Nitrogen Cycle
Cycles
Mitigation Strategies
Global Change
Random
Infectious Disease
100
List the five steps of Nitrogen Cycle starting with Nitrogen fixation.
1. Nitrogen fixation
2. Nitricification
3. Assimilation
4. Ammonification
5. Denitrification
100
As tundra permafrost melts, methane trapped in frozen soils is released into the atmosphere, causing additional warming. This greenhouse gas release is an example of this climate process.
What is a positive feedback loop?
100
This greenhouse gas is released in large amounts from burning fossil fuels and is the main driver of anthropogenic climate change
What is carbon dioxide (CO₂)?
100
This strategy removes carbon from the atmosphere by planting trees and restoring forests.
Reforestation
100
This type of pathogen is not considered living because it reproduces only inside host cells. And give an example
What is a virus?
HIV, MERSA, COVID-19, Influenza
200
This measurement is commonly used to evaluate the amount of oxygen required by decomposers to break down organic waste in water.
What is biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)?
200
Lightning
200
This farming practice reduces soil erosion by plowing across the slope of a hill rather than up and down. 
What is contour plowing?
200
This phenomenon occurs when corals expel zooxanthellae due to heat stress and turn white.
What is coral bleaching?
200
This atmospheric condition traps pollutants close to Earth’s
surface under a layer of warm air.
What is a thermal inversion?
200
A sudden increase in disease incidence above normal levels within a localized region is known as this.
What is an epidemic?
300
This radioactive gas produced by the natural decay of uranium in bedrock is a leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers.
What is radon?
300
This ocean layer is defined by a rapid decrease in temperature with increasing depth.
What is the thermocline?
300
This type of irrigation delivers water directly to plant roots through narrow tubes, minimizing evaporation and reducing water waste in arid regions.
What is drip irrigation?
300
Replacing forests with dark asphalt parking lots decreases Earth’s reflectivity and increases heat absorption. This change represents a decrease in this property.
What is albedo?
300
If Chemical A has an LD50 of 5 mg/kg and Chemical B has an LD50 of 50 mg/kg, this chemical is more toxic.
What is Chemical A?
300
This disinfection method is increasingly used in place of chlorine because it leaves no harmful chemical residues in treated wastewater.
What is ultraviolet (UV) radiation?
400
State the step: Incorporation of NH3 and NO3 into biological tissues
What is assimilation?
400
Burning coal releases this sulfur-containing gas that contributes directly to acid deposition in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
What is sulfur dioxide (SO₂)?
400
This farming method reduces soil erosion by leaving crop residue on fields and minimizing disturbance of the topsoil.
What is no-till farming?
400
Increased atmospheric CO₂ raises temperatures, which in turn increase plant growth and carbon uptake, partially reducing atmospheric CO₂ levels. This is an example of this type of feedback loop.
What is a negative feedback loop?
400
In a nuclear reactor, these devices absorb excess neutrons t
o regulate the rate of the fission reaction.
What are control rods?
400
This environmental factor increases the spread of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever by expanding mosquito habitat ranges.
What is climate warming (or increasing temperatures)?
500
State the step: organic nitrogen compounds to NH3
What is ammonification?
500
In a hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen combines with oxygen to produce electricity and this only direct waste product.
What is water (H₂O)?
500
Farmers planting alternating rows of crops and grasses along land contours are using this erosion-control strategy.
What is strip cropping?
500
This surface has the highest albedo and reflects the greatest percentage of incoming solar radiation.
What are ice sheets or fresh snow?
500
This acronym summarizes the major causes of biodiversity loss.
HIPPCO
500
This strategy improves energy efficiency in buildings by reducing heat transfer through walls, ceilings, and windows.
What is insulation?
600
State the step: NH3 --> NO3-
What is Nitrification?
600
This weather phenomenon occurs when cold, dry air moves across a warmer lake, picking up moisture and producing intense snowfall on the downwind side.
What is the lake effect?
600
Excessive groundwater withdrawal for agricultural irrigation can cause this geologic problem in aquifers and nearby
land surfaces
What is land subsidence?
600
Arctic sea ice melts, exposing darker ocean water that absorbs more solar radiation and accelerates additional warming. This is an example of this type of feedback loop.
What is a positive feedback loop?
600
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus entering aquatic ecosystems accelerate algal growth, ultimately leading to oxygen-depleted conditions.
What is hypoxia (or a dead zone)?
600
This emerging infectious disease category includes illnesses that transfer from animals to humans, such as avian influenza and rabies.
What are zoonotic diseases?
700
State the step: N2 --> NH3/NH4 or NO3
Nitrogen fixation
700
This type of smog forms primarily from sulfur dioxide and particulat
e matter.
What is industrial smog (or sulfurous smog)?
700
Planting trees and shrubs around crop fields to reduce wind erosion is known as this mitigation strategy.
What are windbreaks?
700
This type of smog forms when sunlight reacts with nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds to produce ground-level ozone.
What is photochemical smog?
700
This agricultural mitigation strategy helps remove accumulated salts from soil by flushing water through the root zone when adequate drainage exists.
What is soil leaching?
700
When a disease spreads globally across multiple continents and affects very large populations, it is classified as this.
What is a pandemic?
800
State the step: NO3 --> N2 in atm
Denitrification
800
Unlike the nitrogen and carbon cycles, the phosphorus cycle lacks this major component, causing phosphorus to cycle more slowly through ecosystems.
What is a significant atmospheric phase?
800
This irrigation method has the highest water loss to evaporation because water is sprayed into the air over large crop fields.
What is spray irrigation (or center-pivot irrigation)?
800
Ground-level ozone is classified as this type of pollutant because it forms through atmospheric chemical reactions rather than direct emissions.
What is a secondary pollutant?
800
During this stage of sewage treatment, microorganisms break down dissolved organic matter using aeration tanks and biological decomposition.
What is secondary treatment?
800
This public health strategy protects populations by reducing disease spread when a large percentage of individuals are vaccinated.
What is herd immunity?
900
Explain this picture: What is happening and why does it occur? Where do we find nitrogen?
N2 is not a usable form in the atmosphere, even though the atm is the largest N reservoir.
NFB or lightning break down N into a form that plants can use by changing it into NHx and then NOx. Plants can use it as NO3.
DNB turn that back into N2 to return to atm
900
This term describes reservoirs such as permafrost, peatlands, and deep ocean sediments that store carbon over long timescales but can release large quantities of CO₂ or CH₄ when disturbed or warmed.
What are long-term (or slow-cycle) carbon sinks?
900
Planting rye or clover during the off-season to reduce erosion and nutrient runoff is an example of this farming practice
What are cover crops?
900
A desert community experiences high electricity demand during the day but wants to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. This technology converts sunlight into electricity using semiconductor materials and can be installed on rooftops or in large-scale arrays.
What are photovoltaic (solar) panels?
900
List 2 problems with nuclear power
What are:
- radioactive contamination of area
- fuel rods aren't resuable; last forever
- causes thermal pollution
- people suffer from mental health streess, anxiety, caused by safety concerns
- gamma rays can mutate DNA
- nuclear meltdown (core melts through the building)
900
Low dissolved oxygen, high turbidity, and elevated ______ ___________ counts are all indicators of water polluti
on.
What are Fecal coliform counts?