midterm to final exam Flashcards
(151 cards)
1
Q
el nino
A
development of warm ocean surface waters along coast of ecuado
2
Q
what is El Niño linked with?
A
southern oscillation
3
Q
southern oscillation
A
cycling of pacific ocean circulation
4
Q
La Nina
A
extremely strong trade winds and accumulation of cold water that occurs in central and eastern pacific
5
Q
how can we measure the southern oscillation?
A
sea-level air pressure differences between tahiti and darwin, australia
6
Q
hydrologic cycle
A
conceptual model describing storage and movement of water between Biosphere, Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere
7
Q
Atmospheric humidity
A
Describes amount of water vapour in atmosphere
Enters atmosphere through evaporation or sublimation
8
Q
2 different measures of atmospheric humidity
A
Mixing ratio/saturation mixing ratio
Relative humidity
9
Q
Mixing ratio
A
Mass of a specific gas relative to mass of remaining gas
Units expressed as g/kg of dry air
10
Q
Saturation mixing ratio:
A
Mass of water vapour held in a kg of dry air at saturation
11
Q
Saturation
A
any addition of water vapour to a mass of air leads to condensation of liquid water or deposition of ice at a given temperature and pressure
12
Q
what is the saturation mixing ratio affected by?
A
temperature
13
Q
Relative humidity
A
amount of water in air relative to saturation amount the air can hold at a given temperature (x100)
14
Q
how is relative humidity measured?
A
sling psychrometer
15
Q
the 10 processes that water can be moved by
A
Evaporation
Condensation
Prepip
Deposition
Runoff
Infiltration
Sublimation
Transpiration
Melting
Groundwater flow
16
Q
The 3 processes that act to create water droplets or ice crystals
A
Condensation, freezing and deposition
17
Q
deposition
A
water moving from gas to solid
18
Q
relative humidity will continue to increase until what point
A
dew point/frost point is reached
19
Q
at dew point, what is the relative humidity?
A
100%
20
Q
condensation nuclei
A
microscopic particles of dust, smoke and salt that allow for water droplets/ice crystals to condense, freeze or depose
21
Q
what I needed for the formation of ice crystals?
A
Deposition nuclei (six sided particles)
22
Q
Orographic uplift
A
when air is forced to rise because of the presence of elevated land
23
Q
air rises and cools as a result of what in orographic uplifting?
A
adiabatic expansion
24
Q
Convectional uplifting
A
surface heating of air at the ground surface
25
Convergence of frontal lifting takes place when what?
2 masses of air collide
26
Radiative cooling
occurs when the sun no longer supplies the ground and overlying the air with energy
Earth surface loses energy in the form of longwave radiation which causes air above to cool
27
what process causes fog?
radiative cooling
28
the 5 types of fog
Radiation fog or ground fog
Upslope fog
Advection fog
Evaporation fog
Frontal fog
29
Precipitation
any aqueous deposit, in liquid or solid form that develops in a saturated atmosphere and falls to the ground
30
what causes water droplets to grow in a cloud above freezing temps?
turbulent atmospheric mixing through collision and coalescence
31
what must be present for ice crystals to form in clouds?
condensation nuclei and deposition nuclei
32
Rain
liquid deposit that falls from the atmosphere to surface and has to be larger than 0.5 mm in diameter
33
Ice pellets/sleet
transparent/translucent bits of frozen water with a diameter less than 5mm
34
Snow pellets
white, spherical grains of ice 2-5 mm in diameter
bounce when they hit the ground
35
Hail
destructive form of precipitation that is 5-190 mm in diameter
36
Rain shadow effect
orographic uplift results in sharp reduction in rainfall in regions adjacent or on leeward side of slope
37
Water is removed from the surface of the earth by what 2 processes?
evaporation
transpiration
38
evaporation occurs when these 3 things are present:
water is available
lower humidity than saturation
energy
39
Transpiration
water evaporation from plants through stomata
40
what percent of transpired water that is passed through plant used for growth?
1%
41
Stomata
openings on the underside of leaves
42
Rate of evapotranspiration is controlled by what 4 things?
