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Environmental Science > Final Exam > Flashcards

Final Exam Flashcards

1
Q

Renewal of Life after the end-Ordovician mass extinction

A

evolutionary radiation came of brachiopods and bivalves but trilobites did not recover

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2
Q

Renewal of life in ocean - Ordovician

A
  1. coral-stromatoporoid reefs flourished and increased in size
  2. ecological succession by rugose and tabulate corals which colonize seafloor then other animals populated reefs
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3
Q

Stromatoporoids

A

colonial sponge-like animals

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4
Q

tabulate corals

A

all colonial animals

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5
Q

What were the new nektonic animals in the Ordovician?

A

ammonoids
- widespread index fossils
- evolved from straight nautiloids in Early Devonian

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6
Q

Eurypterids

A

swimming arthropods
- relatives of scorpions with brackish and freshwater species

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7
Q

Devonian was…

A

“the age of fishes” since they diversified

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8
Q

Ostracoderms

A

jawless fish + bony skin + paired eyes

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9
Q

Acanthodians

A

jawed fish
- fins supported by sharp spines + paired fins

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10
Q

Gill bars…

A
  • supported gills in primitive fishes
  • modified gill bars led to jaws
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11
Q

Placoderms

A

predators
- first dominated freshwater environments then expanded into Late Devonian seas

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12
Q

Who were the first sharks in the Mid-Devonian?

A

Cladoselache

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13
Q

Ray finned fishes v. Lobe finned fishes

A

ray-finned:
bones radiate from fins to support fish

lobe-finned:
lungfishes capable of air-breathing

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14
Q

Lungfish burrowing

A

served as an adaptation to drought

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15
Q

Animals living on land - Devonian

A

tetrapods [body fossils in rocks of Middle to late Devonian]
- amphibians return to water to lay eggs

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16
Q

Land plants allowed for evolution of…

A

amphibians

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17
Q

Tiktaalik

A
  • first known tetrapod
  • carnivorous
  • intermediate between amphibians and lobe-finned fish
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18
Q

Land Plants - Devonian

A
  • invaded land by developing rigid stem and root systems
    Vascular Plants:
  • tubes deliver water and nutrients
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19
Q

Cooksonia

A

Middle Silurian vascular land plant

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20
Q

Spores allowed for…

A

wider range for reproduction

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21
Q

Lycopods

A

club mosses that evolved during Early/Middle Devonian

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22
Q

Early Devonian spore plants were…

A

restricted to marshes and needed water for reproduction but seeds changed that since they were already fertilized and did not need as much water

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23
Q

Silurian-Devonian reefs were composed of

A
  1. tabulate corals
  2. rugose corals
  3. stromatoporoids
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24
Q

Effect of land plants on rivers:

A

Early Devonian root traces show plant roots stabilized sediments –> meandering streams

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25
Q

Devonian glaciation

A

increase in forests led to weathering , decrease in atmospheric CO2, led to cooling and mass extinction

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26
Q

End-Devonian Extinction

A
  • global climate change [cooling caused by plants]
  • forests formed carbon sinks
  • oceanic anoxia from organic input
  • extinctions happened in stages
  • 75% species lost [mostly corals + invertebrates/vertebrates]
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27
Q

What periods are in the Late Paleozoic?

A

Permian and Carboniferous

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28
Q

Carboniferous consisted of…

A

more moist environments but they eventually dried up

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29
Q

The Carboniferous Period in comparison to Permian Period

A

Carboniferous - abundant swamps with later glaciations
- some orogeny’s where rivers were going off of them forming deltas going into the sea

Permian - drying, arid environments
- continents started getting together forming Pangea which then caused arid interiors [moist air masses were not making it into the interior] = more desert conditions

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30
Q

What was abundant in the Late Paleozoic?

A

Ammonoids such as sea lilies

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31
Q

Brachiopods are

A

productids with cone-shaped shells that helped make reefs
1. Epibenthic = on the surface
2. Suspension feeders

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32
Q

When did sharks begin?

