Biosphere 2

Question 1

What are some of the limits to life?

Answer 1

Temperature
Pressure
Light
pH
Salinity
Water activity
UV
Radiation

Question 2

What are the upper and lower limits of temperature for life?

Answer 2

-15C to 122c

Question 3

What is the maximum pressure life can survive in?

Answer 3

1,100 atmosphere

Question 4

What is the pH range in which life can survive?

Answer 4

0-12.5

Question 5

We can we notice about chlorophyll concentration throughout year?

Answer 5

centred around equator with strong upwelling of deep nutrients

Question 6

How many elements are essential for life?

Answer 6

24

Question 7

What are the macro nutrients/ the big six?

Answer 7

C, H, O, P, N, S

Question 8

Why are micronutrients important?

Answer 8

they can be the limiting factor dependent on environment

Question 9

What is growth limited by in terms of nutrient?

Answer 9

not by the total amount of resources available but by the scarcest resource

Question 10

What is Liebigs law/ law of minimum?

Answer 10

element with the lowest concentration in the environment relative to its demand will limit growth

Question 11

What is bioconcentration?

Answer 11

Organisms are selective in their uptake of elements and nutrients

Question 12

What is an example of biconcentration?

Answer 12

Marine algae concentrate Fe (100,000x), N, P, Mn (10,000-100,000x) and Zn, Ni, Cu, Cd, Al (1000-10,000x) above seawater concentrations

Question 13

What is bioaccumulation?

Answer 13

organisms excrete less of an element than they consume

Question 14

What is biomagnification?

Answer 14

bioaccumulation gets exacerbated up the food chain

Question 15

What factors form part of biogeochemical cycles?

Answer 15

Reservoir- mass/ volume
Flux- mass per unit time/ movement
Residence time how long in reservoir

Question 16

What is the timescale for biological carbon cycling?

Answer 16

Short term- 10s of years

Question 17

What is the timescale for medium term carbon cycling?

Answer 17

up to 1000s of years

Question 18

What is medium term carbon cycling dominated by?

Answer 18

storage organic chemicals in the woody tissue of trees, in forest soils, and in other organic sediments

Question 19

What is the timescale of long term carbon cycling?

Answer 19

up to millions of years

Question 20

What type of processes is the long term carbon cycling dominated by?

Answer 20

geological processes

Question 21

What geological processes form the long term carbon cycle?

Answer 21

Carbonate rock production
Return carbon to atmo by weathering, metamorphism, subduction and volcanism

Question 22

What is nitrogen like as a gas?

Answer 22

relatively unreactive

Question 23

What happens to nitrogen as it moves between reservoirs?

Answer 23

reduced and oxidised

Question 24

What form of nitrogen is needed for plant, algae and bacteria uptake?

Answer 24

nitrate ion
or
ammonium ion

Question 25

What is nitrogen fixation?

Answer 25

process of converting N2 (gas) into biologically useful forms

Question 26

How can nitrogen fixation occur?

Answer 26

Specialised bacteria Lightning strike

Question 27

Where is phosphorus mainly stored?

Answer 27

lithosphere and biosphere

Question 28

How is phosphorous stored in the hydrosphere?

Answer 28

phosphate

Question 29

What do photosynthetic algae do to earths surface?

Answer 29

change the colour and albedo

Question 30

What does the roughness of vegetation on land affect?

Answer 30

flow of wind, weather, and climate

Question 31

What flow between land and atmosphere is mediated by plants?

Answer 31

water

Question 32

How do plants interact with the lithosphere?

Answer 32

Increase evaporation and decrease runoff. Roots stabilize soil, affecting rates of erosion

Question 33

What is co-evolution?

Answer 33

How life affects and is affected by the physical and chemical environment