Energy available
Humidity gradient away from surface
Wind speed immediately above surface
Water availability
43
Sublimation
solids evaporating
44
2 different aspects of evapotranspiration
potential and actual
45
Potential evapotranspiration
ability of the atmosphere to remove water from the surface, no control on water supply
46
actual evapotranspiration
how much water is actually evaporated/removed
47
what is used in water resource management?
potential and actual evapotranspiration
Potential - actual = what crop managers use to determine how much water they need
48
what modifies intensity and distribution of precipitation?
vegetation
49
Interception
the capture of precipitation by plant canopy and its subsequent return to atmosphere through evaporation or sublimation
50
what 6 things will cause variation in precipitation interception?
leaf type
canopy architecture
wind speed
available radiation
temperature
humidity of the atmosphere
51
Precipitation that is not intercepted is influenced by what 3 things?
stemflow
canopy drip
through fall
52
Infiltration
movement of water into the soil layer
53
what happens if rainfall intensity is greater than the infiltration rate?
water will accumulate on surface and runoff will begin
54
what is infiltration controlled by?
gravity
capillary action
soil porosity
55
porosity of solids are controlled by what?
texture(size)
structure(shape)
organic content(absorbability)
56
Strongest force
molecular force of elements and compounds on surface of soil minerals
57
hygroscopic water
water retained by strongest force
58
Matric Force
holds soil water from 0.0002 mm to 0.06 mm from surface of soil particles
59
matric force is caused by what 2 processes?
soil particle surface molecular attraction (adhesion and absorption)
Cohesion that water molecules have to each other
60
matric force declines in strength with what?
distance from soil particle
61
gravitational water
Water in excess of capillary and hygroscopic water
62
soil field capacity
Amount of water that remains after gravitational water has drained away
63
Throughflow
sporadic horizontal flow of water within soil layer
64
what causes through flow?
Soil is completely saturated in water
Flows underground until it reaches a river, lake or ocean
65
when do max flow rates of through flow occur?
steep slopes and in previous sediments
66
groundwater zone
Moisture moving into underlying bedrock reaches area of permanent saturation
67
water table
top of groundwater zone
Discharges into a surface body of water like a river channel, lake or ocean
68
Unconfined groundwater
69
Confined groundwater
70
why does runoff occur at a global scale?
because of the imbalance between evaporation and precipitation over the earth's land and ocean surfaces
71
Streamflow
process of water flowing in the organised channels of a stream/river
72
Stream discharge
volume of water that passes through channel for a certain period of time
73
Stream discharge formula
Q = W x D x V
Q = stream discharge
W = channel width
D = channel depth
V = velocity of flowing water
74
The 6 elements that make up 99% of sea salts
Chloride
Sodium
Sulfate
Magnesium
Calcium
Potassium
75
Sea water salinity concentration
parts of chloride per 1000 parts water
35 parts per thousand for sea water salinity
76
Density of seawater increases with what 3 things?
decreasing temps
increasing salinity
depth in ocean
77
surface ocean currents are driven by what?
wind
78
how are dissolved gases in the ocean added to the atmosphere
wind
waves
79
Gyre
circular ocean patterns
80
how are tides created?
slight variations in gravitational attraction between the earth, moon and the sun
81
Cambrian explosion
explosion of life on earth
82
when did fossils start to form?
3.8 billion years ago
83
when do eukaryotes organize into multicellular organisms?
680 million years ago
84
3 domains of living things
arachea
bacteria
eukaryotes
85
where do archaea live?
very hostile environments
86
what do bacteria lack?
chlorophyll
87
how do bacteria obtain energy?
fermentation
88
the 4 kingdoms of eukaryotes
Protists (single-celled organisms)
Fungi
Plantae (gymnosperms and angiosperms)
Animalia
89
Spatial isolation
Isolation due to distance, mountains, barriers, river etc
90
what does spatial isolation cause a reduction in?
gene transfer between sub populations
91
Species
A group of interbreeding organisms that do not ordinarily breed with members of other groups
92
Population
all the individual of a species within one particular area or region at a certain time
93
Community
Populations in a specific area or region at a certain time
94
Ecosystem
dynamic entity composed of the biotic communities and abiotic environment
95
Geographic range
spatial distribution of species
Done through processes of dispersal, colonization, establishment, and extirpation
96
Dispersal
ability of organisms to move
97
why do organisms want to disperse?
find new habitat
escape the influence of parents/siblings
98
range of most species is limited by what?
abiotic factors (temp, moisture, soil, nutrients)
99
2 types of biotic interactions
Interspecific (other species)
Intraspecific (same species)
100
5 types of interspecific biotic interactions
neutralism
competition
amensalism
mutualism
pathogens, parasites, predators
101
amensalism
one species suffers, the other experiences no effect
102
Ecological niche
species requirements for all resources and physical conditions
An imaginary space with many dimensions, each dimension or axis represents the range of some environmental condition/resource
103
Fundamental niche
total range of environmental conditions that are suitable for existence without the influence of interspecific competition/predation from other species
104
Realized niche
part of fundamental niche actually occupied by the species
105
why have species gone extinct?