A

In the Devonian

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33
Q

The Devonian consisted of…

A

crinoids, sea lilies, sea urchin, shark relatives + jaw fish + bryozoan + ammonoids + echinoids + blastoids

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34
Q

Crinoidal Limestone

A

made of parts of crinoids

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35
Q

Bryozoans

A

sheet-like colonial animals, trapped in sediment in mounds
- important contribution to limestones
- they slowed down water and collected suspended material

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36
Q

Fusulinids

A

Late Carboniferous foraminifera
- long + index fossils for Upper Carboniferous-Permian

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37
Q

Index Fossils qualities

A
  1. easily identifiable
  2. abundant
  3. widespread
  4. short-lived
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38
Q

Late Paleozoic Marine Life

A

There was a higher Mg-Ca ratio in the seawater:
- caused more aragonite algae and sponges
- important builders of Late Carboniferous and Permian reefs

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39
Q

Reef

A

wave-resistant biogenic structure

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40
Q

Helicoprion

A

the Permian fish with the buzzsaw mouth
- ate squid and other soft body platonic animals
- common ancestor with sharks

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41
Q

Late Paleozoic Continental Life

A

Extensive coal swamps dominated by lycopods
- they took CO2 of atmosphere and oxygen went up
- sphenopsids
- seed ferns
cordaites
gymnosperms

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42
Q

Sphenopsids

A
  • sprouted off roots
  • did not live in coal swamps
  • grew on levees and floodplains
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43
Q

Seed Ferns

A

-Carboniferous
- abundant
- small bushy plants
- large and treelike ones [Glossopteris]

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44
Q

Why are seeds important?

A

they can travel + endure for a long time

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45
Q

Cordaites

A

Upland plants

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46
Q

Gymnosperms

A

“naked seed” plants
- formed woodlands
- includes conifers [cone bearing plants]

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47
Q

Gymnosperms dominated terrestrial environments in…

A

Permian

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48
Q

What winged insects were in the Carboniferous period?

A

Giant dragonflies
Mayflies

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49
Q

Arthropleura

A

largest known land invertebrate
- arthropod

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50
Q

What caused Carboniferous insects to be so great in size?

A

too much oxygen

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51
Q

Reptiles

A
  • amniote eggs [protects embryos]
  • did not need water
  • can lay eggs on land and aquatic environments inside
  • rare fossil eggs from Paleozoic
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52
Q

What is the ancestor of therapsids?

A

Dimetrodon

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53
Q

Therapsids

A
  • more related to modern mammals than reptiles
  • upright stance + complex jaws + endothermic
  • had some hair apart from scales
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54
Q

Endothermic

A

can regulate their body temperature

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55
Q

Ectothermic

A

depend on outside environments

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56
Q

Late Paleozoic Paleogeography

A
  • continents clustered near each other
    Third Orogeny:
  • Gondwanaland collided with Eurasia
  • started to form Pangea which was together by the end of the Permian
  • Appalachians = Alleghenies Orogeny
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57
Q

In the Early Carboniferous, [Paleogeography]

A

there was a high sea level
- warm and shallow seas
- abundant limestone

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58
Q

In the Late Carboniferous, glaciation…

A

expanded and sea level dropped as a result of carbon burial
- plants and other amps produced so much carbon which changed CO2 ratio

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59
Q

In the Permian, Pangea

A

was almost complete
- the interior was low moisture + evaporites and dunes
- reduced carbon burial led to higher atmospheric CO2 and global warming ended the glaciation

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60
Q

Alleghenian Orogeny

A
  • the last of the three orogenies for the Appalachians
  • development of valley and ridge [thrust faults and Blue Ridge Provinces in the Appalachian Mountains]
  • completed flesh deposition in foreland basin, continued molasses deposition [filling the foreland basin]
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61
Q

Order of Orogenies

A
  1. Taconic Orogeny - Late Ordovician
  2. Acadian Orogeny - Devonian
  3. Alleghenian Orogeny - Permian
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62
Q

Cyclothems and Coal

A

cycles in coal beds containing marine sediments - slight changes in sea level [transgressions and regression]
- think about rivers going down to ocean forming deltaic deposits, marginal marine environments
- swamps producing and burying a lot of carbon especially with sediments from mountains
1. sea levels up and down = burying of coal
2. sea level high = no coal production
3. sea level low = some coal being produced but would have to bury it

transgressions caused deposition of marginal marine peat on top of continental deposits then overland by marine sediments

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63
Q

Oscillating glaciers during Carboniferous Period led to changes in…

A

sea levels

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64
Q

Global unconformity in marine sediments caused by

A

a drop in sea level during Carboniferous Period

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65
Q

Unconformity

A

surface of non-deposition or erosion

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66
Q

What caused the drop in sea level during the Carboniferous Period?

