Solar Energy & Convection
What is the main source of energy that drives ocean currents?
What is the sun?
What are the two main types of ocean currents?
What are surface currents and deep ocean currents?
What causes global wind patterns?
What is uneven heating of Earth?
What is extinction?
When all members of a species die.
What 1973 law protects endangered species in the United States?
What is the Endangered Species Act?
What type of heat transfer causes warm air to rise and cool air to sink?
What is convection?
What causes surface currents to move?
What is wind?
What is the apparent bending of wind due to Earth’s rotation called?
What is the Coriolis effect?
What is the main modern cause of extinction?
What is habitat loss (deforestation)?
What does habitat fragmentation mean?
When a habitat is divided into smaller separated parts.
Why does the equator receive more direct solar energy than the poles?
Because the Sun’s rays hit at a more direct (90°) angle.
What is the name of the deep ocean current system that moves water around the globe?
What is thermohaline circulation? (Also known as the Global Ocean Conveyor Belt.)
In which direction do winds curve in the Northern Hemisphere?
To the right.
What bird went extinct after humans introduced invasive species to Mauritius?
What is the Dodo?
What U.S. agency enforces the Endangered Species Act?
What is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?
What two factors affect water density in the ocean?
What are temperature and salinity?
What famous current moves warm water from the tropics toward Europe?
What is the Gulf Stream?
In which direction do winds curve in the Southern Hemisphere?
To the left.
What bird was hunted to extinction despite once flying in flocks of millions?
What is the Passenger Pigeon?
What is one method used to restore endangered species populations?
Captive breeding and releasing into the wild (or reintroduction).
Why does cold, salty water sink in the ocean?
Because it is more dense than warm or fresh water.
Besides moving water, what else do deep ocean currents transport?
What are nutrients and oxygen?
Why doesn’t air move in a straight north-south path?
Because Earth rotates, causing the Coriolis effect.
What is the difference between endangered and threatened species?
Endangered = near extinction; Threatened = likely to become endangered soon.
Why does habitat management require more than just protecting land? Name two things a protected habitat must include for a species to survive.
What are an appropriate food source, a clean water source, and the right variety of organisms (a balanced ecosystem)?