• Shuffle
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Alphabetize
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Front First
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Both Sides
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
  • Read
    Toggle On
    Toggle Off
Reading...
Front

Card Range To Study

through

image

Play button

image

Play button

image

Progress

1/346

Click to flip

Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;

Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;

H to show hint;

A reads text to speech;

346 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
_____ is the systematic study of how organisms interact with one another and with their physical and chemical environment.
Ecology
When studying a population, ecologists consider the _____, or vital statistics, of a population.
Demographics
_____ is the number of individuals that contribute to the population's gene pool.
Population Size
A population's _____ is the number of individuals in each of several to many age categories.
Age Structure
Pre-reporductive, reproductive, and post-reproductive are examples of _____.
Age Sturcture
The pre-reproductive and reproductive categories would make up the _____ of the population.
Reproductive Base
_____ is the number of individuals in some specified area or volume of a habitat.
Population Density
The place where a species normally lives
Habitat
_____ is the genereal pattern in which a population's individuals are dispersed in a specified area.
Population Distribution
Three types of population distribution
1. Clumping
2. Uniform
3. Random
Each species is adapted to a limited set of ecological conditions.
Clumping
Many animal species gather in social groups that give advantages in terms of survival and reproduction.
Clumping
Most common pattern of dispersion.
Clumping
_____ distribution is not very common in nature.
Uniform
May occur where the habitat conditions are fairly uniform and where there is fierce competition for resources or territorial behavior.
Uniform
May occur where the habitat conditions are vairly uniform and where there is fierce competition for resources or territorial behavior.
Uniform
_____ dispersion is extremely rare in nature.
Random
Occurs when habitat conditions are nearly uniform, resource availability is fairly steady, and individuals of the population neither attract nor avoid one another.
Random
Population size increases as a result of _____ and _____.
Birth and Immigration
The arrival of new residents from other populations of the species.
Immigration
Population size decreases as a result of _____ and _____.
Deaths and Emigration
Individuals permanently moving out of the population.
Emigration
Some interval during which the number of births is balanced out by the numbers of deaths.
Zero Population Growth
The length of tim it takes for a population to double in size is the _____.
Doubling Time
The _____ of a population is the maximum rate of increase per individual under ideal conditions.
Biotic Potential
Actual rate depends on three things
1. Age at which reproduction starts.
2. How often each individual reproduces.
3. How many offspring are produced.
The _______ rate depends on the age at onset of reproduction, how frequently the individuals are reproducing, and how many offspring are rpduced over a lifetime.
Actual
During a _______, population size is generally an outcome of births, deaths, immigration, and emigration.
Specific Interval
With _______, the growth rate increases over time as the reproductive base becomes even larger.
Exponential Growth
As long as the per capita birth rate remains above the per capita death rate, a population will grow _______.
Exponentially
Environmental circumstances keep a population from fulfilling its _______.
Biotic Potential
Any essential resource that is in short supply is a _______ on population growth.
Limiting Factor
_______ is the maximum number of individuals of a population that a given environment can sustain indefinitely.
Carry Capacity.
The patter of _______ shows how carrying capacity can affect population size.
Logistic Growth
Bubonic plague and pneumonic plague are examples of _______.
Density-Dependent Controls
The effects of these factors come into play independent of population density.
Density-Independent Factors
Weather conditions and applications of pesticides are examples of _______.
Density-Independent Factors
_______ follow the fate of a group of newborn individuals through their lives to calculate survivorship schedules.
Life Tables
_______ list data such as age interval, survivorship, mortality, and life expectancy.
Life Tables
Three types of survivorship curves
Type I: reflects high survivorship until fairly late inlife, when deaths increase greatly.
Type II: Reflect a fairly constant death rate at all ages.
Type III: Reflect a death rate that is highest early in life.
Human Population
6 billion
Three possible reasons for human population growth
