Name:______Date______Per:__
Midterm Review: Chapters 1,4,5,6, & 7
Question / Answer1. Define environmental science. / An interdisciplinary study of how the earth works, how humans are affecting the earth’s life-support systems, and how to deal with the environmental problems we face
2. What type of growth starts slowly but grows very rapidly? / Exponential (could you recognize this on a graph)
3. What term describes the amount of land needed to support a person’s lifestyle? / Ecological Footprint
4. Why is pollution prevention more sustainable than pollution clean-up? / clean-up efforts often transfer pollutants from one part of the environment to another, once pollutants are dispersed, it costs too much to reduce them to acceptable levels, it’s nearly impossible to clean-up all of the pollution in an area
5. What does it mean to live sustainably? / Protecting our resources/capital – living off our natural interest
6. What are the 4 R’s? / Reduce, reuse, recycle, refuse
7. What 3 factors does life on Earth depend on? / gravity, one way flow of energy, and cycling of matter
8. Define photosynthesis. / conversion of solar energy into chemical energy
9. List the levels of organization of life from most narrow to most broad. / organisms - populations - communities - ecosystems – biosphere
10. What term describes a community of living organisms interacting with one another and their nonliving environment? / Ecosystem
11. Define abiotic and biotic, and provide examples of each. / Abiotic – non-living factors (temp, pH, sunlight, soil)
Biotic – living factors (bacteria, plants, animals)
12. Define producer, consumer, and decomposer. / Producer – autotrophs - make their own food (photo or chemosynthesis
Consumer – heterotrophs – eat other organisms
Decomposers – recycle nutrients back into the environment (breakdown bodies of dead plants and animals)
13. Differentiate between a primary consumer and a secondary consumer. / Primary consumer is an herbivore, they feed on plants, a secondary consumer feeds on primary consumers
14. Why do most ecosystems have a maximum 4 or 5 trophic levels? / Only a small fraction of energy is transferred between each level (about 10%) most is degraded to low quality heat
15. What are the reactants (ingredients) for aerobic respirations? / Oxygen and glucose
16. What is the name for the diagram that demonstrates the complex arrangements of feeding patterns in ecosystems? / Food web
17. In an energy pyramid, where is most of the energy found (top or bottom)? What is found at the bottom? / Bottom - producers
18. What range in the range of tolerance would you find organisms thriving and reproducing? (Look at graph) / Optimum range
19. What is the hydrologic cycle? / The water cycle, the repeated movement of water from the earth to the atmosphere
20. What are the two ways in which humans have most interfered with the carbon cycle? / burning fossil fuels and removal of forests and brush.
21. What organisms carry out nitrogen fixation? / Nitrogen fixing bacteria
22. Why is phosphorus a limiting factor on land? / soils contain low levels or phosphorous limiting plant growth
23. Refining petroleum, smelting metallic minerals, and burning fossil fuels are all ways that humans are adding ______to the atmosphere? / sulfur
24. How does sulfur damage plants and animals? / When it falls to the earth as sulfuric acid in acid rain
25. How does deforestation affect the carbon cycle? / CO2 levels will increase and less water will be evaporated because transpiration will decrease
26. What is transpiration? / Evaporation of water from the leaves of plants, important part of the water cycle
27. What did Miller and Urey produce in their experiment? / Amino acids
28. Describe properties of the early atmosphere on Earth. / Anaerobic – lacked oxygen, had water vapor, ammonia, hydrogen, methane
29. What protects the Earth from damaging UV rays? / Ozone layer
30. How do fossils form and why are they important to evolutionary biologists? / Insects trapped in amber, impressions, shells, bones etc. They provide scientists with evidence of Earth’s evolutionary history
31. What term describes the process by which a population becomes better suited to its environment? / Adaptation
32. What happens to two populations of the same species if they are separated from each other for a long time? / They become increasingly different as each adapts to their own environment
33. What are homologous structures? / Structures that have the same structure yet different functions, show evidence of a common ancestor (wing of a bird, arm of a human, flipper of a whale)
34. What are vestigial structures? / Structures that no longer have an important role but may have played a role in the past (human tailbone, appendix, Gallo’s pointy ears!)
