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RNR 230 (R) > FINAL EXAM > Flashcards

FINAL EXAM Flashcards

1
Q

what is geomorphology?

A

the study of landforms and the processes that create them

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2
Q

what are examples of landforms?

A

dune, delta, mountain, valley, hill, wash, canyon, beach, volcano, ridge, bluff

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3
Q

geomorphology has significant affects on the characteristics of what?

A

soils, vegetation, and on plant growth

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4
Q

how many tectonic plates exist on Earth’s surface currently?

A

9 tectonic plates exist and are the centers of volcanic activity

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5
Q

what occurs along tectonic plate boundaries?

A

earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountains, and ocean trench formation

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6
Q

what are examples of two mountain ranges that are created by convergent plate boundaries?

A

the Andes and the Himalayan mountains

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7
Q

what are examples of two volcanoes that are currently active?

A

Mt. Saint Helens, WA and Kilauea, HI

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8
Q

what is erosion?

A

the displacement or weathering of solids by water, gravity, ice, wind, or animals.

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9
Q

_______ and _______ are reduced by erosion and mass wasting

A

elevation and relief

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10
Q

what is mass wasting?

A

the movement of entire slopes under the influence of gravity.

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11
Q

Erosion and mass wasting result in _______

A

denudation

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12
Q

what does denudation produce?

A

produces sediment that is deposited elsewhere and will form particular landforms as a result

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13
Q

what are alluvial fans produced from?

A

alluvial fans are produced by the movement of water eroding the landform and leading to deposition of eroded materials downslope in a valley floor.

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14
Q

the disruption of a water course affects what?

A

the disruption of a water course affects what plants can and cannot grow nearby.

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15
Q

In relatively arid environments, what do water courses represent?

A

water courses represent areas that are very active for plant growth since water accumulates here (washes).

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16
Q

what is the main difference between large and small particle size?

A

large particles size has an increased infiltration rate but less total water retention. small particle size has a decreased infiltration rate but an increased long-term water retention rate.

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17
Q

small particles in soil experience ______ _______ during precipitation than larger particles

A

more runoff

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18
Q

large particles in soil experience _______ _______ during intense precipitation

A

less runoff

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19
Q

______ particle sizes are associated with alluvial/delta areas.

A

large

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20
Q

why are large soil particles important for plants?

A

large particles have a higher infiltration rate and allow more water to be available in the soil for plant growth

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21
Q

what is the desert paradox?

A

plants dependent on summer precipitation grow “better” in soils with larger pore size because there’s less runoff and more infiltration in high intensity storm events.

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22
Q

what are the four crucial words to sum the desert paradox?

A

higher rate of infiltration

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23
Q

who created the desert paradox?

A

Homer Shantz; one of the first people to use repeat photography

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24
Q

what is deposition?

A

movement of the underlying soil and rock

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25
Q

landslides, avalanches, glaciers, and wind can have profound affects on ___________ and _________

A

vegetation and deposition

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26
Q

what do sand dunes result from?

A

wind, erosion and deposition.

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27
Q

Sand avalanches occur on the _____ side of dunes

A

leward

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28
Q

wind speed, average direction, and topography _______ to produce a variety of different types of ______ _______

A

interact
sand dunes

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29
Q

human activity like construction, vegetation management, water diversion, agriculture, and energy use/climate change can cause what types of changes?

A

changes in landforms and can affect
the type of vegetation that grows there

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30
Q

what is weather?

A

all phenomena in a given atmosphere at a given time. Includes interactions with the hydrosphere.

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31
Q

activity of weather phenomena are over periods of _____ to _____

A

hours to days

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32
Q

weather is ultimately caused by what?

A

weather is caused from complicated transfers of energy; temperature differences among locations = differences in solar energy

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33
Q

true or false: solar energy differences can be large scale or small scale

A

true

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34
Q

what is the difference between large scale and small scale solar energy differences?

A

large scale: equatorial regions receive more solar energy than polar regions do.
small scale: different surfaces absorb/reflect solar energy differently.