1. Humans steadily developed the capacity to expand into new habitats and new climate zones.
2. Humans increased the carrying capacity in their existing habitats.
3. Human populations stepsidded limiting factors.
Management of food supplies through agriculture increased the _______ for the human population.
Carrying Capacity
By controlling disease agents and tapping into concentrated, existing form of energy, the human population has managed to _______ major facts that had previously limited its rate of increase.
Sidestep
It took about 2.5 million years for the human population to reach 1 billion, starting with _______.
Homo Habilis
_______ is the average number of children born to women of a given population during their reproductive years.
Total Fertility Rate
The world's Total Fertility Rate is now _______.
2.8
More than 1/3 of the world population is now in the _______ base.
Pre-reproductive
The rate of birth _______ when women bear children in their early 30's rather than in their mid-teens or early 20's.
Slows
China's family planning
discourages pre-marital sex
encourages people to postpone marriage
limites families to one child
There is a correlation between changes in population growth and economic development
Demographic Transitions
During the _______, the living conditions are harshest. Birth and death rates are both high, so the growth rate is slow.
Pre-Industrial Stage
During the _______, when industrialization is in full swing, population growth slows dramatically.
Transitional Stage
During the _______, death rates drop, but birthrates stay fairly high, so the population grows rapidly.
Transitional Stage
Zero population growth is reached in the _______.
Post-Industrial Stage
During the _______, the birth rate falls below the death rate, so the population size slowly declines.
Post-Industrial Stage
Three possible reasons for human population growth
1. Humans steadily developed the capacity to expand into new habitats and new climate zones.
2. Humans increased the carrying capacity in their existing habitats.
3. Human populations stepsidded limiting factors.
Management of food supplies through agriculture increased the _______ for the human population.
Carrying Capacity
By controlling disease agents and tapping into concentrated, existing form of energy, the human population has managed to _______ major facts that had previously limited its rate of increase.
Sidestep
It took about 2.5 million years for the human population to reach 1 billion, starting with _______.
Homo Habilis
_______ is the average number of children born to women of a given population during their reproductive years.
Total Fertility Rate
The world's Total Fertility Rate is now _______.
2.8
More than 1/3 of the world population is now in the _______ base.
Pre-reproductive
The rate of birth _______ when women bear children in their early 30's rather than in their mid-teens or early 20's.
Slows
China's family planning
discourages pre-marital sex
encourages people to postpone marriage
limites families to one child
There is a correlation between changes in population growth and economic development
Demographic Transitions
During the _______, the living conditions are harshest. Birth and death rates are both high, so the growth rate is slow.
Pre-Industrial Stage
During the _______, when industrialization is in full swing, population growth slows dramatically.
Transitional Stage
During the _______, death rates drop, but birthrates stay fairly high, so the population grows rapidly.
Transitional Stage
Zero population growth is reached in the _______.
Post-Industrial Stage
During the _______, the birth rate falls below the death rate, so the population size slowly declines.
Post-Industrial Stage
The United States, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan, and the nations of the former Soviet Union are in the _______- their growth rate is slowly declining.
Industrial Stage
Mexico and other less developed countries are in the _______.
Transitional Stage
Enormous disparities in _______ are driving forces behind immigration and emigration.
Economic Development
_______ estimated that it would take 12.9 billion impoverished individuals living in India to have as much impact on the environment as 284 million people in the United States.
Tyler Miller
At _______, a larger proportion of individuals will end up in higher age brackets.
Zero Population
Individuals permanently moving out of the population.
Emmigration
If we assume that immigration is balancing emigration over time, we can define _______ as some interval during which the number of births is balanced out by the number of deaths.
Zero Population Growth
The _______ of a population is the maximum rate of increase per individual under ideal conditions.
Biotic Potential
Actual rate depends three things:
1. age at which reproduction starts
2. how often each individual reproduces
3. how many offspring are produced