35. What term describes structures that have the same function but different physical structure? / Analogous structures
36. What is coevolution? / The process in which two or more species become more adapted over time to each other’s presence
37. What did Charles Darwin mean when he used the term “fitness”? / Ability of an organism to survive and reproduce
38. List and describe the 3 types of natural selection. / Stabilizing- the average of a trait remains the same directional- one extreme of a trait becomes the norm disruptive/diversifying- both extremes of a trait become the norm
39. Differentiate between geographic and reproductive isolation. / Geographic – physically separated (mountain, river)
Reproductive – members of isolated populations become so different in genetic makeup that they cannot produce live, fertile offspring if they are rejoined
40. What term describes a single species that has evolved into several different forms that live in different ways? / Adaptative radiation
41. List the characteristics that make life possible on Earth. / Temperature, presence of water, distance from the sun, size of the planet
42. Differentiate between a niche and a habitat. / Niche is like an occupation – it includes, its way of life, what it does, what it eats
Habitat is an address – where an organism lives
43. Differentiate between generalist and specialist species. / Generalist – have broad niches, can live in many places, and use a variety of resource (dandelions, cockroaches, humans)
Specialists – have narrow niches, live in only specific places (spotted owls, giant pandas)
44. What term describes average weather conditions over long periods of time? / Climate
45. Define greenhouse effect and list the greenhouse gases discussed in class. / the trapping of heat energy in the troposphere by certain gaseous molecules (carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, water vapor)
46. What is a microclimate and what can cause it? / Local climatic conditions that differ from the general climate of a region, can be caused by cities, mountains,
47. Describe what is meant by the term rain shadow effect. / Low prec on the leeward side of a mountain which causes dry (arid) conditions on this side
48. What are the three main types of biomes? / Grassland, desert, forest
49. What two factors determine the distribution of biomes across the world? / Temp and precipitation
50. What are some characteristics of desert plants and animals? / Plants - becoming dormant during dry periods, deep root systems, widespread, shallow root systems, spines to prevent being eaten by animals
Animals - living underground during the heat of the day, becoming dormant during periods of extreme heat or drought, having thick outer coverings to minimize water loss
51. What are some additional names of a cold forest? / Boreal, coniferous, evergreen, taiga
52. List plant and animal species for each biome, and describe how they are adapted to living in their particular biome. / Example: oak, hickory, maple = deciduous forest….
53. Which aquatic life zone is referred to as the “rainforest of the ocean” and how much of the ocean floor do they occupy? / Coral reefs, 0.2% important because: support a large variety of marine species, provide food, jobs, and building materials, protect coastlines from erosion
54. List the fresh and saltwater life zones. / Fresh: river, steam, lake, pond
Salt: ocean, estuary, coral reef
55. What zone of the ocean extends from the high tide mark to the edge of the continental shelf? / Coastal zone
56. What zone is found in the deepest part of the ocean? / Abyssal zone
57. Where does most photosynthesis occur on Earth? / Euphotic or photic zone
58. Describe the various zones found in a lake. / Littoral - nutrient-rich water near the shore
Limnetic – open, sunlit water surface layer away from the shore, produces food and oxygen
Profundal zone- deep, open water with no photosynthesis, fish adapted to cooler, darker water are found here
Benthic zone – bottom of a lake
59. Describe the nutrient contents of oligotrophic, eutropic, and mesotrophic lakes. / Oligo – poorly nourished, Low NPP (clear, blue)
Eu – well nourished, High NPP (murky)
Meso – middle(greenish in summer)
60. Differentiate between species richness and species abundance. / Richness/diversity – is the number of different species
Abundance – number of individuals of each species
61. Define the term keystone species. / Species that play a critical role in an ecosystem
62. What is the most common form of interspecific species interactions? / Competition
63. Define indicator species and describe an example of one. / species that serve as early warnings that a community or ecosystem is being damaged. Ex: birds, trout
64. What is resource partitioning? / Species with similar resource requirements can coexist because they use limited resources at different times, in different ways, in different places
65. List and describe the 5 kinds of species interactions. / Interspecific competition (-/-)
Predation (+/-)
Parasitism (+/-)
Mutualism (+/+)
Commensalism (+/0)
66. Explain why predator/prey relationships are often described as an “arms race”. / Predators get better at catching prey, prey get better at avoiding capture
67. What are some methods predators use to capture prey? / Pursuit and ambush
68. What are some methods prey use to avoid being captured? / Camouflage, warning colors, chemical warfare, mimicry, behavior
69. What term describes the ability of an ecosystem to “bounce back” after a disturbance? / Resilience
70. Differentiate and give examples of primary and secondary succession. / Primary – starts on bare rock (volcanic eruption, glacier retreating) may take several centuries to several thousands of years start with lichen and mosses
Secondary – begins on soil (forest fire)
71. What is a nonnative (or an alien or exotic) species? / Species that normally do not live in an area (accidentally or purposefully introduced), may thrive and outcompete native species due to lack of natural predators in that area (cane toads, killer bees, Burmese pythons)
72. How is intraspecific competition different from interspecific competition? / Intraspecific is between members of the same species
73. Describe the edge effect? / Differences in physical appearance at boundaries between ecosystems (example between forest and open field)
74. What is a climatogram and what data is found on one? / Graph with a double Y axis that shows average temp and precipitation (temp = line graph, precipitation = bar)