Group 2: 10 Things To Know About…
In pairs, look through your brains, notebooks, notes, etc. to come up with “10 things to know” about each
of the following topics. Be specific, but concise.
Instructions: Pairs will be assigned topics (in bullet points). Under each bullet point, pairs are to come up
with ten key concepts, facts, statistics, etc. that if anything, people should know about these topics.
*Number list the ten things under each topic*
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The water cycle
1. collects, purifies, distributes, and recycles water
2. powered by solar energy and gravity (precipitation)
3. precipitation can be stored as ice, aquifers; or becomes runoff
4. vast global cycle, renewable resource
5. Stages: (1) Evaporation (2) Condensation (3) Precipitation (4) Infiltration (5)
Percolation (6) Ground movement OR (4) Surface runoff (7) or (5) Transpiration
6. Humans affect the Water Cycle by withdrawing large amounts from the freshwater
reservoir, especially for irrigation
7. Also affect the water cycle by clearing vegetation for farmland, which increases
runoff and reduces infiltration, increases flooding, and accelerates soil erosion and
landslides
8. Human activity adds nutrients, and pollutants to the water
9. Human activity also speeds up the cycle as a result of a warmer climate
10. Significance: natural purifier of water, renewer of water quality
The carbon cycle
1. Overview: combustion, respiration, photosynthesis, diffusion, sedimentation, dissolve
carbonate compounds
2. Carbon is an idle key component in nature’s thermostat. If too much is removed, the
atmosphere will cool. If there is an excess of carbon, the temperature will be warmer.
3. Plants remove CO2 from the atmosphere and the water. They utilize photosynthesis
in order to convert carbon dioxide into sugars that they can use as energy to produce
oxygen.
4. Aerobic respiration is the opposite process - animals take in oxygen and release
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when they exhale.
5. Some carbon atoms take millions of years to recycle - they are compressed between
layers of sediment and form fossil fuels.
6. Carbon in fossil fuels can be released into the atmosphere when it is burned through
processes in factories and used in fueling cars.
7. Oceans play an important role in recycling carbon. Atmospheric CO2 can dissolve in
the water and photosynthetic aquatic producers take in CO2. This also works in reverse,
as when ocean water is warmer, dissolved carbon dioxide returns to the atmosphere.
8. Some oceanic organisms build their shells by utilizing dissolved CO2 molecules to
form carbonate compounds (ex calcium). When the organisms die, their shells become
part of the ocean sediment and eventually become limestone rock.
9. Increased concentrations of CO2 will lead to a larger greenhouse effect. This
contributes to the global warming crisis.
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10. We disrupt the carbon cycle by clearing trees. This releases carbon by burning fossil
fuels necessary for moving equipment and kill trees which naturally convert CO2 to O2.
Nitrogen and phosphorus cycle
1. Nitrogen is a component in proteins, vitamins, and even DNA.
2. Cow manure adds nitrates into the soil and dying animals add nitrogen to the szczxoil
through ammonification.
3. Fertilizers add NO3 to the soil which then gets into the water cycle through runoff.
4. Plants pick up nitrates in the soil as well as storing atmospheric nitrogen, they return
some of the nitrogen through excretion back into the atmosphere.
5. Lightning fixes nitrogen back into the soil, but nitrogen fixing bacteria stores most of
the nitrogen.
6. Phosphorous with the atomic number 15 is a highly reactive, a key component in
proteins, and runs into the water.
7. Animals get their phosphorous from eating plants, plants get it from the soil, and their
excretion transfers the phosphorous into the soil.
8. Phosphorous is very slow in human terms and takes very long to erode from the land.
This erosion is carried in water and if it is not absorbed into the soil, goes into the water
supply.
9. Sedimentary rock takes up quite a bit of phosphorus and stores it for long periods of
times in rock beds. The phosphorus in the water pollutes the ecosystem and only leaves
through marine sediment going into the soil and through plant uptake. Fish also excrete
phosphorus through waste.
10. Phosphorus is a limitting factor for plant growth and humans affect the cycle by
adding it to the soil through fertilizers, by mining, and runoff of waste.
Oceans
1. Saltwater and freshwater aquatic zones cover almost 3/4s of the earth’s surface
2. Life in most aquatic systems is found in surface, middle, and bottom layers.
Important environmental factors that determine the types and numbers of
organisms found in the layers are: temperature, access to sunlight for
photosynthesis, dissolved oxygen content, and availability of nutrients.