environmental circumstances usually prevent any population from fulfilling its biotic potential.
Limiting Factors
Food, mineral of certain types, refuge from predators, living quarters, and an environment free of pollution are examples of _______.
Limited Factors
The sustainable supply of resources will be the key factor od determining _______.
Population Size
The _______ is the maximum number of individuals of a population that a given environment can sustain indefinitely.
Carrying Capacity
_______ exert their effects in proportion to the number of individuals present.
Density-Dependent Controls
A _______ is a place where an organism lives; it is characterized by distinctive physical features, vegetation, and the array of species living in it.
Habitats
The United States, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan, and the nations of the former Soviet Union are in the _______- their growth rate is slowly declining.
Industrial Stage
Mexico and other less developed countries are in the _______.
Transitional Stage
Enormous disparities in _______ are driving forces behind immigration and emigration.
Economic Development
_______ estimated that it would take 12.9 billion impoverished individuals living in India to have as much impact on the environment as 284 million people in the United States.
Tyler Miller
At _______, a larger proportion of individuals will end up in higher age brackets.
Zero Population
Individuals permanently moving out of the population.
Emmigration
If we assume that immigration is balancing emigration over time, we can define _______ as some interval during which the number of births is balanced out by the number of deaths.
Zero Population Growth
The _______ of a population is the maximum rate of increase per individual under ideal conditions.
Biotic Potential
Actual rate depends three things:
1. age at which reproduction starts
2. how often each individual reproduces
3. how many offspring are produced
environmental circumstances usually prevent any population from fulfilling its biotic potential.
Limiting Factors
Food, mineral of certain types, refuge from predators, living quarters, and an environment free of pollution are examples of _______.
Limited Factors
The sustainable supply of resources will be the key factor od determining _______.
Population Size
The _______ is the maximum number of individuals of a population that a given environment can sustain indefinitely.
Carrying Capacity
_______ exert their effects in proportion to the number of individuals present.
Density-Dependent Controls
A _______ is a place where an organism lives; it is characterized by distinctive physical features, vegetation, and the array of species living in it.
Habitats
A _______ is an association of interacting populations of different species living in a particular habitat.
Community
Five factors shape the structure of the communit
1. Interactions between climate and topography dictate rainfall, temperature, soil composition, and so on.
2. Availability of food and resources affects inhabitants.
3. Adaptive traits enable individuals to exploit specific resources.
4. Interactions of various kinds occur among the inhabitants; these include competition, predation, and mutualism.
5. The overall pattern of population sizes affects community structure.
Varying numbers of species are found in _______ from producers to consumers.
Feeding Levels
Diversity tends to increase in tropical climates, creating _______.
Species Richness
The _______ of each species is defined by the sum of activities and relationships in which it engages to secure and use the resources necessary for its survival and reproduciton.
Niche
The _______ niche is the one that could prevail in the absence of competition.
Fundamental
The _______ niche results from shifts in large and small ways over time as individuals of the species respond to a mosic of changes.
Realized
_______ can occur between any two species in a community and between entire communities.
Ineractions
Neither species directly affects the other (ie, eagles and grass)
Indirect interactions
One species benefits while the other is not affected (ie, bird's nest in a tree)
Commensalism
There is a symbiotic relationship where both species benefit.
Mutualism
Both species are harmed by the interaction
Interspecific Competition
One species (predator or parasite) benefits while the other (prey or host) is harmed.
Predation and Parasitism
The ycca moth feeds only on the yucca plant, which is completely dependent on the moth for pollination- a classic example of _______ that is obligatory.
Mutualism
Implies an intimate and rather permanent interdependence of the two species on one another for survival and reproduction.
Symbiosis
Competition within a population of the same species (_______) is usually fierce and may result in depletion of a resource.
Intraspecific
_______ competition is less intense because requirements are less similar between the competitors.
Interspecific
