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Ecology and Evolution > Exam 3 > Flashcards

Exam 3 Flashcards

(52 cards)

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1
Q

What are the are two main ways that scientists study the history of life?

A

phylogenetic trees and the fossil record

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2
Q

What is the time period of the precambrian Eon?

A

4.6 Ga to 541 Ma

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3
Q

What do Ga and Ma mean in terms of years?

A

Ga (giga-annums) = billion years ago, Ma (mega-annum) = million years ago

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4
Q

What time period has the first evidence of life?

A

Precambrian Eon

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5
Q

What was present in the precambrian eon?

A
  • Oldest sedimentary rock
  • Oldest continental crust
  • Maybe microbial fossils
  • First evidence of life
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6
Q

Describe the fossils from the precambrian eon?

A
  • Australian stromatolite fossils dated to ~3.7 Ga

- Rock- like structure that is formed when layers of cyanobacteria grow on top of each other

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7
Q

What type of life characterized the end of the precambrian period?

A

Ediacaran life: soft bodied, filtered or absorbed food

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8
Q

What change characterized the end of the precambrian eon?

A

Cambrian Explosion (542-488 Ma)

  • Cambrian Fossils:
  • Increase in complexity of shape, movement
  • Arthropods, mollusks, echinoderms, chordates
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9
Q

What eon comprising of which eras followed the precambrian eon?

A
  • Phanerozoic Eon 542 Ma to present
  • Paleozoic Era 542-252 Ma
  • Mesozoic Era 252-65 Ma
  • Cenozoic Era 65 Ma – present
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10
Q

What major processes developed in the Paleozoic era?

A
  • Cambrian explosion

- Land plants, fungi, insects, tiktaalik (earliest tetrapod)

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11
Q

What occurred at the end of the Paleozoic era?

A
  • End-Permian Mass Extinction
  • Largest mass extinction: >50% of families, 80% of genera
  • Up to 96% of marine species, 70% of terrestrial species
  • Causes unclear: preceded by massive changes in temperature atmosphere and oceans
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12
Q

Insects make up what group?

A

largest group of extant (opposite of extinct) animals

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13
Q

What major events occurred in the mesozoic era?

A
  • Dinosaurs dominated (240 Ma)
  • Rise of flowering plants (130-90 Ma)
  • End-Cretaceous mass extinction (65 Ma)
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14
Q

What was the end-cretaceous extinction?

A
  • Impact hypothesis: caused by impact of ~10km wide asteroid off Yucatan Penninsula, Mexico
  • Crater at impact site
  • Rocks from time period rich in rare minerals known from meteorites
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15
Q

What occurs after a mass extinction?

A
  • Reduced competition
  • Ecological opportunity for diversification
  • Many new lineages
  • Adaptive radiation
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16
Q

What is adaptive radiation?

A

rapid evolutionary diversification within one lineage producing descendant species with a wide range of adaptive forms

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17
Q

What characterizes the cenozoic era?

A
  • Diversification of birds, mammals, insects, flowering plants, bony fish
  • Many modern lineages appear
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18
Q

What are the major characteristics of adaptive radiation?

A
  • Monophyletic group
  • Rapid speciation
  • Ecological Diversity: use a variety of resources and or occupy a variety of niches
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19
Q

What is a mass extinction?

A

a large scale change to all of biodiversity

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20
Q

What are the 5 stages of ecology?

A

Individual, population, community, ecosystem, biosphere

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21
Q

What is ecology?

Study These Flashcards
A

the study of how organisms interact with each other and the environment

22
Q

What is the species latitude relationship?

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A
  • Higher diversity at lower latitudes
  • 0 is the equator
  • This is a global pattern
  • Hypothesis: very stable seasonality so organisms can specialize more -allowing for more species
23
Q

What are the two types of factors that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms?

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A

biotic and abiotic factors

24
Q

How do temperature adaptations normally influence organism tolerance for temperature fluctuations?