3. We should care about the oceans because they occupy most of the Earth’s
surface and provide many ecological and economic services.
4. We know more about the surface of the moon than the oceans.
5. The coastal zone makes up less than 10% of the world’s ocean area, but
contains 90% of all marine species. It is the warm, nutrient-rich, shallow water
that extends from the high-tide mark to the continental shelf.
6. The coastal zone has numerous interactions with the land so human activities
easily affect it.
7. Most ecosystems found in the coastal zone have a high NPP thanks to the zones
ample supply of sunlight and plant nutrients that flow from land and are
distributed by tidal flows and ocean currents.
8. Organisms experiencing daily low and high tides have evolved a number of ways
to survive under harsh and changing conditions.
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9. Biologically diverse and productive coral reefs are being stressed by human
activities.
10. In the open sea, the euphotic zone is the brightly lit upper zone where floating
and drifting phytoplankton carry out photosynthesis. The bathyal zone is the
dimly lit middle zone. The lowest zone, called the abyssal zone, is dark and very
cold and has little dissolved oxygen.
Lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands
1. Lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands contain freshwater.
2. Types of Lakes and Characteristics
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Oligotrophic- poorly nourished
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Mesotrophic- medium nourished
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Eutorophic- very nourished
3. Areas in a River and Stream and Characteristics
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Source Zone- high gradient, high DO
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Recharge Zone- smaller gradient, medium
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Floodplain Zone- little gradient, slow
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River Delta- mixture of salt and fresh, nutrient rich
4. River and Stream Loads
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Suspended Load- load carried on top
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Dissolved Load- middle load
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Bed Load- load on bottom of river
5. Layers of Lakes and Characteristics
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Epilimnion- top layer
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Thermocline- temperature change
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Hypolimnion- bottom layer
6. Stream’s and River’s Flow Controls
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Precipitation- more rain = faster river
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Gradient- higher gradient = faster river
7. Wetlands
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Lands covered with water for part of the year
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Examples: Swamps, Marshes, Bogs. Fens. Mangrove Forests
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Why Are They Important?
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Buffer against hurricanes
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Erosion control
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Water Storage
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Habitat
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Filter for toxins
8. Watersheds- land area that feeds a river
9. Groundwater terms to know
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Aquifer (Confined and Unconfined)
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Aquitard
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Zone of Saturation
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Zone of Aeration
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Recharge Zone
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Water Table
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Cone of Depression
10. Groundwater is not renewable!
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Endangered Species
1. Definition: so few individual survivors, may soon become extinct in all or most
of its natural range
2.Why do they need to be protected: (1) ecological services (2) economic
services (3) bioprospecting
3. Reasons for loss of biodiversity, endangered species:
H abitat loss or fragmentation
I nvasive species
P population growth (of the human variety)
P ollution
O verexploitation
4. Characteristics of species vulnerable to extinction: (1) rare (2) need to roam
(3) low reproductive capacity/k-selective species (4) specialized niche (5) valuable to
humans
5. Why birds are so important, why it matters when they are endangered:
indicator species -- live in every biome and climate, easy to track, and respond quickly to
change
6. Human causes of premature extinction: population growth and increase of
affluenza. Also, increased pollution, and increased damage through biomagnification
7. Humans are speeding up climate change at a rate that may be too fast for
ecosystems to handle
8. Overexploitation of resources and endangered species by humans, largely due
to poverty (i.e. bushmeat)
9. Local extinction is bad because affects other species through food web,
therefore affects global ecosystem and economy
10. Loss of genetic diversity, causes species to be more susceptible to diseases
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Ecosystems: Energy flow, trophic roles, productivity
1. Energy flows through ecosystems through food chains and webs
2. Food Chain- a sequence of organisms of which each is a source of food for
the next
3. Food Web- a complex network of interconnected food chains
4. Each organism in an ecosystem has a feeding or trophic level:
-1st trophic level-Producers
-2nd trophic level-Primary consumers (herbivores)
-3rd trophic level-Secondary consumers (carnivores)
-All trophic levels-Detrivores and decomposers
5. Biomass-the dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organisms
6. As the trophic levels increase, the biomass or energy available in that trophic
level decreases
7. Pyramid of energy flow-90% energy loss with each transfer of energy between
trophic levels.