In _______ competition, some individuals limit others' access to the resource.
Interference
In _______ competition, all individuals have equal access to a resource but differ in their ability (speed or efficiency) to exploit that resouce.
Exploritation
_______ suggests that complete competitors cannot coexist indefinately.
Competitive Exclusion
When competitor's niches do not overlap quite as much, the _______ is more probable.
Coexistance
Differences in _______ will give certain species the competitive edge.
Adaptive Traits
_______ differences between established and competing populations may increase through natural selection.
Ecological
Only species that are _______ from established ones can succeed in joining an existing community.
Dissimilar
Predators get their food from prey, but they do not take up residence on or in the prey.
Coevolution
Many of the adaptations of predators and their victims arose through _______.
Coevolution
Models for Preditor-Prey Interactions
Type I: each individual predator will consume a constant number of prey individuals over time, regardless of prey abundance.
Type II: The consumption of prey by each predator increases, but not as fast as increases in pre density.
Type III: A predator response is lowest when prey density is at its lowest leel and predation pressure lessens.
_______ coexistence results when predators prevent prey from overshooting the carrying capacity.
Stable
Fluctuations in _______ density tend to occur when predators do not reproduce as fast as their prey, when they can eat only so many prey, and when carrying capacity for prey is high.
Population
_______ is any adaptation in form, color, patterning, or behavior that allows a prey or predator to blend with its surroundings.
Camouflaging
_______ in toxic prey offer bright colors or bold patterns that serve as a warning to predators.
Warning Coloration
In _______, prey not equipped with defenses may escape predators by resembling toxic prey.
Mimicry
_______ allow prey animals to defend themselves by startling or intimidating the predator with display behavior.
Moment-of-Truth Defenses
Adapted Responses of Predators
1. Stealth and Camoflage
2. Outrunning prey
Natural selection tends to favor _______ adaptations that promote some level of mutual tolerance and less-than-leathal effects.
Parasite and Host
All viruses, some bacteria, protists, and fungi are _______, even a few plants.
Parasites
Many tapeworms, fluckes, roundworms, insects, and ticks are also _______.
Parasites
_______ are insects thatdevelop inside other insects, which they devour and kill.
Parasitoids
_______ depend on the social behavior of another to complete the lifecycle; for example, cowbirds lay their eggs in the nest of other birds, which unknowingly uncubate and hatch the cowbirds' eggs.
Social Parasites
Parasites and parasitoids have five attributes that make them good control agents.
1. They are well adapted to the host species and their habitat.
2. They are exceptionally good at searching for hosts.
3. Their growth rate is high relative to that of the host species.
4. They are mobile enough for adequate dispersal.
5. The lag time between responses to changes in the numbers of the host population is minimal.
_______ succession is the predictable developmental sequence of species in a community.
Ecological
_______ are the first to colonize an area, followed by more competitive species.
Pioneer Species
A _______ community is the most persistent array of species that results after some lapse of time.
Climax
_______ happens in an area that was devoid of life.
Primary Succession
_______ species help to improve soil fertillity; they are usually small, lowgrowing plants with a short life cycle and an abundance of seeds.
Pioneer
In _______ succession, a community reestablishes itself to a climax state after a disturbance that allows sunlight to penetrate.
Secondary
According to the _______, a community is adapted to a total pattern of environmental factors-climate, soil, topography, wind, fires, etc.-to create a continuum of climax stages of succession.
Climax Pattern Model
_______ may require episodes of instability that permit cyclic replacement of equilibrium species, thus maintaining the climax community. (ie, forest fires in California)
Community Stability
A _______ species is a dominant species that can dictate community sturcture. (ie, starfish)
Keystone
A population might expand its home range by slowly moving into outlying regones that prove hospitable.
Geographic dispersal
During the course of a lifetime, individuals may be rapidly transported across great distances.
Geographic dispersal
A population may move out from its home range over geologic time, as by continental drift.
Geographic Dispersal
An _______ species is a resident of an established community that dispered from its home range and became established elsewhere.
Exotic
Biodiversity is favored in the tropics for three reasons.
1. More rainfall and sunlight provides more food reserves.