A

There was a global climatic cooling during the mid-Carboniferous caused by weakening of greenhouse warming
- led to ice age
- the expansion of glaciers caused sea level to drop

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67
Q

Late Permian Anoxia

A

anoxia = low oxygen tones in oceans in partly related to organisms but more about temperature where it started going up going into the Permian

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68
Q

More C12 implies

A

warmer temperatures [more organic carbon locked up in geological reservoirs being released]
- releasing light carbon

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69
Q

End of Permian meant that

A

oxygen was very heavy and light at the beginning of the Triassic as a result of glacial melting

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70
Q

Frozen Methane [methane hydrate]

A
  • major greenhouse gas
  • produced by Archean prokaryotes and symbionts in herbivores
  • stored frozen on sea floor under tundra and on continental slopes
  • once thawed it becomes a major contributor to global warming
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71
Q

End of permian was caused by:

A
  • Late Permian Flood Basalts in Siberia
  • Basalts flows and traps in one given area:
    Siberian Traps
    Producing a lot of CO2 and it got worse [Terrestrial environments + forests burnt up]
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72
Q

End of Permian was REALLY BAD since…

A
  • Siberian flood basalt caused global warming
  • Volcanisms ignited Carboniferous coal deposits [more CO2 and SO2]
  • higher temperatures thawed methane hydrate on seafloor
  • lower O2 in world oceans, acidic precipitation, ozone depletion
    [more ultraviolet radiation meant all SO2 was breaking apart ozone particles]
  • hot, dry, acidic, anoxic
  • 96% extinction of species
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73
Q

What animal survived the end of permian mass extinction?

A

Lystrosaurus since they lived in burrows

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74
Q

The Early Mesozoic era was a

A

reboot of life

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75
Q

Life in the Early Mesozoic Era:

A
  • molluscan were ruling in freshwater and marine environments
  • bivalves and gastropods spreading into freshwater and marine ecosystems
  • Stromatolites returned to shallow-water environments since their predators died off
  • bivalves were abundant
  • sea urchins evolved, some burrowed through sediment = deposit feeders
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76
Q

There was all grazers at the end of

A

Permian

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77
Q

Deposit Feeders v. Suspension Feeders

A

Deposit Feeders = burrowing through sediment
Suspension Feeders = more on the surface

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78
Q

Hexacorals

A

dominant reef builders
- evolved from soft bodied anemones in Triassic
- resembled rugose corals

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79
Q

All modern corals started in the

A

Triassic

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80
Q

Pelagic Realm

A

included anyone that is living its life in the open ocean so planktonic + nektonic + combination of both
1. phytoplankton
2. nannofossils
3. belemnoids

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81
Q

Phytoplankton

A
  • dinoflagellates, calcareous nannofossils
  • ammonoids = rapid evolution + great index fossils
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82
Q

Nannofossils

A

coccolithophores

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83
Q

Belemnoids

A

squid-like relatives of ammonoids
- straight with consideration inside and soft bodied over them

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84
Q

Osyters started in the

A

Triassic

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85
Q

Fishes that made it in the Triassic started developing

A

shell crushing abilities
- with peg-like teeth for shell-crushing
- simple jaws + scale covered bodies but also cartilaginous

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86
Q

Marine reptiles

A

placodonts
- blunt toothed shell crushers with broad armored bodies

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87
Q

First Marine Reptiles [early Triassic]

A

Nothosaurs

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88
Q

Plesiosaurus evolved from

A

nothosaurs
- came from terrestrial ancestors [with long necks for feeding]
- eating fish or squid

89
Q

Long necks are an adaptation for

A

hunting fish
- covers more area so selection pressure allowed them to reach for fish and grab more easily

