Oceans
One-celled autotrophic protists responsible for 70% of the oxygen on Earth
What is: phytoplankton
The phenomenon of living things becoming better adapted to their environments over time
What is: Evolution
The natural phenomenon that helps stabilize Earth's temperature
What is: Greenhouse Effect
The type of UV light that stratospheric ozone protects us from
What is: UV-B
Legislation that gives the EPA authority to regulate major air pollutants that are harmful to human health
What is: the Clean Air Act
Two effects that increased CO2 concentrations have had on oceans
What is: ocean warming and ocean acidification
The three levels of biodiversity
What is: Ecosystem, species, and genetic diversity
Direction in which biome boundaries are moving/expanding due to global warming
What is: outward from the equator
The number of O3 molecules a single atom of Cl can destroy before being removed from the stratosphere
What is: 100,000 ozone molecules
The piece of legislation responsible for the repair of the ozone hole
What is: the Montreal Protocol - an agreement that regulated the consumption & production of 100 man-made ozone depleting substance (including CFCs)
Four ecosystem services of the ocean (only two can be cultural)
What is: hydrological cycle, production of oxygen, coral reefs - biodiversity & high NPP & coastal protection, carbon sequestration, climate regulation - current distribute heat & nutrients and influence weather, food production, human water use, recreational use, aesthetics
Phenomenon that occurs when two different species living in the same territory start to fill the same ecological niche, they will compete for exactly the same resources
What is: Competitve Exclusion Principle
Name three Greenhouse gases, excluding CO2 and CH4
What is: H2O (water), N2O (nitrous oxide), O3 (ozone), CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons)
Two effects on human health that result from the loss of the ozone layer
What is: melanoma or sunburn, blindness, more photochemical smog
One international agreement related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions
What is:
Kyoto Protocol - required only developed countries to reduce emissions
the Paris Climate Agreement - recognized that climate change is a shared problem and called on all countries to set emissions targets
The acid generated in the process of ocean acdification, responsible for weakening the shells of marine life
What is: carbonic acid
An invasive species most likely fall into which of the following categories:
generalist or specialist?
small or large range of tolerance?
R-selected or K-selected?
Type I or Type III survirvorship?
What is:
Generalist
Large ROT
R-selected - fast reproduction
Type III - many offspring, little parental care, fast population spread with most dying in early life
Three sources of atmospheric pollution for the most prevalent (not necessarily most potent) greenhouse gas
What is: sources of CO2 include combustion of fossil fuels (electricity generation, transportaion, manufacturing), aerobic decomposition, cellular respiration, volcanic eruptions, tilling soil, deforestation, slash and burn agriculture, wildfires
The reason we have ozone on our planet
What is: Life! 2 billion years ago, photosynthesis provided enough oxygen that is reached the stratosphere and was converted into O3 via sunlight
A piece of legislation/agreement that protects endangered species
What is:
the Endangered Species Act - prohibits the import, export, or taking of fish and wildlife and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered species,
CITES (Convention on International Trade o Endangered Species) - ensures that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild
Two solutions to commercial fishing's destruction of oceanic ecosystems
What is: Individual transferable quotas (ITQs), Aquaculture, & Turtle Exclusion Devices (TEDs)
Three anthropogenic actions and how they have impacted biodiversity
What is:
Urban sprawl - habitat fragmentation
Agriculture - habitat destruction
Accidentatlly or purposefully introducing invasives - ecosystem/trophic collapse
Air pollution - reproductive stress for animals, stress on low ROT species, habitat fragmentation (melting of ice bridges), ocean acidification etc
Hunting, overfishing - Extinction
Monocropping, GMOs - Loss of genetic diversity
Insecticides - loss of pollinators
Pollution (like oil spills and trash) - leeches toxins, interferes with reproduction, metabolism, nervous system, etc
Four distinct problems resulting from increased global temperatures
What is: melting icecaps, glacial retreat, sea level rise, immigration/emigration, extreme weather events, economical costs associated with drought/hurricanes/tourism loss etc., harmful algal blooms, the northward spread of malaria, ocean warming, changes in animal migration partterns, habitat loss, and so many more!
The chemical process that led to the hole in the ozone layer (you need to describe at least two distinct steps).
What is: sunlight releases a Cl from a CFC, then this Cl catalyzes the conversion of O3 to O2
The six criteria pollutants of the Clean Air Act
What is: NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), O3 (ozone), SO2 (sulfur dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), Pb (lead), PM (particulate matter)