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35
Q

the amount of solar radiation received is affected by the orientation of the _______ ______

A

Earth’s axis. summer months receive the most solar energy

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36
Q

differences in temperatures can cause differences in _________ _______

A

atmospheric pressure

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37
Q

with low atmospheric pressure, there is ____ weight above its location.

A

less

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38
Q

with high atmospheric pressure, there is ______ weight above its location.

A

more

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39
Q

warm air rises –>
cold air falls –>

A

low atmospheric pressure
high atmospheric pressure

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40
Q

differences in atmospheric pressure (pressure gradients) result in what?

A

movement from areas with high atmospheric pressure to low atmospheric pressure. results in distinctive weather phenomena.

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41
Q

prevailing winds are associated with global ______ of high and low _______ ________

A

belts
atmospheric pressure

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42
Q

what is the Hadley cell circulation?

A

the temperature near the equator is hot and heat rises until around 30-35 degrees N and S from the equator where temperatures begin to fall and cool air sinks and is drier.

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43
Q

what is it called when there is equal amounts liquid and vapor in the air?

A

equilibrium

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44
Q

what is it called when vapor turns into liquid?

A

condensation

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45
Q

what is it called when liquid turns into vapor?

A

evaporation

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46
Q

as air cools, the ________ rate drops more rapidly than the _________ rate.

A

evaporation
condensation

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47
Q

what is the dew point?

A

the temperature where there is net condensation and a cloud forms.

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48
Q

precipitation requires the development of some _____ _______ form of water

A

non vapor

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49
Q

describe how a rain drops form

A

1) ice nucleates on bacteria/dust particles
2) drops will grow thru coalescence
3) drop will fall when it reaches its critical mass

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50
Q

what are the different types of precipitation?

A

1) rain
2) drizzle (<0.5mm)
3) sleet (small ice pellets)
4) freezing rain (snow–>rain as it falls)
5) hail (ice pellets repeatedly lifted in thunderstorms)
6) snow (crystalline water ice; water condenses directly into ice crystal)

51
Q

what factors impact what type of precipitation will occur?

A

depends on the temperature conditions and the amount of water that a drop contains

52
Q

what are the three atmospheric conditions that lead to precipitation?

A

convectional, orographic, and frontal

53
Q

what is the convectional atmospheric condition?

A

thunderstorms; rapid upwards movement of warm, moist air

54
Q

what is the orographic atmospheric condition?

A

mountains; warm, moist air moves upward as wind hits a mountain (only large mountains)

55
Q

what is the frontal atmospheric condition?

A

cyclonic; warm, moist air goes up as it hits a cold front and forms clouds.

56
Q

the boundary between air masses is called a ______

A

front

57
Q

what is a rain shadow?

A

A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side

58
Q

where is a good example of a rain shadow?

A

the Sierra Nevadas

59
Q

describe the air flow of the North American monsoon season

A

-winds coming from W/NW
-midsummer: tropical moisture brought in
-daytime heating and orographic lift causes storms over high mountains
-rain-cooled air (outflow) moves to lower elevations and acts like a small scale cold front to produce storms in late afternoon and evening

60
Q

what is the definition of climate?

A

averages and variation in weather over year long periods of time (~30+ years)

61
Q

where does climate data come from?

A

-instruments
-written records
-tree rings*
-ice cores*
-coral*
-sediments*

  • = used to reconstruct paleoclimates
62
Q

what is phytogeography?

A

the study of the geographic distribution of plant species.

63
Q

plant species present at a given site are largely reflective of ________

A

climate

64
Q

describe the Tucson vegetation

A

desert shrub landscape; scattered succulents, shrubs, subshrubs, C3 and C4 grasses, saguaros. monthly precipitation is low.

65
Q

what is the coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomena?

A

global el niño and la niña events associated with sea surface temperature anomalies >0.5 degrees celsius in central tropical E Pacific ocean. irregular intervals of ~2-7 years with a duration of ~2 years. Has widespread biological affects

66
Q

what is climate change?