90
Q

Ichthyosaurs

A

“fish lizards”
- soft fin
- biggest vertebrate eyes

91
Q

Tree-forming gymnosperms:

A
  1. Cycads
  2. Cycadeoids
  3. Ginkgo
    - ferns produce spores that are very identifiable
    - “fern spore spike”
92
Q

Early Mammals:

A
  • small
  • evolved from therapsids
    1. Thecodonts = dinosaur ancestors with legs directly beneath [not sprawling]
93
Q

Thecodonts Descendants

A
  1. Dinosaur morphs and dinosaurs
    - bipedal, different skulls, highly developed teeth
  2. Crocodilians
  3. Pterosaurs
94
Q

Pterosaurs

A

a. flying reptiles [first animals that flew]
- Late Triassic
b. not dinosaurs but does have common ancestor

95
Q

Phytosaurs

A
  • looks like alligator / crocodile
  • aquatic animal
  • predators + scavengers
96
Q

Synapsids v. Diapsids

A

Synapsids = Dicynodonts
Diapsids = Dinosaurs

97
Q

Largest known non-mammal synapsid in the Late Triassic

A

Lisowicia

98
Q

Metoposaurs

A

large amphibians

99
Q

What was the most common dinosaur in the Late Triassic?

A

Coelophysis

100
Q

What are some possibilities as to why small dinosaurs buried rapidly?

A
  1. land slide
  2. flooding / pack hunting + drowned and got buried
101
Q

Dinosaur Evolution

A

ornithischian [“bird hipped”] + saurischian [“lizard-hipped”]
- herbivores + carnivores

102
Q

Sauropods

A
  • largest dinosaur and land animals
  • evolved to massive sizes from Late Triassic to Late Jurassic
103
Q

Largest carnivore at its time was [Late Jurassic theropod]

A

Allosaurus

104
Q

Archaeopteryx was considered the

A

first bird

105
Q

When did Pangea begin to separate?

A

Early Triassic

106
Q

Tethys Seaway

A

“ancestor” of the Mediterranean Sea

107
Q

in Eastern U.S. we saw…

A
  • rifting which created fault basins during Triassic-Jurassic [a lot of basalt caused rift valleys since tensional tectonics stretching apart the crust and the first valleys began to form, having basalt come out]
108
Q

The Palisades

A

Late Triassic flood basalts from rifting

109
Q

CAMP

A

Central Atlantic Magmatic Province
- formed at the end of the Triassic Period

110
Q

Volcanism…

A
  • global warming caused by volcanic activity, which released high volumes of CO2 during Triassic-Jurassic transition
  • CO2 levels implied by increased number of fossils leaf stomates [cells that take in CO2]
  • many plants and animals were unable to cope with abrupt temperature increase
111
Q

End of Triassic Mass Extinction:

A
  1. the break up of Pangea which led to extensive volcanism
  2. global warming and ocean acidification
  3. meteorite impact proposed as a factor but not accepted by all
  4. about 60% extinction of all species continental and marine
112
Q

Who survived the end of the Triassic mass extinction?

A
  1. insects
  2. land plants
  3. dinosaurs
  4. mammals
  5. pterosaurs
  6. ammonoids
113
Q

Endemic

A

only live in that area and nowhere else

114
Q

Mesozoic Era

A
  • birds evolved from feathered theropod dinosaurs in Middle Jurassic
  • most fossil birds are in Early Cretaceous rocks of China with abundant bird tracks in China + Korea + Japan + North America
  • almost no fossils record for birds in Gondwana during Early Cretaceous:
    1. Two early cretaceous birds in Gondwana [Catroavis + Kaririavis]
    2. Early Cretaceous birds in Australia:
    1 bone, 2 feathers, 2 tracks
115
Q

Earliest known undoubted fossil bird [Late Jurassic in Germany] + oldest known bird

A

Archaeopteryx

116
Q

Chalk is mostly from the

A

Cretaceous

117
Q

Coccolithophores

A

calcareous phytoplankton composing chalks

118
Q

Cretaceous World:

A
  1. planktonic foraminifera’s [index fossils]
  2. plankton diversified
    [diatoms (siliceous) + foraminifera + calcareous nannoplankton (coccolithophores)]
  3. nekton = ammonoids + belemnoids persisted, teleost fish diversified as did marine reptiles including sea turtles
119
Q

Teleost Fish

A

ULTIMATE bony fish
- dominant modern group
- symmetrical tail
- specialized fines
- short jaws

120
Q

Life of the Cretaceous

A
  • epibenthic bivalves = nudists
    ~ formed large tropical reefs
  • predators reduced brachiopods and stalked crinoids
  • flowering plants [angiosperms] in Early Cretaceous
  • gymnosperms still dominant
121
Q

Vertebrate Faunas

A

community similar to modern African savannah with abundant “duck-billed” dinosaurs [Hadrosaurs]

122
Q

Pterosaurs were

A

flying vertebrates

123
Q

Why were so many continental and marine vertebrates so big during the Cretaceous?

A

More abundant vegetation

124
Q

Mammal Evolution Characteristics

A

pointed teeth + endothermic + large brains + suckled young + rear feet for grasping + tree climbing = burrowing

125
Q

First mammals were in

A

Late Triassic

126
Q

Purgatorius

A

rat-like mammal which was probably arboreal
- other mammals probably fossorial [burrowers]

127
Q

Cretaceous Paleogeography

A
  • Mid Cretaceous sea level high
  • most continents isolated but seas opened in South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean
  • Tethys Seaway
  • high sea level, associated with rapid seafloor spreading [divergence putting basalt on ocean bottoms] + long time with no margnetic reversal
    ~ rapid burial of carbon due to plankton conditions
    ~ sea level went up and became anoxic
  • ice free arctic
    ~ high temperatures = lack of sea ice
  • oceans stagnated = shallow marine black muds
    ~ expansion of normally thin oxygen-poor zones [anoxia]
128
Q

The Late Cretaceous was the start of

A

the Rocky Mountains

129
Q

Rudists went extinct before

A

late Cretaceous due to cooling

130
Q

Cretaceous Mass Extinction

A
  • dinosaurs but birds survived
  • ammonoids
  • mosasaurs and most other marine reptiles [but not sea turtles]
  • reduction in gymnosperms and angiosperms
  • 90% of calcareous nannoplankton and foraminifera went extinct
    ~ extinction blamed on combination of end-cretaceous volcanism + meteorite impact
131
Q

End Cretaceous Volcanism

A

Deccan Plateau, India

132
Q

Deccan Plateau volcanism

A
  • preceded meteorite impact
  • sudden cooling and warming weakened ecosystems
  • instant collapse of ecosystems
133
Q

Evidence of meteorite impact:

A
  1. Microspherules
  2. Craters
  3. Heavy metal iridium
  4. Shocked mineral grains
134
Q

Chicxulub Crater:

A
  1. Impact
  2. Tsunami
  3. Debris Transport
135
Q

“Meteorite hit the right place to worsen this mass extinction…”

A
  • gypsum and anhydrite bedrock at impact site
  • debris reentering atmosphere caused heat
  • impact force put aerosols into stratosphere
  • combined with meteorite dust and soot to block sunlight for years
  • acid precipitations [effects on sea life + soils]
136
Q

What is the fastest running bird today?

A

Ostriches

137
Q

What is a dinosaur?

A

bird-like animal that lived during Mesozoic Era
- closest common ancestor shared with crocodilians and birds
- modern birds are descendants of theropod dinosaurs

138
Q

Saurischian v. Ornithischian

A

Examples of Saurischian [lizard-hipped]:
1. theropods
2. sauropodomorpha

Examples of Ornithischian [bird-hipped]:
1. cerapoda
2. ornithopoda

139
Q

How do we known what we know about animals?

A
  1. body fossils
    ~ bones, skin and feather impressions, eggs
  2. Trace fossils
    ~ tracks, nests, tooth traces, burrows
  3. living relatives
    ~ crocodiles, alligators, birds
140
Q

What animal held evidence of live birth?

A

Ichthyosaurus

141
Q

Who first noticed dinosaurs?