2. Species diversity is self-reinforcing from herbivores to predators and parasites.
3. Traditionally, the rate of speciation has exceeded the rate of extinction.
Islands distant from source areas receive fewer colonizing species
Distance Effect
Large Islands tend to support more species
Area Effect
Even though extinctions ahve occurred, _______ is still very great.
Biodiversity
Habitat loss may be a _______ reduction of suitable placed to live as well as a loss of habitat due to _______ polution.
Physical
Chemcial
Habitats may be chopped into isolated patches
Habitat fragmentation
Increase the habitat boundries, making species more vulnerable to predators, environmental factors, and disease.
Habitat Fragmentation
The patches may not be large enough to support the population numbers needed for breeding.
Habitat Fragmentation
There may not be enough food to sustain the population.
Habitat Fragmentation
The _______ model of island biogeography says that a 50 percent loss of habitat will drive about 10 percent of its endemic species to extinction.
Equilibrium
_______ species, such as birds, provide warning of changes in habitat and impending loss of diversity.
Indicator
Exotic species that move into a new habitat are responsible for almost 70 percent of the cases where endemic species are drive to _______.
Extinction
_______ is a systematic survey of the full range of biological diversity.
Conservation Biology
_______ attempts to decipher the evolutionary and ecological origins of diversity.
Conservation Biology
_______ attempts to identify methods that might maintain and use biodiversity for the good of the human population.
Conservation Biology
Because it is impossibel to make a global survey fo all species, scientists have identified _______ where habitats with the greatest number of species found nowhere else are in danger of extinction.
Hot Spots
Various hot spot inventories can be combined to dfine an _______.
Ecoregion
_______ is a proposal that would provide for a profitable yet sustainable, way to harvest trees for wood; it would be used in sloped terrain with a number of streams, providing for regrowth of new saplings.
Strip Logging
_______ are valuable strips of vegetation along a stream or river.
Riparian Zones
Regions on the earth function as _______ running on energy from the sun processed through various organizations.
Systems
_______ are autotrophs that can capture sunlight energy and incorporate it into organic compounds.
Primary Producers
_______ are heterotrophs that feed on tissues of other organisms.
Consumers
_______ eat plants.
Herbivores
_______ eat animals.
Carnivores
_______ reside in or on living hosts and extract energy from them.
Parasites
_______ eat a variety of organisms.
Omnivores
_______ include small invertebrates that feed on partly decomposed particles of organic matter.
Detrivores
_______ are also heterotrophs and include fungi and bacteria that extract evergy from the remains or products of organisms.
Decomposers
An _______ is a complex of organisms ineracting with one another and with the physical environment.
Ecosystem
_______ are open systems through which energy flows and materials are cycled.
Ecosystems
Ecosystems require energy and nutrient _______.
Input
Ecosystems generate energy and nutrient _______.
Output
_______ levels are a hierarchy of energy transfers, or "Who eats whom?"
Trophic
Level 1 (closest to the energy source) consists of _______.
Producers
Level 2 comprises _______.
Herbivores
Level 3 and above are _______.
Carnivores
_______ feed on organisms from all levels.
Decomposers
_______ cross-connect to form food webs.
Food Chains
A sequence of who eats whom is called a _______.
Food Chain
Interconnected food cains compriise _______ in which the same food resource is often part of more than one food chain.
Food Webs
Two categories of food webs
1. Energy flows into ecosystems from the sun.
2. Energy leaves ecosystems through heat losses generated by metabolism.
Energy flows into _______ from the sun.
Ecosystems
Energy flows through _______ by way of grazing good webs, inwhich energy flows from plants to herbivores and then to carnivores.
Ecosystems
In _______ food webs, it flows mainly from plants through decomposers and detritivores.
Detrital
Energy leaves ecosystems through _______ generated by metabolism.
Heat Losses
_______ is the rate at which producers get and store energy in their tissues.
Primary Productivity
_______ primary productivity is the total rate of photosynthesis for the ecosystem during a specified interval.
Gross
_______ ecosystem production is the energy left over after that which is used by the plants and soil organisms is subtracted from the gross primary production.
Net
Many factors impact _______, including body size, mineral availability, termperature range, sunlight, and rainfall.
Net Production
Trophic sturcture can be diagrammed as a pyramid in which producers form a base for successive tiers of consumers above them.