8. Gross primary productivity (GPP)-the rate at which an ecosystems producers
convert solar energy into chemical energy as biomass.
9. Net primary productivity (NPP)-the rate at which producers use photosynthesis
to store energy minus the rate at which they use some of this energy through
respiration (NPP=GPP-R)
10. NPP ultimately limits the under of consumers that can survive on the earth.
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Ecosystems: succession, biodiversity, island biogeography
1. Primary succession-involves the gradual establishment of various biotic
communities in lifeless areas where there is no soil.
2. Pioneer or really successional species such as lichens and mosses attach
themselves into patches of bare rock and begin creating soil.
3. Mid successional plant species (herbs, grasses and low shrubs) arrives when
soil is deep and fertile enough to store moisture and nutrients
4. Late successional plant species (trees) are the last species that can thrive
5. Secondary succession-a series of communities with different species develop
in places containing soil and bedrock.
6. Biodiversity-the degree of variation of life
7. Island Biogeography-examines the factors that affect the species richness of
isolated natural communities.
8. The theory of island biogeography (species equilibrium model)- the number of
different species found on an island is determined by a balance between two
factors, the rate at which new species immigrate to the island and the rate at
which existing species become extinct on the island.
9. At some point the rates of immigration and extinction should reach the
equilibrium point that determines the islands number of different species.
10. Size and distance from the nearest mainland are two factors that affect
immigration and extinction rates and thus a species biodiversity.
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Human population growth
1. Exponential growth is a concept in which a quantity increases at a fixed
percentage per unit of time such as 2% per year. It starts slow, but grows to
enormous numbers. This is how the human population is currently growing.
2.We have kept the human population growing by expanding into ecosystems
throughout the world and using technological innovations to expand the food
supply and lower death rate.
3. For most of history, the human population grew slowly, but for the past 200
years, the human population has experience rapid exponential growth, reflected
in the characteristic “j-curve”.
4. The rate of population growth has slowed, but is still growing rapidly.
5. Population increases because of birth and immigration and decreases through
death and emigration.
6. Fertility is the number of children born to woman during her lifetime.
Replacement level fertility is the number of children a couple must bear to
replace themselves. Total fertility rate is the average number of children a
woman typically has during her reproductive years.
7. The period of high birth rates between 1946-1964 is known as the “baby
boom” period. This added 79 million people to the US population.
8. the number of children women have is affected by the cost of raising and
educating children, the availability of pensions, urbanization, educational and
employment opportunities for women, infant deaths, marriage age, and
availability of contraceptives and abortions.
9. Detah rates have declined because of increased food supplies, better nutrition,
advances in medicine, and improved sanitation.
10. We do not know how long we can continue increasing the earth’s carrying
capacity for humans.
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Agricultural production
1. Two types of agricultural production: (1) traditional agriculture (2) industrialized,
high-input agriculture
2. agribusiness: when giant, multinational corporations increasingly control the
growing, processing, distribution, and sale of food in the US and global
marketplace
Energy flow
1. 10% of all biomass is converted as one moves up a trophic level.
2. The primary source of energy is the sun.
3. Energy enters living systems as a result of photosynthesis by plants and some
bacteria and protists.
4. Less than 4% of the incident sunlight is captured. More than half of the energy
captured by plants is used in respiration for maintenance.
5. There are 2 types of organisms that have direct access to the energy in plant
tissues: herbivores (feed on the plant while it is alive) and decomposers (feed on
the plant after it is dead).
6. In most ecosystems, most energy goes to the decomposers.
7. Herbivores use almost all of their energy intake on respiration for body
maintenance; the rest goes to herbivore biomass.
8. Much of the energy in herbivore biomass is taken by carnivores, such as
wolves, while some goes to decomposers.
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9. Almost all of the energy taken in by carnivores goes to maintenance. The
decomposers, which receive most of the plant energy, use up over half of it in
maintenance.
10. The rest may be locked up in soil organic material or taken by organisms that
feed on decomposers.
Genetic engineering
Evolution and Speciation
Climate and biomes
1. Climate is a region’s general pattern of atmospheric or weather conditions over a
long time.
2. Climate is determined by average temperature and average precipitation as well
as latitude and elevation.
3. Global air circulation patterns are determined by the uneven heating of earth’s
surface by sun, seasonal changes in temperature and precipitation, rotation of
earth on its axis, and properties of air, water, and land.
