a stable, steady-state community, which is the endpoint of succession

What are symbiotic relationships?

- long-term interaction between 2 or more species that is beneficial to at least one species and not harmful to either species

What is slash & burn agriculture?

- method of cultivation in which forests are burned and cleared for planting

What are soil colloids?

- microscopic soil particles (mineral or organic)

What is the hydrologic cycle?

- movement of water from oceans to atmosphere to land

How do primary and secondary succession differ? Given an example of succession, is it primary or secondary?

- occurs in an area of new surfaces landslide or avalanche, retreat of a glacier, lava flows or volcanic eruptions, new sand dunes with no former community - occurs on previously vegetated area old-field succession: abandoned agricultural fields, succession after a moderate wildfire or windstorm

How do natural selection, mutation, and genetic drift contribute to evolution?

- offspring which are better adapted to their habitat or niche are more likely to survive -random changes in DNA -change (over time) of frequency of different gene variants in a population due to random effects

What are producers, consumers, and decomposers?

- organisms that turn the sun's energy and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates (sugars, starches, and fiber), via photosynthesis -organisms that depend on producers as their source of carbon and energy - organisms that break down detritus into simple compounds and release nutrients back to soil

What is produced during each? What is used during each?

- oxygen produced - light, carbon dioxide and water used

which are autotrophs vs heterotrophs?

- plant are autotrophs - animals are heterotrophs

What is desertification? What regions are most vulnerable?

- process of fertile land becoming desert, hot zones Removal of vegetation - for fuel wood, building materials, overgrazing by animals -west coast of U.S, australia, parts of south america and africa, middle east and parts of eastern asia.

What can we tell from the color of a soil? What do a dark brown, reddish, or pale grey soil indicate?

- red or yellow is iron content -darker brown is addition if humus -white is salts

What is deforestation?

- removal of forest or woodland, with land converted to non-forest use (pasture, cropland, settlements) Estimates: deforestation rate of 46-58 square miles per minute (approximately 36 football fields per minute)

What is the continental divide? What is a tributary?

- separates drainage basins on a continental scale - a small stream that supplies water and sediment to a larger trunk stream

What is thermohaline circulation? What drives it?

- slow circulation of deep waters driven by density differences

What is biodiversity?

- species richness of life on earth

Which abiotic factors influence a biome in an ecosystem, and how?

- temperature, moisture, growing season, and soil

What is evolution?

- the change in inherited characteristics of biological populations over successive generations

What causes stratification (i.e. layering) in a lake?

- the change in water's density with temperature. Cold water is denser than warm water

What is the recurrence interval?

- the expected time interval between floods of a given size; e.g. 10-year flood, 50-year flood, 100-year flood • 100-year flood has greater consequence, but less likely

Which is at the bottom of the food chain? Of producers, consumers, and decomposers

- the producers

What is the biosphere? ecosystems? How are they related?

- the space on earth where life exists - a self-sustaining association of living organisms (plants, animals, microbes) and their nonliving physical environment

What is stream discharge?

- the volume of water moving down a stream or river per unit of time

How does vegetation type vary with latitude, longitude, or elevation?

- triangle shape (wet to dry) -bottom; tropical rainforest, monsoon forest, savanna, semi-desert, desert shrub and desert, -Middle being coastal forest, mid latitude forest, Tall and short grass prairie, desert variety, -right before top is Boreal forest -the top is tundra. From bottom to top increasing latitude and decreasing temp (bottom is hot).

What are some of the ways soils can be degraded?

- water erosion -wind erosion -salinity (includes dryland, irrigation and urban salinity) -loss of organic matter -fertility decline -soil acidity or alkalinity -structure decline -mass movement

What is a cone of depression? (where does it form and what causes it?)

- water is pumped out of a well faster than groundwater can flow into it, the water table adjacent to the well drops and forms it.

What are spring and neap tides, why do they occur, and how many occur per month?

- when sun, moon, and earth are in straight line, gravitational pulls combine very high flood tide, very low ebb tide, Happens twice a month; at new moon and full moon -when sun & moon are at right angles to earth, gravitational pulls counteract less extreme tides • Happens twice a month - at first quarter moon and third quarter moon

What are the three soil size classes? (know which is largest and which is smallest).

-Clay: the smallest particles; may contain colloids -Silt: mid-sized particles -Sand: may be further graded as coarse, medium, fine, biggest Gravel and pebbles (larger than sand) are not considered soil

Which is denser: salt water or fresh water? cold water or warm water?

-Colder water is more dense than warmer water ("thermo") ---- Saltier water is more dense than fresher water ("haline")

What is a confined aquifer? unconfined aquifer? Artesian well?

-Confined aquifer: an aquifer layered between two aquicludes, Recharge may be from considerable distance away -Unconfined aquifer: an aquifer above an impermeable aquiclude • Recharge by infiltration from soil directly above - Artesian well: a well in which water rises and flows freely at surface, due to pressure in the confined aquifer

What are the 5 principle biomes and where does each tend to form?

-Forest -Savanna -Grassland -Desert -Tundra

What causes uplift or sinking of the landmass?

-Isostatic change

Which is entirely composed of organic material?

