Biomes
How does the salinity differ between freshwater and saltwater biomes? Give an example of each biome.
Freshwater has a salinity of .1% and saltwater has a salinity of 3%. Examples: river or lake (freshwater), ocean (saltwater)
How does a thermocline affect a marine food web?
Thermoclines prevent water from mixing, which can limit nutrients available to food webs.
Name 2 benefits and 2 drawbacks to commercial aquaculture.
Benefits- take less space, don’t stress wild fish populations, more stable income for fishermen; Drawbacks- diseases and nutrients can pollute surrounding areas, genetic interbreeding with wild fish, puts stress on wild populations used for fish feed
Explain the existence of an oxygen sag curve after a pollution spill.
Nutrient pollution causes an algal bloom, which monopolizes the dissolved oxygen, killing fish. Downstream, the nutrients are diluted so the fish populations can recover.
Give a hypothetical example of bioaccumulation.
If a fish eats microplastics, it can absorb some of the carcinogenic chemicals into its tissues (bioaccumulation).
Name 2 types of marine areas with high productivity and 2 with low productivity.
High- estuaries, reefs, coastlines; Low- open ocean, polar regions with high thermoclines
What is the equations for net primary productivity?
Net primary productivity= gross primary productivity – cellular respiration
What were 3 consequences (economic or environmental) of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Economic- tourism and fishing industries lost billions of dollars; Environmental- thousands of plants and animals died, oil sunk to the bottom and affected benthic organisms
Provide 2 ways a waterway might be contaminated with thermal pollution.
Power plants, runoff from impervious surfaces (i.e. parking lots)
Give a hypothetical example of biomagnification.
If another fish eats fish that consume microplastics and more like it, the chemicals can be concentrated in that trophic level and more up the food chain (biomagnification).
What are the 3 requirements for an area to be considered a wetland?
Hydric soils, water present part of the year, and hydrophytic plants.
How could climate change affect the productivity of the Southern Ocean?
If the surface of the Southern Ocean warms, the thermoclines in that area could be stronger. This will prevent upwelling which eliminates nutrients available for aquatic ecosystems in that area.
What is the difference between primary microplastics and secondary microplastics?
Primary microplastics are less than 5 mm originally, while secondary microplastics are formed by the degradation of larger plastic items through erosion and weathering.
Name 2 ways sediment pollution can affect an aquatic environment.
Increases turbidity in the water which prevents sunlight from penetrating aquatic environments and can settle on benthic organisms at the bottom of the waterway.
How deep is the euphotic zone and what is unique about it?
The euphotic zone is 200 m deep and is the only layer that sunlight can penetrate.
What are 3 environmental benefits provided by wetlands?
Mediate runoff from storms, filter pollutants, act as carbon sinks
What causes coral bleaching?
When corals are stressed, they expel the mutualistic algae, causing them to appear white.
Name 2 ways microplastics might affect an organism or ecosystem.
Microplastics can fill stomachs of fish preventing nutritious feeding and can leach carcinogenic chemicals that cause birth defects or developmental and endocrine disorders.
What were the 4 methods used in class to clean up oil?(Use their real names rather than the objects you used.)
Booms, dispersants, skimmers, sorbents
Put the following in order from shallowest to deepest: aphotic zone, euphotic zone, disphotic zone
Euphotic zone, disphotic zone, aphotic zone
Name 5 properties of water quality discussed in class.
Color, pH, hardness, turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen
What colors of light penetrate the deepest into the ocean?
Blues and greens
Terrestrial ecosystems rely on a steady supply of sunlight to fuel their food chains. What do marine food chains rely on?
Nutrients from upwelling.
Provide 1 example of point-source pollution and 1 example of nonpoint-source pollution.
Point-Source:
Nonpoint-Source:
Name 2 adaptations shown by organisms that inhabit the intertidal zone. List 2 of these organisms.
They can withstand various levels of submersion or desiccation (drying out). They also attach to a substrate. Examples: sea urchins, sea stars/starfish, mussels, sea anemones.