A

mean/average temperature increase associated with CO2 concentration increase. Since 1980s, we have been above the mean global temperature consistently.

67
Q

how could you describe the climate of a specific region?

A

by describing the types of plants present

68
Q

what is a community?

A

a group of populations that coexist in time and space and interact with one another directly or indirectly. includes plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and all other organisms.

69
Q

what are boundaries (in space) usually defined by?

A

boundaries are usually defined based on changes in the abundance of the most common/dominant species and are often fuzzy.

70
Q

when describing a plant community, what factor is very important and may have significant affects on how you may describe the vegetation and surrounding community present?

A

the scale (dimensions) that you’re observing in very important

71
Q

species are distributed individually based on their environmental requirements and what other 5 things?

A

-competition
-herbivory
-historical contingency (events that may or may not occur ex: fire or flood)
-random factors influencing colonization
-human activity

72
Q

community composition (pattern) changes ________ along environmental gradients.

A

gradually

73
Q

_____ changes in species composition are most likely where there are abrupt changes in the environment

A

abrupt

74
Q

who was R.H. Whittaker (1950s)?

A

Whittaker was a plant ecologist who characterized the vegetation communities of the Santa Catalina Mountains.

75
Q

What did Whittaker demonstrate?

A

He demonstrated that plant species do not appear and disappear at the same point along an environmental gradient.

76
Q

what are 3 different ways to describe communities?

A

-with the dominant species “profile”
-species richness: number of species present
-species density: number of species present in a specific region/area

77
Q

describe how you could you go collect species richness data

A

-walk through and make a list of the number of species present (must be done at different times of the year).
the experiment must be set up using a plot-based method:
-sample quadrats are laid out over a large plot of land and species lists are generated for each.
-or transects (long, narrow sampling areas) are laid out and species lists are generated for each based on the transect.

78
Q

in what case would species richness not be a useful measure of biological diversity?

A

species richness wouldn’t be a useful measure of biological diversity if there was a community with a large majority of its composition being the same species and a small number of other single species

79
Q

the number of species observed is related to the area sampled by generating a ______-_____ _______.

A

species-area curve

80
Q

what are the two common patterns in species-area curves?

A

-concave: always increasing but at a decreasing rate
-sigmoid: increases but only to a certain limit then plateaus.

81
Q

the more “even” a community, the more __________

A

diversity

82
Q

what is one way to quantify the diversity in a community?

A

with Simpson’s index (D) which measures the probability that 2 randomly selected individuals from the same community belong to the same species.

83
Q

what do high “D” values mean?

A

high D values = low diversity

84
Q

what is physiognomy?

A

the 3-dimensional structure, form or appearance of a plant community; often focuses on the vertical structure. description may include life forms and function.

85
Q

what is used to describe the changes or differences in a community’s physiognomy?

A

-vertical profile diagrams
-repeat photography

86
Q

large scale (regional) patterns in vegetation are placed within units called ______ that differ in what four main things?

A

biomes
1) structure of the vegetation
2) dominant plant species
3) plant adaptations
4) ecological roles played by the plants

87
Q

what are biomes defined by?

A

biomes are defined by the physiognomy of the dominant or most obvious plants

88
Q

biomes are strongly determined by ______, especially what 3 factors?

A

climate
1) temperature
2) precipitation
3) seasonality

89
Q

regions with similar ______ will contain similar ________

A

climates
biomes

90
Q

biomes are broad, regional entities with significant _________ ________.

A

intrabiome variation

91
Q

climate is only one factor affecting vegetation composition, what other three factors also affect this?

A

-soil
-human activity
-topography (the arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features of an area)

92
Q

generally, what are the 5 main biomes?

A

1) forests
2) shrublands
3) grasslands
4) deserts
5) tundra

93
Q

what is an ecosystem?

A

all of the living organisms in an area and all of the abiotic (non-living) materials and energy with which they interact.

94
Q

ecosystems can exist over a variety of _______ and they typically _______ with other ecosystems

A

scales
overlap

95
Q

in an ecosystem, what role do plants have?