-O (organic) horizon: upper layers of soil; mostly decomposing plant and animal matter

What is a soil horizon? What are the O, A, E, B, C and R horizons? (list in order from top to bottom)

-O (organic) horizon: upper layers of soil; mostly decomposing plant and animal matter -A horizon: mineral layer enriched with humus washed downward from O horizon • Often dark grey or brown - E (eluviation) horizon: layer of coarse sand and silt, eluviation: minerals removed by water moving down, Paler than A or B horizons -B horizon: layer which accumulates clays, aluminum, iron illuviation: recrystallization of minerals, May appear reddish or yellowish due to minerals -C horizon: layer of fragmented parent material (or regolith), Weathered bedrock unaffected by biological processes -R (rock) horizon: loose material or consolidated bedrock

What are parent material, regolith, and humus?

-Parent material: inorganic mineral material from which soil is formed - Regolith: layer of rock fragments overlying bedrock - Humus: well-decomposed organic matter; dark upper layer of soil, provides nutrients to plants, Binds soil into clumps, Retains soil moisture

What is soil texture?

-Soil texture: the proportion of soil particles that fall into each of three size grades

What are biogeography and ecology?

-The distribution patterns of organisms, their communities, and their ecosystems • The physical & biological processes that determine those patterns, Phytogeography: geography of plants, Zoogeography: geography of animals -The study of the relationship between organisms and their environment

What are seiches and why do they occur?

-an oscillating standing wave in a lake, bay, or sea, occur because In lakes: winds and changes in atmospheric pressure push water from one end of lake to other • When wind stops, water rebounds • Back and forth oscillation may continue for hours or days • Periods range from minutes to hours (depends on distance)

What are the four major soil-forming processes?

-depletion -removal -translocation, -transformation

What are eluviation, illuviation, and leaching?

-eluviation: removal of fine particles from one soil horizon -Illuviation: addition of fine particles to a lower soil horizon -Leaching: process in which downward-percolating water dissolves soil minerals and washes them away

What are the storage/field capacity and wilting point of a soil?

-maximum amount of water that soil can hold by capillary water and adhesion, against gravity -amount of soil moisture below which plants can no longer pull water from the soil

What is soil composed of?

-mineral matter: rock fragments -organic matter: residues from plants or animals -Humus: well-decomposed organic matter, dark upper layer of soil -water and air

How does lake temperature change with depth: in summer and in winter?

-summer: Warm at top to cold bottom -winter: cold to cool

What are food chains, food webs, and trophic levels?

-the flow of energy, as food, through an ecosystem - network of interconnected food chains -position in the food chain

What is soil structure? What are porosity and permeability?

-• Soil structure: how soil particles clump together naturally into peds - Porosity: total volume of pore spaces, How much water the soil can hold -Permeability: connectedness of pores, How well water can move through soil

When was the last ice age?

2.6 million years ago

How does the ice albedo feedback affect climate?

Can accelerate deglaciation

What is the greenhouse effect? How are humans affecting it?

Earth's atmosphere traps longwave radiation emitted by earth, prevents some of it from escaping to space Humans add more gases: Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide

What are the main factors that influence the precipitation regime in each of these: equatorial latitudes, tropical latitudes, mid-latitudes, high latitudes?

Equator: ITCZ, rising air, precipitation Tropical: sinking air, little precipitation Mid: Precipitation along polar front, with mid-latitude cyclones High: Polar high pressure, sinking air, little precipitation

How is climate predicted to change over the next 100 years? What are some predicted consequences?

Global average temp increase by 2-4°C by 2100 Shifts in air mass, ocean currents, Atmospheric circulation Precipitation and Evaporation to change Increase in extreme weather --increased sea levels spread of insect-borne diseases loss of vegetation (with others)

What are some of the methods that scientists use to reconstruct records of past temperatures?

Ice cores, Ocean sediments, pollen in lake sediments and pollen, tree rings, coral reefs

What is a biome?

Large, stable terrestrial ecosystem, characterized by specific plant and animal communities, Usually named for dominant vegetation

How is temperature influenced by: latitude, elevation, coastal vs continental location?

Low latitude is warmer with an smaller seasonal change High latitude is cooler with larger seasonal change Continental is bigger change and more extreme temps Coastal is smaller change more moderate temps Higher elevations experience colder temperatures

Where has warming been greatest at?

The Arctic

What is the Köppen classification designed for? What is it based on?

To describe and explain natural vegetation boundaries Based on monthly temperature and precipitation,

What causes waves? How is the size of waves described? What is the fetch of waves?

Waves driven by friction between wind and ocean surface • Waves may be caused by storm 1000s km away • Wave height is influenced by wind speed, wind duration, and fetch Fetch: the distance that wind blows, over the water

What is weathering?

Weathering is the breaking down of rock over a long period of time.

How has climate changed over the last century?

average increase in Temp 1°C , (fewer cold nights and more hot days) , Ocean warming, Ice sheets losing mass, sea level rising,

How did Aristotle classify climate?

divided world into three climes 1: Torrid Zone (equator to 23.5 N or S) too Hot to be inhabitable 2: Temperate Zone (23.5 to 66.5 N or S) 3: Frigid Zone (66.5 to N or S pole) too cold

As you go higher in the food chain, are there more or fewer organisms?

fewer organisms

What are Milankovitch cycles and roughly how long are they? (i.e., are they 20-100 million years, 20-100 thousand years, or 20-100 years?)

regular, natural variations in earth's orbit. occur every ~100,000 years

What is a niche?

the function of an organism within a community

What is meant by limiting factor?

the one abiotic component that most inhibits biotic processes

How do sunspot cycles affect earth's temperature and how long are sunspot cycles?

they are cool, dark regions that migrate across the surface of the sun earth warms or cools, 11 year average

What is the difference between climate and weather?

weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area.