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6 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is spatial ecology?
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“Spatial ecology is a specialization of ecology that is concerned with the spatial or geographic relationships of ecological phenomena.”
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How does grazing affect seagrass ecosystems?
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- Grazing green turtles had a large effect on structure and productivity of seagrass beds: cropping blades inhibits epiphytic organisms. Parasitic protist Labyrinthula causes wasting disease. Also, fish and sea urchins can’t digest cellulose, so nutrients are not recycled.
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How might climate change affect coral reefs?
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Changes in ocean chemistry due to increases in CO2 may “weaken coral skeletons and reduce accretion.”
Frequency of hurricanes may also increase – reducing recovery time between storms. Coral bleaching |
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How can marine parks mitigate the impacts of climate change?
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Parks do not prevent or warming or bleaching BUT they can greatly increase resilience (e.g. by increasing herbivory, decreasing nutrients).
Thus, “climate change is a global issue” but local efforts can increase reef resilience and reduce its effects. |
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How has coral cover changed over the past 30 years?
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80% decline over the past 30 years (from 50% - 10% cover).
Gardner et al. 2003. Long-term region-wide declines in Caribbean corals. Science. |
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What is responsible for reef declines observed to date?
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“No evidence yet that global stressors (e.g. temperature-induced bleaching and reduced rates of carbonation via enhanced levels of atmospheric CO2] are responsible for these recent coral declines. More likely, local factors originating both naturally e.g. disease, storms, temperature stress, predation) and anthropogenically (e.g. overfishing, sedimentation, eutrophication, habitat destruction) are occurring on Caribbean wide scales.”
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