4. Convection cells are when moist, warm air rises and cools and the cool, dry air
sinks. This creates biomes.
5. The greenhouse effect is sped up by the burning of fossil fuels, clearing forests,
and growing crops.
6. A rain shadow is when moist air from the coast cools and expands as it passes
over a mountain range and loses its moisture as rain/snow on the windward
slopes.
7. A desert is when evaporation exceeds precipitation; adaptation are to beat the
heat and use every drop of water.
8. A grassland/chaparral is too moist for deserts and too dry for forests; grazing
animals.
9. A forest is an undisturbed area with high average annual precipitation; high
biodiversity; most disturbed biome.
10. A mountain is considered an island of biodiversity.
Population ecology
1. Population dynamics: a study of how and why populations change in their
distribution, numbers, age structures, age structure and density in response to
changes in environmental conditions
2. · Environmental resistance: all factors that limit the growth of a population
3. · Population density: the number of individuals in a population found in a
particular area or volume
4. · A survivorship curve shows the percentages of the members of a population
surviving at different ages
5. · The intrinsic rate of increase (r) is the rate at which a population would grow if
it had unlimited resources
6. · Carrying capacity (K): the maximum population of a given species that a
particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without degrading the habitat
7. · With ample resources, a population can grow rapidly, but as resources
become limited, its growth rate slows and levels off.
8. · Exponential (geometric) growth starts slowly but then accelerates as the
population increases because the base size of the population is increasing
9. · Logistic growth involves rapid exponential growth followed by a steady
decrease in population growth with time until the population size levels off
10. · While some species have a large number of small offspring and give them
little parental care, other species have a few larger offspring and take care of
them until they can reproduce
● Forests and grasslands
1. Forests are used for ecological services (energy flow/chemical cycling, reduces
soil erosion, absorbs and releases water, influences local and regional climate,
purifies water and air) and for economic services (fuelwood, lumber, pulp to
make paper, mining, livestock grazing, recreation, jobs).
2. An old-growth forest has not been seriously disturbed for at least several
hundred years.
3. A second-growth forest develops after the trees in the area have been removed
by either human activities or natural forces.
4. A tree plantation is a managed tract with uniformly aged trees that are harvested
and replanted in a cycle.
5. Selective cutting can be helpful in making more space for other trees to grow, but
creaming (removing all of the largest trees at once) can lead to loss of
biodiversity.
6. Clear-cutting yields higher timber in the shortest amount of time but reduces
biodiversity and destroys habitats, ecosystem processes, and increases water
pollution and erosion.
7. Strip cutting allows more sustainable timber yield without widespread destruction.
8. The first type of forest fire is a surface fire (burns leaf litter and can have
ecological benefits). The second type are crown fires (extremely hot and widely
destructive; leap from treetop to treetop). The third are ground fires (difficult to
detect and extinguish).
9. Rangelands are unfenced grasslands in temperate and tropical climates.
Pastures are managed or enclosed meadows that are used for grazing. By
managing grasslands more sustainably, regions known as riparian zones will not
be overgrazed and they can continue to provide water for livestock.
10. Overgrazing exceeds carrying capacity of a grassland area and enhances
invasion of inedible plants for cattle. Undergrazing can reduce the net primary
productivity of grassland.
● Sustaining biodiversity
1. By sustaining biodiversity, we can have long-term access to the economic and
ecological resources that the world’s various species provide.
2. Terrestrial biodiversity can be sustained by protecting species with specialized niches,
which are more prone to extinction than are species with generalized niches.
3. Terrestrial biodiversity can also be maintained by focusing efforts on biological hot
spots, or areas where biodiversity is most highly concentrated.
4. Some of the primary causes of extinction for marine species include pollution and
nonnative species.
5. Governments can protect marine biodiversity by passing legislation with stringent
controls over water pollution (i.e. Clean Water Act).
6. Nonnative marine species are often introduced into foreign ecosystems through
human overseas trade.
7. By facilitating the contents of trading ships and clearing out their ballast water before
each trip, we can limit the probability of the introduction of nonnative species into an ecosystem.
8. We can also protect marine biodiversity by focusing our efforts on regions such as
coral reefs, where a large number of species are located.
9. Terrestrial biodiversity can also be sustained through wildlife refuges and national
forests.
10. Legislations such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA) can also help protect
biodiversity by limiting the probability of extinction of certain species.