quiz lab 7: trees and carbon

Levels of carbon dioxide have increased from about 292 ppm to over 360 ppm over the last 100 years. This increase in concentrations has corresponded to the same time period over which we have seen the average tropospheric temperature increase about

1 Celsius

Studies have shown that of the biomass of a tree is carbon.

45%

All organic material contains

Carbon

For Lab 7: Trees and carbon, you were asked to determine what?

Estimate how much carbon is sequestered in an acre of forest land.

What effect do greenhouse gases have on Earth's atmosphere?

Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation and thereby heat the atmosphere.

What is all the fuss about? Why are we concerned about carbon anyway?

Increased co2 concentrations over the last 100 years, burning fossils fuels as an energy source, co2 is a greenhouse gas, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing.

In the following equation for photosynthesis, what is happening to the 6 CO2. 6CO2+gH2)+sunlight- C6H12O6+6O2

It is being taken out of the atmosphere by plants.

For Lab &: trees and carbon, you should have used this equation (logM-1.25+2.66logD) to calculate something. What does M represent in the equation?

aboveground biomass of the trees in kg.

What happened at KSU in September 2001 when a section of forest was clear-cut to construct campus housing?

an opportunity was created to verify equations and determine how much carbon is sequestered in a forest.

The transport and transformation of substances in the environment are known collectively as . These global cycles involve the circulation of elements and nutrients that sustain both the biological and physical aspects of the environment.

biogeochemical cycles

Carbon dioxide can be taken out of the atmosphere

both via photosynthesis and by ocean absorption

carbon is released, in the form of carbon dioxide

during/ by the respiration of organisms, as a waste product of oxidation, during the combustion of fossil fuels

The phenomenon of the greenhouse effect is a result of

gases absorbing infrared radiation and re-emitting it, trapping heat.

Trees affect the Earth in all of the following ways EXCEPT:

increasing erosion

What would the Earth be like without greenhouse gases?

much colder with average temperatures less than zero rather than 60F.

Which of the following would not be considered a greenhouse gas?

oxygen

Allometry is

the measure and study of relative growth of a part in relation to an entire organism or to a standard.

The vast majority of the greenhouse effect is produced by naturally occurring , which is a normal constituent of the atmosphere.

water vapor

What has contributes the most to atmospheric heating?

water vapor

If carbon dioxide is a natural part of the carbon cycle, moving between plant and animal life, why now has carbon become such a concern for environmental issues such as climate change?

we have added additional carbon to the existing carbon cycle by burning fossil fuels which releases previously solid, trapped carbon into the atmosphere.