Causes of Climate Change
This type of gas traps heat in Earth's atmosphere and contributes to the _______ effect.
What is greenhouse gas?
This type of forest has shifted from absorbing carbon to releasing it due to climate change
What is Boreal forests?
What is one major cause of changes in ocean currents due to global warming?
The melting of polar ice caps adding freshwater to the ocean
What is phenology the study of?
The timing of biological events and their relationship with seasonal and environmental factors
This process involves planting trees on previously non-forested land to capture and store carbon dioxide
What is afforestation?
This greenhouse gas is released by livestock, rice paddies, landfills, and fossil fuel extraction, and is more potent than CO₂ in trapping heat.
What is methane (CH₄)?
How do rising temperatures contribute to coral bleaching?
They stress corals and cause them to expel their symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae), depriving them of energy.
Why is nutrient upwelling important for marine life?
It brings nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron to the surface, supporting phytoplankton and the marine food web
What two major environmental cues influence the timing of phenological events like flowering and migration
What is Photoperiod (day length) and temperature?
Which part of the tree stores carbon absorbed during photosynthesis?
What are the leaves, trunks, and roots?
This gas is released from burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees, making it the most well-known anthropogenic greenhouse gas.
What is carbon dioxide (CO₂)?
How does the loss of sea ice affect walrus populations?
It forces them to use less optimal habitats, disrupting natural behavior and threatening survival.
What is one consequence of warmer ocean surface temperatures on nutrient upwelling?
It prevents nutrient rich water from rising, reducing food for organisms like phytoplankton
Why are reindeer in the Arctic at risk of food shortages due to climate change?
The chickweed they feed on grows earlier due to rising temperatures, but reindeer migration is triggered by photoperiod and doesn't shift, causing a mismatch.
This type of wetlands are restored to re-establish waterlogged conditions that slow down organic matter decomposition and store carbon
What are peat-forming wetlands?
This process occurs when warming oceans release stored carbon dioxide, increasing atmospheric CO₂ and further warming the planet.
What is CO₂ outgassing from oceans?
Explain how melting landfast and sea ice show a polar habitat change due to climate change.
These losses disturb the ecological balance, threatening species that rely on stable ice and signaling widespread environmental transformation in polar ecosystems.
What are poleward and upslope range shifts, and what causes them?
The movements of species toward cooler latitudes or higher altitudes due to rising temperatures
How has climate change driven evolutionary change in tawny owl coloration, and why?
Less snowfall has made brown owls more camouflaged than grey ones, increasing their survival and reproductive success (an example of natural selection)
After a wildfire or logging, what natural process can help forests recover and continue storing carbon?
What is forest regeneration?
This process occurs when warmer temps speed up decay, releasing CO₂ and methane.
What is Peat decomposition?
Why is the collapse of coral reef ecosystems considered a potential tipping point?
Because corals provide the structure and support for diverse marine life, and their loss can lead to the breakdown of entire reef ecosystems.
How does climate change simultaneously cause range contraction and northward spread in North American tree species?
Rising temperatures make southern ranges too hot and dry, while northern regions become more suitable, leading to shrinking southern populations and expansion in the north
How does the spruce bark beetle population benefit from climate change, and what ecological risks does this pose?
Warmer temperatures accelerate their life cycle, allowing more generations per year. This leads to mass tree deaths, reducing carbon sequestration and damaging forest ecosystems
What is the main difference between afforestation and forest regeneration?
Afforestation grows new forests on land that was not previously forested, while forest regeneration regrows tree cover on land where forests were partially or totally lost.