A

-plants are conduits of energy and materials into different forms
-plants are factors affecting the supplies and flows of energy and materials

96
Q

what are biogeochemical cycles?

A

pathways through which a chemical element or molecule moves through the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem

97
Q

______ and _______ within a cycle are related through turn over time and retention time

A

pools and fluxes

98
Q

what is turn over time?

A

a measure of how rapidly materials will move through that ecosystem

99
Q

what is retention time?

A

the average length of time that something will reside in a particular ecosystem component

100
Q

what is a closed system?

A

occurs when all chemical components are recycled

101
Q

what is an open system?

A

occurs when something is always being added (solar energy)

102
Q

what is productivity?

A

rate of carbon transformation from one trophic level to the next. pyramids of energy are one way to describe this

103
Q

what is net primary production (NPP)?

A

gross primary production - respiration (uptake of CO2, H20 and energy).

104
Q

what is NPP measured in?

A

g carbon/m^2/year

105
Q

if plant growth is present, the NPP is ______

A

positive

106
Q

NPP is broadly limited by ______

A

climate
inadequate temperatures –> insufficient moisture for growth –> length of growing season shorter

107
Q

NPP varies greatly on a ______ scale. in ___ ecosystems, NPP tends to be directly _______ to total leaf biomass/m^2/year

A

continental
proportional

108
Q

what are four ways you could measure NPP?

A

-measure standing biomass
-measure evapotranspiration
-remote censoring methods/satellites
-measuring CO2 concentrations

109
Q

what are the downsides of measuring standing biomass?

A

-it can be destructive
-you can often only measure shoots, not roots
-hard to do over a larger area

110
Q

what is evapotranspiration?

A

occurs when water evaporates from photosynthesizing leaf surfaces. (can’t measure NPP when both precipitation and temperatures are high)

111
Q

how have remote sensing methods been useful in indirectly measuring NPP?

A

satellites/drones measure the amounts of “greenness” bc green plants reflect near infrared radiation. NDVI = normalized difference vegetation index

112
Q

how useful is satellite imagery for measuring NPP?

A

not super useful

113
Q

how does measuring CO2 concentrations relate to NPP?

A

net ecosystem CO2 exchange = CO2 in and out of an ecosystem. NPP = CO2 captured - CO2 released by plants

114
Q

what is frequently used to measure CO2 uptake and release amounts by plants?

A

flux towers that measure different CO2 levels at different points in the atmosphere.

115
Q

during daytime flux towers measure the amount of CO2 being _______ by plants and during nighttime flux towers measure the amount of CO2 being ________ by plants

A

uptaken
released

116
Q

what factor can be problematic for flux towers to work properly?

A

wind because it may change CO2 concentrations

117
Q

what major nutrient commonly limits individual plant growth and ecosystem productivity?

A

nitrogen, which also makes up plant protein components, chlorophylls, and nucleic acids.

118
Q

NPP and nitrogen input are ________ and nitrogen inputs may ______ NPP

A

proportional
limit

119
Q

there is a huge global pool of nitrogen in the atmosphere (78.08%) with a _____ overall turnover but a ______ flux through living organisms

A

slow
rapid

120
Q

how have humans impacted nitrogen in our atmosphere?

A

human deposition of nitrogen has increased with fossil fuel burning, industrial fixation and livestock production

121
Q

describe the process of how nitrogen enters our biosphere

A

nitrogen enters biosphere through nitrogen fixation which converts N2 gas into a molecular form of nitrogen that can be used by living organisms.

122
Q

what preforms nitrogen fixation?

A

bacteria either free living in the soil or in symbiosis with certain plants. Rhizobium, Ceanothus, and Frankia Alnus are all plants that are symbiotic with bacteria

123
Q

nitrogen fixation yields ________ either free in the soil where it can be taken up by roots or directly from a symbiotic organism/plant

A

ammonium

124
Q
A

RNR 230 (R) (3 decks)

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