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Description
Flashcards by E.M. Flood, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by E.M. Flood
about 6 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What does the graphing acronym U.S.T.A.T. acronym? | Units, scale, type of graph, axis labels, title |
| What is the dependent variable? | The responding variable; what is measured or counted to see effects of independent variables |
| What is the independent variable? | The manipulated variable; intentionally, changed to see outcome |
| Define biodiversity. | variety of life in an area |
| How is biodiversity measured? | Through species richness (# of species in an are), and Simpson's Biodiversity Index (# of species) |
| What is the importance of biodiversity to humans? | beauty, medicine, food/products |
| What is the importance of biodiversity to nature? | interdependence, stability |
| List the five major threats to biodiversity. | altered habitats, demand for wildlife species, species introduction, pollution, climate change |
| What are altered habitats? Examples? | Habitat destruction (damming rivers, clearing forests, urban development), & habitat fragmentation (roads, farms, ski areas) |
| What are demands for wildlife species? Examples? | Overuse and illegal harvesting/hunting of animals (elephants killed for ivory, tropical birds smuggled as pets, shark fins for soup) |
| What is species introduction? Examples? | Foreign, harmful invasive species (reed canary grass as erosion control, Chinese mitten crab introduced to California by ships' ballast water) |
| What is pollution? Examples? | Contaminants in air, water, and land (acidic rain, air/water pollution) |
| What is climate change? Examples? | Warming temperatures and extreme weather events that cause harm (melting ice, coral bleaching, disrupted migration) |
| What are some threats to the frogs (from the movie)? | Roads; invasive trout preying on frogs; Chytrid fungus that attacks skin of frogs; parasites called ryberobia, causing deformities; fertilizers/birth control/pesticide runoff |
| Define extinct. Give examples of extinct animals. | no more living members of a species; (passenger pigeon and dodo bird from over-hunting/deforestation) |
| Define endangered. Give examples of endangered animals. | A species in danger of extinction; (Catalina Island Fox from diseased introduced from dogs/Willamette Daisy from prairie habitat loss) |
| Define threatened. Give examples of threatened animals. | likely to become endangered soon; (Northern Spotted Owl from habitat loss & Coho Salmon from over-fishing) |
| What are some ways to protect biodiversity? | Establish protected areas, captive breeding/tagging, better controls on hunting/poaching |
| What is a watershed? | An area that stores and moves water, draining to a common point |
| What happens to the water cycle when an area is urbanized? | Groundwater decreases, runoff increases |
| What is an ecosystem service? What are some examples? | Value (to humans) naturally provided by ecosystems (oxygen producers extract CO2, lumber/growing crops makes food and other resources, cleaning water removes pollution) |
| What is a species? | Organisms that can breed/produce re-productively viable offspring |
| What is a population? | A group of organisms of a single species that live in a given area |
| What are the 4 characteristics of populations? | Geographic range, population density, growth rate, age/sex ratios |
| What is geographic range? | An area a population takes up |
| What is population density? | How closely they live together |
| What is growth rate? | How much the overall population grows |
| What are age/sex ratios? | Can tell us if a population is in trouble if it is very old/has too many males, leading to a low birth rate |
| What is exponential growth? | Reproducing at a constant rate, with unlimited resources (J-curve) |
| What is logistic growth? | As resources become limited, growth slows (S-curve) |
| What is carrying capacity? | The largest number of organisms a certain environment can support |
| What is a population crash? | When there is a dramatic loss of population |
| What is a density-dependent factor? Examples? | Only affects population when dense; (competition for food, crowded nesting sites, disease, predation) |
| What is a density-independent factor? Examples? | Affects all population whether dense or not; (natural disasters, human disturbances) |
| What is weather? | Short-term conditions, a few days |
| What is climate? | Long-terms conditions, usually measured in decades |
| What is the greenhouse effect? | When solar energy from the sun enters the atmosphere and hits the surface of earth. Some reflect back out into space while some greenhouse gases are trapped as heat in the atmosphere |
| How does the greenhouse effect lead to global warming? | Thicker atmosphere leads to more trapped heat, which leads to global warming |
| What are the three greenhouse gases? | CO2, CH4, N20 |
| What are the sources of each greenhouse gas? | CO2 - burning oil, gas, coal, wood CH4 - from landfill and cow belching N20 - from fertilizers and animal manure |
| What is the albedo affect? | The measure of reflectivity off of the earth's surface |
| How does the albedo effect create a positive feedback loop for melting arctic ice? | Ice is melting, that lowers albedo, which absorbs more heat and melts more ice and so on and so forth |
| List some effects of climate change. | Increased severity of tropical storms, ocean acidification, animal migrations, plant blooming times, spread of disease, water sources shrinking |
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