Ecological Pyramids
A _______ pyramid makes provision for differences in size of organisms by using the wight of the members in each trophic level.
Biomass
An _______ pyramid reflects the trphic structure most accurately because it is based on energy losses at each level.
Energy
_______ cycles influence the availability of essential elements in ecosystems.
Biogeochemical
_______ are available to producers as ions.
Elements
_______ reserves are maintained by environmental inputs and recycling activities.
Nutrient
The amount of nutrients being cycled is _______ than the amount entering or leaving.
Greater
Environment _______ are precipiatation, metabolism, and weathering.
Inputs
Environment _______ are by runoff and evaporation.
Outputs
In the _______ cycle, oxygen and hydrogen move as water molecules.
Hydrologic
In the _______ cycles, elements can move in the gaseous phase. (ie, carbon and nitrogen)
Atmospheric
In _______ cycles, the element does not have a gaseous phase. (ie, phosphorus)
Sedimentary
_______ is moved or stored by evaporation, precipiatation, retention, and transporation.
Water
A _______ funnels rain or snow into a single river.
Watershed
Salt buildup (_______) of the soil and waterlogging can result in water.
Salinization
About one thrid of the world's population depends on _______ for drinking water.
Groundwater
Most of the earth's water is too _______ for human consumption or for agriculture.
Salty
Carbon enters the atmosphere by aerobic respiration, fossil-fuel burning, and volcanic eruptions.
Carbon Cycle
Decomposition of buried carbon compounds millions of years ago caused the formation of _______.
Fossil Fuels
Burring of fossil fuels puts extra amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an accurrence that may lead to _______- the greenhouse effect.
Global Warming
Evidence of Global Warming
1. Temperatures ahve rusen by one degree F since 1861.
2. Nine of the ten hottest years have occured since 1990.
In _______, bacteria convert N2 to NH3, which is then used in the synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids.
Nitrogen Fixation
By _______, bacteria and fungi breakdown nitrogenous compounds, forming ammonium.
Ammonification
_______ is a type of chemosynthesis where NH3 or NH4+ is converted to NO2-
Nitrification
_______ is the release of nitrogen gas to the atmosphere by the action of bacteria.
Denitrification
Phosphorus moves from land, to sediments in the seas, and back to the land in its long-term geochemical phase of the cycle.
Phosphorus Cycle
In the _______ phase, plants take up the phosphorus from the soil; it is then transferred to herbivores and carnivores, which excrete it in wastes and their own decomposing bodies.
Ecosystem
Runoff from agriculture applications of fertilizers adds large amounts of phosphorus to aquatic ecosystems; this is called _______.
Eutrophication
In the winter, a massive volume of war water form the southwestern Pacific move east.
El Nino
_______ means average weather conditions, such as temperature, humidity, wind speed, cloud cover, and rainfall, over time.
Climate
Ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by ozone and oxygen in the _______.
Upper Atmosphere
_______ warms the earth's surface and generates heat that dirves the earth's weather systems.
Radiation
The _______ differentially heats equatorial and polar regions, creating the world's major temperature zones.
Sun
Warm equatorial air rises, cools, releases its moisture, and spreads northward and southward where it descends at 30 degrees latitudes as very dry air, resulting in _______.
Deserts
_______ variations in climate result from the earth's revolution around the sun.
Seasonal
In _______ regions, organisms respond most to changes in daylength and temperature.
Temprate
_______ and _______ variations in solar heating cause ocean water to warm and cool on a vast scale.
Latitudinal
Seasonal
_______ form because of the earth's rotation, winds, variations in temperature, and distribution of land masses.
Currents
Immense circular water movements in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans influence the distribution of _______.
Ecosystems
Solar-hydrgen energy is an attractive technology because it depends on a renewable energy source - the _______.
Sun
_______ cells produce an electric current that splits water into oxygen and hydrogen gas, which can be used directly as fule or to priduce electricity.
Photovoltaic
Where winds travel faster than 7.5 meters per second, wind turbines are cost-effective producers of _______.
Electricity
_______ in the lower stratosphere aborbs most of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Ozone
Seasonal ozone thinning occurs over _______.
Antarctica
With less _______, more UV radiation reaches the earth causing more skin cancers, cataracts, and weakened immune systems.
Ozone
_______ seem to be the cause of thinning ozone.
Chlorofluorocarbons
