Getting started

1. Getting started • This session is different than a regular SI session: this is a fast-paced review rather than going in depth into the material. That being said, if you still have confusion about something, please speak up.

2. Chapter 5

3. Q: Plants obtain most of their phosphorus from….

4. A: Soil and rocks

5. Where does the majority of the phosphorous and nitrogen that feeds booming phytoplankton in the Gulf of Mexico come from?

6. A: Fertilizer run-off from mid-western crops

7. Q: The resulting condition of low oxygen is known as ______, whereas the whole process of over-growth, decomposition, and low oxygen is known as _______tion

8. A: The resulting condition of low oxygen is known as hypoxia, whereas the whole process of over-growth, decomposition, and low oxygen is known as eutrophication.

9. Q: Who said this? “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” ~John Muir

10. A: “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” ~John Muir

11. Q: Transpiration is the release of water vapor by….

12. A: Transpiration is the release of water vapor by plants

13. Q: A feedback loop occurs in a system when an ______ also acts as an ______.

14. A: A feedback loop occurs in a system when an output also acts as an input.

15. Q: In a positive feedback loop, a system is driven toward what?

16. A: An extreme – it constantly moves in the same direction Example: • Sunlight on the snow

17. Q: How can a predator prey relationship be an example of negative feedback

18. A: The more the prey increases, the more the predator flourishes, which keeps the population of the prey down. The limited number of prey also keeps down the population of predators. This promotes Stability, Equilibrium, Homeostasis.

19. Q: When processes move in opposite directions at the same rate, the result is …

20. A: When processes move in opposite directions at the same rate, the result is dynamic equilibrium

21. Q: What are some of the contributions humans make in the carbon cycle?

22. A: Burning fossil fuels, decomposition, respiration, tree removal/planting

23. Q: An emergent property is one which…

24. A: Can be seen in the system as a whole, but not in its parts

25. Q: The biosphere consists of ….

26. A: All of the planet’s organisms and all of the non-living parts of the environment they interact with.z

27. Q: Nitrogen fixing bacteria make what possible?

28. A: They move atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, making it usable to plants.

29. Q: An ecosystem consists of all the what in an area?

30. A: Organisms and non-living parts of an area (animals, plants, rocks, water, air, etc)

31. How is gross primary production different from net primary production?

32. A: Gross: all the energy taken in by autotrophs Net: what is actually turned into biomass (ex. Plant matter)

33. Q: The rate at which production occurs in an ecosystem is known as

34. A: The rate at which production occurs in an ecosystem is known as • Productivity

35. Q: What is an ecotone?

36. A: The borderland between two ecosystems, often includes patches of both (ex. Where meadow meets forest)

37. Q: Give three examples of ecosystem services

38. Q: Biogeochemical Cycles are also known as ______ Cycles

39. A: Nutrient

40. The rate at which materials move between reservoirs in a nutrient cyle is known as ____.

41. A: The rate at which materials move between reservoirs in a nutrient cyle is known as flux.

42. A sink is a reservoir which does what? How is a tree an example of a carbon sink?

43. A: A sink is a reservoir which does what? - Takes in more than it releases How is a tree an example of a carbon sink? - It takes in carbon, and uses it to build its mass.

44. Q: Aquifers are regions of soil and rock that hold what?

45. A: Groundwater

46. Q: most carbon is stored where?

47. A: in sedimentary rock

48. Q: ______ feedback loops more commonly occur as a result of human action

49. A: Positive

50. Q: When does secondary succession occur?