environmental change
competition
106
Biodiversity consists of what 3 things?
genetic diversity
species diversity
ecosystem diversity
107
Succession
directional, non seasonal cumulative change in the types of plant species that occupy a given area through time
108
how does succession begin?
with a disturbance
109
Facilitation
developing plant communities change the abiotic environment
110
Tolerance
a predictable sequence is produced because different species have different strategies for exploiting resources
111
Inhibition
all species resist invasions by competitors
112
Ecosystem
a dynamic entity composed of a biological community and its associated abiotic environment
113
7 human impacts to ecosystems
biodiversity reduction/species extinction
species invasions
changes to the abundance and dominance of species in communities
modification of biogeochemical cycles
modification of hydrologic cycling
Pollution
Climate change
114
Biomass
mass of organisms per unit area
Can be expressed in g/m squared
115
Primary productivity of a community
amount of biomass produced through photosynthesis/unit area and time
kg/m squared or yr squared
116
Primary production of dry plant biomass amounts to what amount per year?
243 billion tonnes/year
117
net primary productivity and how its measured
rate of biomass production available for consumption
Subtracting respiration from Gross primary productivity
118
what are the least productive ecosystems limited by?
heat energy and water
119
Most productive ecosystems have what?
high temps, plenty of water, and available soil nitrogen
120
Factors limiting primary productivity
Photosynthesis (dependent on temperature, moisture and soil nutrient )
Temperature (controls rate of plant metabolism)
121
most efficient plants incorporate what % of PAR (photosynthesis active radiation)
3-10%
122
what are the most efficient biomes?
tropical rainforests
conifer forests
123
how is Gross Secondary Productivity (GSP) measured?
amount consumed minus material defectated
124
Grazing Food Chain
photosynthetic fixation of light, carbon dioxide and water by plant autotrophs (primary producers)
Primary consumers: herbivores
Secondary consumers: primary carnivores
Tertiary consumers: secondary carnivores
125
Consumers lose significant amounts of energy due to what 4 processes?
assimilation inefficiencies
morphological/ physiological maintenance
reproduction
process of finding and capturing food
126
Pyramid of biomass
quantifies all of the living biomass found in each of the trophic levels
127
Food webs
describe energy flow in ecosystem by modelling who consumes who
128
Nutrient cycling
involves a series of abiotic chemical reactions
129
All biogeochemical cycles have what?
organic and inorganic components
130
Organisms require the availability of about how many chemical components?
20-30 chemical components
131
macronutrients
Elements required in relatively large amounts
132
Biological fixation
elemental nitrogen converted into organic forms by metabolic processes
133
Immigration regarding nutrients
motile animals can add nutrients to an ecosystem
134
4 processes of nutrient outputs to ecosystems
Erosion
Leaching
Gaseous losses
emigration/harvesting
135
what is the major chemical constituent of most organic matter?
carbon
136
5 forms of carbon sinks
Organic molecules in living/dead organisms
CO2 gas in atmosphere
Organic matter soil
Fossil fuels and sedimentary rocks ex. Limestone, dolomite and chalk
CO2 gas dissolved in oceans and as CaCO3 shells or marine organisms
137
how do ecosystems produce sugar?
use atmospheric CO2 via photosynthesis
138
where is carbon stored in the atmosphere?
lithosphere
139
how is carbon released from an ecosystem?
CO2 gas by process of respiration
140
what do amino acids, proteins and nucleic acids have in common?
have nitrogen
141
what 2 forms of nitrogen can plants take in?
ammonium ion
nitrate ion
142
how do animals receive nitrogen?
by consuming other organisms containing nitrogen
143
Earth's terrestrial biomes and aquatic ecosystems are based on what?
temp and precipitation
144
what forest biome is most affected by human activity?
Temperate deciduous forest
145
why is ground surface in tundra and alpine waterlogged often?
low rates of evapotranspiration
146
Europe and asia grasslands are called what?
Steppes
147
South america grasslands are called what?
Pampas
148
why is the chaparral biome dry despite being on the west coast?
subtropical high pressure zones
149
the 3 layers of thermal stratification
Top layer = epilimnion
Middle = thermocline
Bottom = hypolimnion
150
where are closed lakes found?
endorheic basins in arid areas ex. Mahoney lake
151
open lakes
have outflow streams
