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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
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What is the Benthic Zone?
p.100 |
The bottom of a body of water; inhabited by decomposers, insect larvae, and clams
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lower area of water source which collects nutients (i.e., dead animals/plant matter/decayed organisms
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What is a Biome?
p.79 |
A region that have distinctive climates and organisms and that contain many separate but similar ecosystems.
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Biome Types: Tropical Rainforest, Temperate Deciduous Forest, Taiga, Grasslands, Chapparal, Deserts, Tundra, Lakes & Ponds, Wetlands & Ocean/Marine
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What is a Canopy?
p.82 |
The top layer of a rainforest where the covering of intertwining branches absorbs most of the sunlight and shades the understory.
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Rainforest layer where the most life exists; most safe layer for organisms.
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What is a Chaparral?
p.94 |
Coastal Biome with a Mediterranean climate and low-lying vegetation. Animal species include quail, lizards, chipmunks, mule deer,et.al. which use camouflage for protection.
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Ex. area surrounding the Hollywood sign in California which has many fire resistant plants which will burn off quickly then regrow themselves.
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What is a Coral Reef?
p. 107 |
Limestone islands in the sea that are built by coral animals called polyps.
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thousands of species of planta & animals live in its cracks & crevices making it the largest living organism Ex. Great Barrier Reef of Australia
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What is a Desert?
p.95 |
Areas that receive less than 25cm (10") of precipitation a year. Two types include hot&dry or cold&dry
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Ex. Sahara, Sonora,& Gobi are classic hot & dry; cold&dry deserts include Siberia & areas near arctic/antarctic latitudes
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What is Drought Resistance?
p. 96. |
Plants ability to live through long periods of drought (little water)
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Adaptation of plants in desert by holding water, having waxy, fleshy leaves and stems, & spreading roots.
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What is Estivating?
p.96 |
The act of burying in the ground and sleeping through the dry season.
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A form of hibernation for desert animals.
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What is an Estuary?
p. 105 |
Aquatic ecosystem in which fresh water from rivers mixes with salt water from the ocean forming a nutrient trap.
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Ex. Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, et. al.
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What is the Littoral Zone?
p. 100 |
The shallow-water area near the shores of lakes and ponds where sunlight reaches the bottom.
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Area near shores where phyto- & zoo- plankton grow rapidly
with sunlight |
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What is Permafrost?
p.97 |
Permanently frozen soil a few inches below the active
soil layer in Tundra Biomes. |
a biome without tall trees north of arctic circle, dotted with bogs & swamps, thaws in summers creating swarms of insects (muskegs)
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What is Taiga?
p.88-89 |
"Boreal Forest" , the northern coniferous forest that stretches in a broad band across the northern hemisphere just below the Artic Circle.
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Climate has long winters, extreme cold (-4 deg. f.) Trees include pine, hemlock, fir, & spruce. Plants include blueberries, ferns, & mosses. Wildlife are moose, hares, wolves, caribou & reindeer.
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What is a Temperate Deciduous Forest? p.86
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Forest where trees drop their leaves ech fall, occur betw. 30 & 50 degree latitudes, extreme seasonal variation, winter below freezing, summers up to 95 degrees F.
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tall trees include maple, oak & birch
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What are Temperate Grasslands? p.92
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Biomes occurring in semi-arid interiors of continents; examples are the prairies of North America, the steppes of Russia and Ukraine, and the pampas of South America.
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Too little rain for trees to grow, rain shadow effects from mountains, cover 12% of earth' surface.
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What are Tropical Rainforests? p. 80
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Warm, wet biome that occurs in a belt around the Earth near the equator and that contains the greatest diversity of organisms on Earth.
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Humid, warm, with >100in rainfall per year, holds many key plant and animal species important in medical research. Layers consist of understory, lower canopy, upper canopy, & emergent trees. Poor soil for agriculture.
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What is a Savannah? p. 90
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A tropical grassland biome with a short rainy season.
Ex. Tanzania, Kenya etc. |
West African plains that contain the greatest collection of grazing animals on Earth and the predators that hunt them.
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What is a Tundra? p. 97
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A biome without trees, where grasses and tough shrubs grow in the frozen soil; extends from Arctic Circle to the north pole.
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most fragile biome on Earth, food chains are simple and easily disrupted, mostly undisturbed by humans until recent oil searches
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What are Wetlands? p102
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Areas of land covered with water for part of the year.
Two types are freshwater wetlands (marshes) which contain nonwoody plants and swamps containing woody plants or shrubs. |
Its vegetation traps carbon, they remove pollutants from water, grow out many game fish, help control flooding, and produce cranberries, blueberries, and peat moss.
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What is an Aquifer? p. 126
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An underground water source found in rock formations
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Made of rocks, sand , gravel with many air spaces in which water can accumulate over millions of years.
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What is Artificial Eutrophication? p. 137
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Eutrophication that occurs because of the introduction of inorganic plant nutrients into a body of water through sewage and fertilizer runoff.
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Phosphorus and nitrogen get into water from sewage amd fertilizer runoff causing excessive growth of algae creating Algal Blooms floating on water which deplete oxygen and kill fish
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What is Biological Magnification? p. 136
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Accumulation of increasingly large amounts of a toxin within the tissues of organisms at each successive trophic level.
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Ex. build up of DDT pesticides in Bald Eagles caused thinning of their eggs and reduction of numbers to almost extinction.
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What is Desalinization? p.128
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A process in which salt is removed from salt water, as from the oceans rendering the water fit for drinking and cooking.
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Extracting salt from marine water is too expensive for most communities. Alternative may be towing icebergs or floating bags of water from Alaska down the Pacific Coast to California.
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What is Groundwater? p. 126
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Water that seeps down through the ground and is stored underground on top of nonporous rock layers.
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The water table.
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What is Nonpoint Pollution?
p. 133 |
Pollution that comes from many sources rather than from a single specific site; an example is pollution that reaches a body of water from streets and storm sewers.
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Sources of N.P.P. include highway constru.& runoff, storm-water runoff from city and suburban streets, Pesticides, Fertilizer, & dry salt
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What is Point Pollution?
p. 133 |
Pollution that is discharged from a single source, such as a factory, wastewater treatment plant, or oil tankers.
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P.P. Sources: septic tank systems, storage lagoons, municiapal landfills, underground storage tanks (gasoline) , public & indus. wastewater treatment plants.
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What is the Recharge Zone?
p. 127 |
Area of land on the Earth's skurface from which groundwater originates.
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fed by several aquifers in the U.S.
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What is Surface Water?
p. 123 |
Freshwater above ground in lakes, ponds, rivers, & streams.
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77% is frozen in icecaps. 97% of all water is salt water & 3% freshwater.
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What is Thermal Pollution?
p. 137 |
The addition of excessive amounts of heat to a body water such as runoff from industrial cooling systems.
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Kills animals in a water ecosystem due to temperature changes.
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What is Water Pollution?
p. 131 |
The introduction of foreign substances into water that degrade its quality, limit its use, and affect organisms in it or drinking it.
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Congressional Legislations for water purification: 1972 Clean Water Act & Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, 1975 Safe Drinking Water Act, 1980 - Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation & Liability Act & 1987 Water Quality Act
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What is a Watershed? p. 123
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The entire area of land that is drained by a river.
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Ex. The Mississippi River drains the entire center of the U.S.A. betw. Canada & Louisiana = 1000s of sq. km.
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