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A
  • Cold adapted – wider tolerance

- Hot adapted – narrower tolerance

25
What are some abiotic factors that affect ecology?
- distribution of solar energy - seasons created by earths tilt - movement of air masses - ocean currents
26
What are the 3 air circulation cells and what is occurring in them?
- hadley, mid-latitude, and polar cells - Warm air rises and cools at the equator, dropping rain - Cool air is pushed poleward - Dense dry air descends , warms, and absorbs moisture then travels back to the equator
27
What influences movement of air masses?
- Topography influences the movement of air masses and the water vapor they carry - Mountain ranges create rain shadows: Air masses lose water vapor as they travel over mountains
28
How do bodies of water influence heat?
- Large bodies of water store and transport a lot of heat - Oceans and large lakes moderate local temperatures - Coolers in summer and warmer in the winter
29
What is lake-effect snow?
More snow on one side of a lake than another because of prevailing wind patterns
30
How do ocean currents effect climate?
- Ocean currents have regional effects on climate - Gyres in the ocean - Global ocean conveyor belt transfers heat throughout the oceans
31
What are biomes defined by?
annual average precipitation and temperature
32
What are climatograms?
depiction of average precipitation and average temperature
33
What are aquatic biomes distinguished by?
- Salinity, depth/sunlight availability, water flow, nutrient availability - Light is limited underwater – red wavelengths are not available underwater, only blue wavelengths
34
What is the intertidal zone?
area of the ocean that is sometimes covered by water sometimes not
35
What is the neritic zone?
part of the ocean that overlies the continental shelf
36
Describe the depths of the open ocean zones.
- Photic zone – above 200m - Aphotic zone – 4,000m – 200m - Abyssal zone – below 4,000m (Benthic realm)
37
What process brings nutrients to the surface?
Ocean upwelling brings nutrients to the surface
38
Describe spring and fall turnover in lakes?
- Spring – ice water melts and sinks and brings hot water to the top - Fall – warm water cools and pushes cold water up
39
What are the three types of freshwater biomes?
- Ponds and lakes – seasonal turnover very important part - Rivers and streams – running water - Wetlands – lots of plants, lots of carbon being stored, lots of microbes
40
What are four greenhouse gases?
CO2, methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide
41
What is the keeling curve?
Graph that represents the concentration of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere over time
42
What does global warming potential depend on?
- Concentration/abundance (how much) - Residence time (how long) - Radiative efficiency (how strong) - Example: Methane lasts a lot longer in the atmosphere than CO2
43
What is IPCC?
- Intergovernmental Panel on climate change | - Predicted global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius
44
Describe a positive feedback loop that magnifies the effects of global warming.
- Temperature rises -> Arctic sea ice melts -> As reflective ice disappears, darker ocean water absorbs more heat - Other examples of positive feedback loops include permafrost thaw, and wildfires
45
Do negative feedback loops decrease effects of global warming e.g. more growth of trees?
no globally average terrestrial NPP has declined
46
What are some effects of climate change on human health?
- Heat – increase in heat stroke - Air pollutants – respiratory disease - Storms and flooding – people are going to be displaced - Civil conflict- as food becomes less secure – malnutrition and displacement - Disease transmission – infectious disease and mosquito borne illnesses
47
Describe a disease whose spread is increased by climate change?
Lymes Disease | - Deer ticks are mostly active when temperatures are above 45 degrees F
48
Describe Keelings Curve and what we learned from it?
- In 1958 Charles Keeling began to measure CO2 from Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Volcano - CO2 peaks in the spring and sinks in the fall - CO2 builds up after winter decay of plants - Plant regrowth in the summer removes CO2 from the air - Average levels are rising
49
What is behavioral ecology?
the study of how organisms respond to particular biotic and abiotic stimuli in their environment
50
What are some common types of behavior?
feeding, reproduction, choosing where to live, communication, and cooperation
51
How may behavior be described?
- Learned vs innate | - Fixed vs flexible
52
What is a proximate vs ultimate cause of a behavior?
- Proximate (mechanistic/how) - What causes the behavior? - What does the organism do in response? - Ultimate (evolutionary/why) - What about the behavior helps the animal survive/reproduce? - What is the evolutionary history of the behavior?

Ecology and Evolution (2 decks)

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