Ecology Test 2: Chapter 30

Front 1

What are three ways that humans can alter Earth's climate?

Back 1

technology/industry pollution

large human population

high demand for resources

Front 2

What is the main factor that influences Earth's climate?

Back 2

movement of Earth on its axis and in its orbit around the sun

Front 3

What are the 3 parts to the Milankovitch Cycles?

Back 3

Axial tilt (obliquity) - the amount of tilt in Earth's rotation affects the amount of sunlight striking the different parts of the globe

Orbital shape (eccentricity) - the shape of the Earth's orbit varies in time between nearly circular and mildly elliptical

Axial precession - the trend in the direction of the Earth's axis of rotation relevant to the fixed stars, with a period of roughly 26,000 years

Front 4

How do we know what the Earth's temperature was thousands (or millions) of years ago?

Back 4

polar ice cores

lake and ocean sediment cores

tree rings, corals, pollen

Front 5

What is the term that describes individual pulses of cold climate?

Back 5

glacial periods

Front 6

What is the term that describes intermittent warm periods?

Back 6

interglacials

Front 7

What is the term that describes the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres?

Back 7

ice age

Front 8

What absorb thermal radiation emitted by the Earth's surface and atmosphere?

Back 8

greenhouse gases

Front 9

What energy acts to warm the surface and the lower atmosphere, rather than allow the heat to escape into space?

Back 9

greenhouse gases

Front 10

What describes the scenario in which average surface air temperature of the Earth is 30 degrees higher than it would be without the absorption and re-radiation of thermal energy?

Back 10

greenhouse effect

Front 11

Describe the greenhouse effect.

Back 11

Heat is trapped near the Earth's surface by greenhouse gases.

Front 12

What are the main greenhouse gases?

Back 12

water vapor (H2O)

carbon dioxide (CO2)

methane (CH4)

ozone (O3)

nitrous oxide (N2O)

CFC's

Front 13

Greenhouse gases radiate some of the heat they absorb back to _______ ________.

Back 13

earth's surface

Front 14

The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased by more than ___% over the past 100 years.

Back 14

25

Front 15

What caused the atmospheric concentration of CO2 to begin exponentially rising?

Back 15

the onset of the Industrial Revolution (combustion of fossil fuels)

Front 16

What describes the longest continuous direct measurement of atmospheric CO2?

Back 16

Keeling Curve

Front 17

What is the number one anthropogenic (human) source of atmospheric CO2?

Back 17

burning of fossil fuels for heating, power generation, transportation, etc.

Front 18

What is the number two anthropogenic (human) source of atmospheric CO2?

Back 18

deforestation

Front 19

By how much has Earth's average temperature increased over the past 100 years?

Back 19

0.74 degrees Celsius

Front 20

What is very likely the cause of the earth's rising average temperature?

Back 20

observed changes in greenhouse gases (especially CO2 concentrations)

Front 21

The __________ and __________ of animals are directly related to features of the climate.

Back 21

distribution; abundance

Front 22

Global warming would raise sea level and thus affect which environments?

Back 22

coastal environments

Front 23

What is the increase in rate of photosynthesis because of higher rates of diffusion of CO2 from the atmosphere into the leaf?

Back 23

fertilization effect