_______ can trap pollutants close to the ground.
Theremal Inversions
_______ is gray air found in industrial cities that burn fossil fuel.
Industrial Smog
_______ is brown air found in large cities in warm climates; the key culprit is nitric oxide.
Photochemcial Smog
Burning coal in power plants produces _______.
Sulfur Dioxides
Burning fossil fuels and using nitrogen-rich fertilizers result in _______.
Nitrogen Oxides
Tiny particles of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide can fall to the earth in two forms.
1. Dry acid deposition
2. Acid Rain
Ocean water covers almost _______ of the earth's surface.
Three-Fourths
Latitudinal and seasonal variations in solar heating cause ocean water to _______ and _______ on a vast scale.
Warm
Cool
_______ tend to move from the equator to the poles, warming the air above.
Surface waters
_______ form because of the earth's rotation, winds, variations in temperature, and distribution of land masses.
Currents
Immense curcular water movements in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans influence _______ and the _______.
Climate Zones
Distribution of Ecosystems
_______ refers to physical features of a region, such as elevation.
Topography
Mountains, valleys, and other features influence _______.
Regional Climates
As the winds descend on the leeward (________) slopes, they are devoid of moisture, causing a rain shadow effect.
Eastern
_______ occur when warm winds pick up ocean moisture and release it over the cooler landmasses of Asia and Africa.
Monssons
Plants and animals shhow a great diversity from one global region to another.
Biodiversity
_______ factors determine patters of vegetation and why unrelated species may have similar adaptations.
Climatic
_______ is the study of the global distribution of species.
Biogeography
_______ realms are very broad land regions with characteristic types of plants and animals.
Biogeographic
_______ are large vegetational subdivisions including all animals and other organisms.
Biomes
_______ distribution corresponds with climate, topography, and soil type.
Biome
_______ and _______ are portions of bioms that are vulnerable to species losses and possible extinction.
Hot Spots
Ecoregions
Most _______ lie between 30 degrees norht and south latitudes.
Deserts
Annual rainfall is less than 10 centimeters.
Vegetation is scarce, but there is some diversity; day/night temperatures fluctuate widely.
Deserts
_______ is the conversion of grasslands and croplands to desert-like conditions.
Desertification
Large-scale _______ is caused by overgrazing of caggle on marginal lands.
Desertification
_______ prevail when rainfall is less than 25-60 cm.
Dry Shrublands
The climate is semiarid.
Rains occur during mild winter months; summers are long, hot, and dry; and dominant plants have tough, evergree elaves.
Dry Shrublands
_______ occur when rainfall is about 40-100 cm; there are trees but not in dense forests.
Dry Woodlands
_______ sweep across much of the interior of continents, in the zones between deserts and temperate forests.
Grasslands
Flat or rolling land, high rates of evaporation, limited rainfall, grazing or burrowing animals, and few forests.
Grasslands
Two basic types of grasslands in North America.
1. Shortgrass prairie
2. Tallgrass prairie
_______ of the American Midwest is typified by short, drought-resistant grasses that have been replaced by grains that require irrigation.
Shortgrass Prarie
_______ was origionally found in the American West where water was more plentiful.
Tallgrass Prarie
The African _______ are hot, dry and bear small bushes among the grass.
Savannas
Evergreen _______ occur between 20 degrees N and S latitude.
Broadleaf Forests
Most typeical broadleaf forests is the _______ where temperatures, rainfall, and humidity are high.
Tropical Rain Forest
Plant growth is luxuriant, with competing vines; there is incredible animal diversity.
Tropical Rain Forest
Deciduous _______ are common at temperate latitudes.
Broadleaf Forests
In the _______, many trees drop some or all of their leaves during the pronounced dry season.
Tropical Deciduous Forest
In the _______ of North America, conditions of temperature and rainfall do not favor rapid decomposition; thus, nutrints are conserved to provide fertile soil.
Temperate Deciduous Forests
They typical "tree" in _______ is some variety of evergreen cone-bearer with needlelike leaves.
Coniferous Forests
_______ are found in the cool to cold northern regions of North America, Europe, and Asia; spruce and balsam fir are dominant.
Boreal Forests
_______ Extend southward through the great mountain ranges; fir and pine dominate.
Montane Coniferous Forests
_______ grow in the sandy soil of several Atlantic and Gulf coast states.
Southern Pine Forests
_______ lies to the north of the boreal forests; it is a vast treeless plain, very cold, with low moisture.
Arctic Tundra
Arctic Tudra is characterized by _______ with prevents growth of large trees.
Permafrost
