Go With the Flow: Cycles
This process in the water cycle turns liquid water into vapor that rises into the atmosphere.
What is evaporation?
The sphere that includes all water on Earth, including rivers, lakes, and oceans.
What is the hydrosphere?
This term describes an excessive growth of algae caused by too many nutrients in the water.
What is an algal bloom?
This ocean-atmosphere event is known as the “little boy” and brings warm water to the eastern Pacific.
What is El Niño?
This process brings cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface, fueling marine productivity.
What is upwelling?
This nutrient cycle uses the following processes to move through Earth's Spheres; photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition.
What is the carbon cycle?
Coral reefs form on hard substrate such as rock. Which three spheres are interacting?
What are the biosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere?
Algal blooms block ________, causing underwater plants to die.
What is sunlight?
This “little girl” event strengthens trade winds and increases upwelling in the eastern Pacific.
What is La Niña?
These nonliving parts of an ecosystem—like sunlight, temperature, and salinity—help determine what organisms can survive there.
What are abiotic factors?
Lightning and bacteria are both capable of performing this step that makes nitrogen usable for plants.
What is nitrogen fixation?
When volcanic eruptions release gases that affect rainfall, these two spheres are interacting.
What are the geosphere and atmosphere?
The process where bacteria use up oxygen as they decompose dead algae leads to this condition.
What is hypoxia (or low dissolved oxygen)?
These massive rotating storms form over warm ocean water and can cause coastal devastation.
What are hurricanes?
This term describes dead organic matter such as decaying plants and animals that provide energy for decomposers.
What is detritus?
When too much runoff enters aquatic systems, this element from fertilizers fuels algal blooms.
What is nitrogen (or nitrates)?
Hurricanes demonstrate the connection between these two spheres as warm ocean water fuels powerful storms.
What are the hydrosphere and atmosphere?
Eutrophication can lead to these large, uninhabitable areas knows as ?
What are dead zones?
The global conveyor belt is powered by differences in these two water properties.
What are temperature and salinity?
This type of consumer eats only plants or algae in an aquatic food web.
What is an herbivore?
The exchange of gases between the atmosphere and the ocean helps regulate (control) this essential greenhouse gas.
What is carbon dioxide?
Runoff carrying soil and nutrients into the ocean is an example of this multi-sphere interaction that can trigger eutrophication.These spheres are interacting during a this event.
What is the geosphere–hydrosphere–biosphere interaction?
The two nutrients most responsible for eutrophication and where they are commonly found.
What are nitrogen and phosphorus in fertilizer?
Weak trade winds and warm ocean currents disrupts normal ________ along the South American coast, reducing nutrients and harming marine life.
What is upwelling?
This step of the water cycle occurs when condensed water in clouds falls back to Earth as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
What is precipitation?