Unit I: Global Climate Change

Question 1

How does the Greenhouse effect work?

Answer 1

The trapping of infrared radiation heat from the gases emitted from Earth’s surface. As well as, high-energy solar radiation enters the atmosphere, some is reflected, the rest is absorbed by the Earth’s surface (warming it).

Question 2

Explain “Keeling Curve”

Answer 2

Supervised project by Charles Keeling, where the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has been consistently measured at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii since 1958. It is the longest-running such measurement in the world.

Question 3

species that are NOT shifting to an earlier flowering time are _______ to be declining

Answer 3

more likely

Question 4

What do migratory birds tend to do in the warmer years?

Answer 4

they tend to arrive earlier to their breeding grounds, making them more likely to have stable or growing populations

Question 5

Give an example of Community Mismatches.

Answer 5

Caribou and plants in Greenland
- plants are shifting faster than caribou can breed
- this leads to the decline in caribou reproduction

Question 6

What are migration barriers?

Answer 6

natural (mountains or river) or man-made obstacles, which makes it difficult or impossible for animals to migrate to their necessary habitats

Question 7

What is a Range Shift?

Answer 7

changes of the distribution limits of a species, generally along altitudinal or latitudinal gradients

Question 8

What are the generally movements in Range Shifts?

Answer 8

movements to higher latitudes or altitudes

Question 9

Does the effect of Range Shifts depend on the species?

Answer 9

Yes, Range Shifts may be expansion for some species, but contractions for others

Question 10

What are challenges in Range Shifts?

Answer 10

1. previous suitable climates are no longer inhabitable (as species disperse, population decreases)
2. previous suitable climates shifts and shorten, meaning the species is specific in what it can live in (decrease in habitat size, decrease in population size)
3. migration barrier (species may be unable to migrate to new habitat, which decreases population)
4. limited spiral ability (the species may not be able to disperse into new suitable habitat
5. critical unknowns

Question 11

Which species does declining habitat size face the most serious threat?

Answer 11

most high altitude/latitude species (ex: polar bears in the melting arctic)

Question 12

extinction risks are predicted to _____ as global temperatures rise

Answer 12

accerlerate

Question 13

Extinction risks vary among continents, where is most at risk? And why?

Answer 13

South America, Australia, & New Zealand
- due to geography, and loss of endemic species with small ranges

Question 14

Phenology

Answer 14

Study of the timing of periodic life
cycle events

Question 15

Flowering Time

Answer 15

• Earlier flowering time for many species
• Species that are not shifting to an earlier flowering time are more likely to be declining

Question 16

Bird migration

Answer 16

Many migratory birds are arriving earlier to their breeding grounds in warmer years