Biosphere
What is a "producer" in the biosphere? Please give an example.
A producer is a living thing that takes its energy from the sun. Examples: Plants.
What is the layer of the atmosphere that WE live in?
Troposphere
Is MOST water on the planet (in terms of gallons) solid, liquid or gas?
Liquid (96.5%)
True or false: The Geosphere encompasses rocks underground AND rocks above ground.
True
There is a large tropical storm headed towards the Philippines. Scientists want to know how much water will fall over the course of four days. Which sphere would they want to study to get their answer?
Atmosphere (this is a weather phenomenon)
Hydrosphere (this is a water phenomenon)
Give an example of a "Food Chain"
A plant is eaten by a smaller animal, that smaller animal is eaten by a larger animal, that larger animal is eaten by a larger animal, etc.
What is one weather measurement (besides temperature) that scientists use to understand the atmosphere?
Examples: Humidity, wind speed, barometric pressure, etc.
Water can transform from gas -> liquid -> solid
Water can also transform from solid -> liquid -> gas
What are we adding or taking away from the water to go through this transformation?
Heat
What is the plate called that Hawaii sits on?
Pacific Plate
In the hills of Oahu there is a population of 231 wild boar. Farmers are not very happy with the Boar population. Besides the biosphere, name one of the 3 remaining systems and how it effects the Boar population?
Atmosphere - If the island has not experienced a lot of rainfall, boars will have less resources available to them.
Hydrosphere - Provides water for the boar to drink and cleans it and recycles it. This is an essential ingredient to keep the animal alive.
Geosphere - 2 things: If the hills that contain the boars have any landslides, those can disrupt habitat and destroy important plants they eat. Also, the geosphere encompasses the water that the mountains bring up from the ground.
Can you name 3 of the 5 essential ingredients in the Biosphere?
Sunlight, Water, Oxygen, Carbon and Nitrogen
What is the name of two of the layers of the atmosphere?
Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Thermosphere, Exosphere
What percentage of water is IN the ocean? AND what percentage of water is out of the ocean?
97% is in the ocean. 3% is not.
What are the three types of rocks in the geosphere that we talked about in class?
Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic
On Maui, near Hana, there is a small population of Baird sandpipers that eat fish in the shallows. One day, a farmer walks out and finds several sandpipers dead on the beach with no marks on their body. What might have gone wrong in the biosphere that could have caused this?
1. The fish species might have changed (pandemic, pollution, etc.)
2. The sandpipers may have eaten pollution that was discarded by humans.
3. The sandpipers might have had a pandemic
Thinker: A major city in a tropical island chain keeps flooding due to heavy rains and a poor drainage system. A student discovers its due to heavy amounts of greenery from the forest that gets swept downstream. What would be a good solution the city could consider to stop this?
Example answers (but I'll decide if you're right wahahaha): Trim the upstream forest to reduce foliage, reroute the water away from rainforest areas, etc.
Thinker: If the atmosphere were thicker (it blocks MORE sunlight) what do you think would be the effects on earth? You need to name at least 3 effects you believe would happen.
Cooler weather, plants would start to die, animals would start to die, solar radiation would be reduced, the water cycle would be interrupted, etc.
Thinker: What are 3 different ways water is cleaned (natural or unnatural)?
1. The water cycle
2. Filtering through nature (dirt, trees, etc.)
3. Artificial Water Filters (at home)
4. A water processing facility
Thinker: Pangea was when all of the countries of the world were in one place. What caused them to separate?
Over time, the plates that held the continents broke apart and spread the continents into their designated shape.
Thinker: Let's say you're assigned a task. Wai Kai has closed. Your job is to restore the area along the coast to get it back to its "Natural State". What sorts of modifications might you do to restore the natural systems in the area?
1. Clear the rocks around the area and allow the water to reclaim the area (restoring hydrological cycle)
2. Plant some new plants along the shore to restore wildlife (restoring biosphere).
3. Clean up garbage left over from the park (restoring biosphere)
IF YOU HAVE A GOOD IDEA BESIDES THESE...I WILL CONSIDER.
Research: (you have 2 minutes) Name three species that are part of the biosphere of Antarctica.
Examples: seals, penguins, whales, lichen, mosses, etc.
Research: (2 minutes) Which layer contains the ozone? How does it help us as humans?
Layer: Stratosphere
Job: Absorbs most of the UV (ultraviolet) rays before they hit the ground. This causes reductions in sunburn, cataracts, skin cancer, and damage to organic life.
Research: (2 minutes) What is the primary cycle that moves water around the hydrosphere and cleans it? Please describe the system.
This is called "The Water Cycle" or "The Hydrological Cycle". This cycle needs to be described as a circle. It starts with standing water (ocean), the water is evaporated, carried over land and rained upon the land. That water is then evaporated later.
Research: (1 minute) Describe why Hawaii's island are in a line AND how they formed. Hint: it's not on the edge of a plate.
Hawaii sits on a "hot spot" on the pacific plate. The islands are shaped in a line because as the plate moves, the hot spot erupts in different places.
Research (1 minute): Look up the case study, "Red Hill" on Oahu. What happened? Explain how it effected each system.
Biosphere: Humans did not have clean water.
Hydrosphere: The run off effected underground aquifers. Effected freshwater availability
Atmosphere: jet fuel evaporated into the atmosphere.
Geosphere: The basalt rock allowed the disaster to spread quickly because it is porous. Soil chemistry in the area also changed and that stopped plants from growing.