_______ occurs at high elevations in mountains throughout the world.
Alpine Tundra
_______ is a mixture of rock , mineral ions, and organic matter.
Soil
The size of the _______ can range from gravel to sand, silt, and clay.
Rock
The organic matter, in veriable stages of decomposition, is called _______.
Humus
_______ profiles are defined by the composition of soil from the surface downward.
Soil
_______ has the most humus and is the most vulnerable to weathering.
Topsoil
_______ have the best mix of sand, silt, and clay for agriculture.
Loam Topsoils
A _______ is a body of standing freshwater produced by geologic processes, as when an advanced glacier carves a basin in the earth.
Lake
The _______ zone extends from the shore to where rooted plants shop growing.
Littoral
The _______ zone includes open, sunlit waters beyond the littoral to a depth where photosynthesis is no longer significant; plankton life is abundant
Limnetic
The _______ zone is the deep, open water below the depth of light penetration; detritus sinks from the limnetic and is acted upon by decomposers.
Profundal
In _______ regions, lakes undergo changes in density and temperature.
Temperate
During the _______, warming winds cause oxygen to be carried downward and nutrients to the surface.
Spring Overturn
By midsummer, a _______ between the upper warmer layers and lower cooler layers prevents vertical warning.
Thermocline
During autumn, the upper layers cool and sink causing a _______.
Fall Overturn
_______ carve out basins, which become filled with water to form lakes.
Glaciers
_______ lakes are deep, nutrient-poor, and low in primary productivity.
Oligotrphic
_______ lakes are shallow and nutrient-rich often due to agricultural and urban runoff wastes.
Eutrophic
_______ start out as freshwater springs or seeps.
Streams
_______ are shallow, turbulent stretches where water flows swiftly over sand and rock.
Riffles
In _______, deep water flows slowly over a smooth, sandy or muddy bottom.
Pools
_______ are fast-flowing waters with a smooth surface and a bottom of bedrock or rock and sand.
Runs
_______ are partially enclosed regions where fresh and saltwater meet.
Estuaries
_______ are incredibly productive dfeeding and breeding ground for many animals.
Estuaries
Many _______ are declining because of upstream diversion of the freshwater that is necessary for their mainenance.
Estuaries
"_______" refers to forests in sheltered regions along tropical coasts.
Mangrove
teh _______ of man grove wetlands depends on the volume and flow rate of the water moving in and out with the tides.
Net Primary Productivity
The inhabitants of the _______ are alternately exposed and submerged; existence is difficult.
Intertidal-Zone
The _______ is submerged only during the highest possible lunar tide; it is sparsely populated.
Upper Littoral
The _______ is submerged during the regular tide and exposed at the lowest tide of the day.
Mid-Littoral
The _______ is exposed only during the lowest lunar tide.
Lower Littoral
_______ are wave-resistant formations that consist of accumulated remains of marine organisms.
Coral Reefs
_______ are vast underwater comlexes.
Coral Reefs
_______ live in the coral polyps, providing oxygen and recycling of nutrients.
Dinoflagellates
When coral dies, only the hardened chamber remains.
Coral Bleaching
The _______ includes all the sediments and rocky formations of the ocean bottom; its zones begin with the continental shelf and extend downward to the deep-sea trenches.
Benthic Province
The _______ includes the entire volume of ocean water and is subdivided into two zones.
Pelagic Province
The _______ consitutes the relatively shallow water over lying the continental shelves.
Neritic Zone
The _______ is the water over the ocean basins; photosynthetic activity is restricted to the surface; and deeper food webs are depndent on marine snow.
Oceanic Zone
Bits of organic matter that float downward
Marine Snow
_______ are the beginning of ocean food webs.
Phytoplankton
_______ ecosystems occur on the ocean floor.
Hydrothermal Vent
_______ is the upward movement of deep, nutrient-rich water along the margins of continents.
Upwelling
Every three two seven eyars, the warm surface waters of the western equatorial Pacific move eastward to the coasts of the South and Central America to cause "_______"
Downwelling
A phenomenon known as El Nino, which can affect weather patterns over land.
Downwellin
An _______ is defined as changes in sea surface temperatures and in the air circulation patterns in the western equatorial Pacific Ocean.
El Nino Souther Oscillation (ENSO)
_______ ENSOs, the warming waters and heavy rains move westward.
Between
_______ ENSO, prevailling winds "drag" surface waters eastward.
During
The 1997-1998 El Nino episode caused a huge decrease in the populations of ocean _______.
Photosynthesizers
Tiny curstaceans that live on phytoplankton, which increase/decrease with the warning/cooling of the ocean water.
Copepods