A
  1. Native American tribes - legends on dinosaur remains
  2. Chinese referred to dinosaur bones as long gu tou [“dragon bones”]
  3. Scythian legend of friffin
142
Q

Who studied dinosaurs?

A

Sir Richard Owen
- originator of the term “dinosaur” = terrible lizard

143
Q

How long were dinosaurs alive?

A

Late Triassic - Late Cretaceous period for non-avian dinosaurs

144
Q

Where did dinosaurs live?

A
  • all continents
  • highest abundance and diversity in the U.S., Mongolia, China, Canada, Europe, and Argentina
    [more recent discoveries in Africa]
  • terrestrial ecosystems:
    [forest, deserts, Savannah’s, swamps, river plains, seashores]
145
Q

What did dinosaurs eat?

A

Plants + conifers + ferns + flowering plants
- Animals
- Cannibalism in a few species

146
Q

Where did most evidence of dinosaur come from?

A

teeth + tooth traces + stomach contents + coprolites

147
Q

How did dinosaurs raise their young?

A
  • long term parental care in some species
  • juveniles stayed in the nest until more than halfway grown
  • denning behavior
148
Q

How did dinosaurs go extinct?

A
  1. Gradual decline related to Deccan Plateau
  2. Meteorite Impact
149
Q

The first skull discovered belonged to…

A

Velociraptor [think Jurassic Park]

150
Q

Spinosaurus

A

largest theropod dinosaur
- semi-aquatic

151
Q

What dinosaur held evidence of burring and denning?

A

Orcytodromeus

152
Q

Mongolia

A
  • weirdest theropod
  • adapted to eating marshy foods + vegetation in swampy areas
153
Q

Zulu Crurivastator

A

“Destroyer of Shins”

154
Q

What do palm trees imply?

A

It implies that the environment in which they are in has warmer climate than normal ~ shows temperature gradient and if below, then it is cooler climate and there is no palm trees

155
Q

What animal made it out of the Cretaceous?

A

turtles

156
Q

Mass of mammals [increased or decreased] after the impact?

A

increased
- think of small crocodilians and odd mammals

157
Q

What plant evolved in the Paleocene?

A

Legumes
~ mammals and other animals started eating these and drove coevolution between vertebrates and some of the plants that had survived the impact

158
Q

What were some of the vertebrate survivors?

A
  1. Crocodilians
  2. Birds
  3. Mammals
  4. Turtles
159
Q

What allowed whales to walk in water?

A

their bones were dense enough

160
Q

Evolution of whales

A
  1. Indohyus
    - think cloven hook so deer + sheep + goats
  2. Pakicetus
  3. Ambulocetus
    - “a whale that can walk”
  4. Basilosaurus
    - carnivorous
    - greater in body size and reduction of the legs
161
Q

Who is the closest relative to whales?

A

hippos

162
Q

What are some modern marine vertebrates?

A

sharks and whales

163
Q

Why did sharks start getting bigger?

A

They started growing to eat whales, which were also increasing in size

164
Q

Sandy coasts offered new niches..

A

~ sand dollars evolved from “sea biscuits” [urchins]
- we started seeing more compressed sand dollars so they glided into the sand so they streamlined and could quickly hide from predators

165
Q

Urchins were

A

burrowers

166
Q

When did sand dollars start?

A

Paleogene

167
Q

How do marsupials differ?

A
  • they have a pouch meaning that babies are born as embryos and stay in their moms such
168
Q

Bats [present by early Eocene]

A

~ flight originated from the trees down

169
Q

Ungulates

A

“hoofed animals”
- mostly herbivores

170
Q

Types of Ungulates:

A
  1. Perissodactyls
    ~ odd-toed
    ~ horses + tapirs + rhinos
  2. Artiodactyls
    ~ even-toed
    ~ cloven-hoofed goats + sheep + pigs + deer + cattle
171
Q

When did elephants start evolving?

A

Late Eocene

172
Q

Mesenychids

A

dog-like carnivorous mammals

173
Q

Diatryma

A

huge flightless birds with clawed feet and slicing beaks

174
Q

Why are flamingos pink?

A

they like salty habitats and eat brine shrimp

175
Q

Oligocene Mammals

A

~ horses in North America
~ Charles Darwin discovered horse teeth in South American from Pleistocene environment

176
Q

What is the largest land mammal of all time?

A

Paraceratherium

177
Q

What are some examples of large land mammals?

A

brontotheres + tapirs

178
Q

When did carnivores evolve?

A

In the Eocene
Examples:
1. saber-toothed cats
2. bear-like dogs
3. wolf-like mammals

179
Q

Paleogene Paleogeography

A

continents were a bit closer together but still similar to modern time
~ Atlantic and Pacific still connected
~ Madagascar disconnected
~ North and South America not together yet

Early Paleocene = warm climate but cooled later

180
Q

Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum [PETM]

A
  • abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratio
  • shift in light carbon isotopes
181
Q

Why was there a shift in light carbon isotopes?

A

The release of methane hydrate became positive feedback causing the melting of frozen methane so overall warming caused by a change in ocean pattern

With the melting of methane it became positive feedback loop becoming hotter and hotter

It will go negative and lighter

182
Q

What epoch matches current level of atmospheric CO2?

A

Oligocene

183
Q

Laramide Orogeny: The Rocky Mountains

A
  • active igneous activity with active fold and thrust belt + low angle of subduction
    1. thrust faults
    2. compressive tectonics
    [basalts got bent so oceanic lithosphere subducted resulting in volcanism]
184
Q

Yellowstone hot spot

A

more than 20 successive forests buried in basalt lava flow

185
Q

Gulf of Mexico

A
  • result of Mississippi Embayment:
  1. Thick Eocene deposits, Oligocene regression formed clastic wedge
  2. important for petroleum source rocks and reservoirs
    ~ As sea level went down with cooling then you got progressively younger rocks going out the sea
  3. Tom Canyon crates also with tsunamis and microspherules
    [contributed to size of Chesapeake Bay]
186
Q

What are microspherules?

A

melted glass where minerals have vaporized or turn into glass

187
Q

Chesapeake Bay: Meteorite Impact Site

A

seismic profiling revealed basin filled with breccia, faults causing geologic hazard

188
Q

Marine life of the Neogene World

A
  • Miocene cetaceans + baleen whales
    baleen whales had a tooth structure that basically served as a filter for phytoplankton - kind of a strainer]
  • Miocene recovery of planktonic foraminifera
189
Q

Terrestrial life of the Neogene World

A

~ grasses + herbs + weeds more widespread
~ required arid climate
~ cooler climate connected to Antarctic glaciation

190
Q

Why did all of these organisms coevolve and become more diverse in the past 25 million years?

A
  • they all ate each other essentially
  • grasses, herbs, and weeds coevolved
  • rats and mice + modern songbirds ate seeds
  • modern snakes then ate the songbirds and rats + mice
191
Q

Mammals in the Neogene World

A
  • mammals adapted to open terrain
  • even-to ungulates = artiodactyls
  • elephants diversified and spread
  • carnivorous mammals
  • New World primates
192
Q

Elephants diversified except in what two continents

A
  1. Antarctica
  2. Australia
193
Q

New World Primates

A
  • all the cattle we have today came from one species of Pleistocene which had ancestors in Africa [primates in the Americas had ancestry to Africa]
194
Q

In the Neogene, we got the spread of

A

C4 grasses…
- C4 plants incorporated more C13 than C4 grasses
- there was more silica in grasses
- grasses began to expand and take o

195
Q

How did silica affect graders’ teeth and their evolution?

A
  • teeth are made of apatite [5] and silica [7] so silica is much stronger, wearing out the teeth
196
Q

Why did C4 grasses spread?

A

Global climate change led to warmer growing seasons

197
Q

Ice Age Evidence

A
  1. Erratic boulders
  2. Glacial till and basins associated with glaciation [for example the Great Lakes which represent where there was a continental glacier that caused deep enough holes in parts of that area and left enough melted water which formed the Great Lakes]
  3. Depression of land
  4. Glacial scouring [lower parts of mountains of northeast U.S. are smooth while the top has been scraped by glacial activity]
  5. lowered sea level [exposed continental shelves + allowed elephants to travel to the Americas and horses to Asia allowing evolution]
  6. Changes in biota
198
Q

What is used to reconstruct vegetation changes with glacial and interglacial times?

A

Fossil Pollen
- it shows that there is more boreal to deciduous mixed forest

199
Q

Ice Age: Oxygen Isotopes

A
  • ocean was enriched in O18 [“heavy”] during glaciations
  • Eccentricity and Obliquity cycles followed same pattern that heavy will be cool and lighter will be warm
  • Great Lakes remained when ice sheets melted back [as they melted they formed huge lakes]
  • climate impacts felt globally [Sahara expanded and rainforests were restricted isolating gorilla ancestors during Pleistocene] –> they were pushed farther north and during glaciations, they were pushed down to forest ecosystems near the equator [move with cycles]
200
Q

When was the last glacial maximum?

A

35000 - 10000 years ago

201
Q

When did the Northern Hemisphere glaciation and Ice Age begin?

A

Northern Hemisphere - 3 may
Ice Age - 2.5 may

202
Q

Milankovitch Cycles

A

Precession + Obliquity + Eccentricity
When all 3 come together, it may cause glaciation or deglaciation

203
Q

Tectonics and Mountain Building

A
  • assembling of California
  • California Coastal Range = accreted terranes, divided by faults
204
Q

Yellowstone Hot Spot

A
  • oldest ones are farther away
  • plate moving southwest and mover over hot spot
  • hot spot within a continental plate
  • northwestward movement
  • Columbia river basalt coming from subduction of plate that is forming the cascades
205
Q

Formation of Caribbean Island Arc [oceanic-oceanic]

A

Caribbean plate started interacting with North American plate
oceanic under oceanic forming volcanic rocks + volcanism

206
Q

The Great American Biotic Exchange

A
  • Isthmus of Panama
    North and South American mammals developed separately but Pliocene uplift of isthmus connected continents which allowed exchange of terrestrial fauna
207
Q

Himalayan Mountains

A
  • India continent collided with Eurasia continent and whatever oceanic crust was between them was affected [oceanic environment got thrust up by collision]
  • Tibetan Plateau
    Nothing was being subducted so it just kept going up leading to mountain building
  • no marine material was left or what ocean was once between them
208
Q

Human Evolution

A

earliest apes = Sahelanthropus [non-human apes + humans]

209
Q

Hominins as index fossils

A
  • not good as index fossils since they are rare
210
Q

Australopithechines

A

“intermediates” between human and non-human apes
- as grasslands developed, apes started spending more time on the ground which led to increase in brain size relative to body size

211
Q

Homo

A

2.5 to 2 mya:
- larger skull + thigh and pelvis bones similar to australopithecines + developed stone tools
- 10 -15 species recognized but decreased to one species of homo [homosapiens]
- Neanderthals = Homo neanderthalensis [stone tools + burial + genome mapped + interbred with homosapiens]

212
Q

Homosapiens

A

Mitochondrial DNA originated in Africa
- migrated to Asia and Australia
- interbred with related human species
- made cave paintings + longest continuous human culture in Australia

213
Q

When did human migrate to North America?

A

about 23 000 years ago and move south through Central and South America by at least 13 000 years ago [may have followed elephants]

214
Q

Sixth Mass Extinction beginning

A

large-mammals extinction in North America started about 12 000 years ago
Examples being:
1. American elephants
2. large beavers
3. horses
4. North American camels
5. giant armadillos + giant ground sloths

215
Q

Hypothesis for 6th Mass Extinction

A
  1. Overkill Hypothesis:
    human hunting led to mass extinction of large mammals
  2. Overchill Hypothesis:
    rapid climate change altered habitats and triggered mass extinction of largest animals
216
Q

Megafaunal Extinctions

A

Habitat alternation and overhunting
- human introduced invasive species [dogs, rats]

217
Q

Development of Agriculture

A
  • hypsithermal interval
    [warmer today allowing development of agriculture]
  • atmospheric Co2 increase since 1960s
218
Q

Impacts of Climate Change

A
  1. sea level rise
  2. change in plant communities
  3. desertification
  4. changes in precipitation
  5. species migrations + extinctions

Environmental Science (1 decks)

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