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Bio 124 Fall 2015: Study guide/questions for lecture material covered since Midterm#2
FINAL EXAM: THURS DEC 10, 11AM-1PM, EBS 309 (**NOTE TIME!!)
Bring to exam: 100 question Scranton, #2 pencil, and a well-rested, positive you due to great study
habits!
Below are study questions & key vocabulary words that you should be able to answer from your
lecture and reading notes of the material covered since midterm 2 (lectures # 18 on). This material will
constitute 1/2 of the final exam (100 points), the other 1/2 (100 pts) will be comprehensive (covering
the entire semester). For the comprehensive section, use your 1 st two study guides, quizzes & exams
to study from. If you score 10% more on your final than you did on any one of the 3 midterms, your
higher final score will be doubled, and your lowest midterm score will be dropped. Remember – true
learning takes time - study every day!
Lecture 18 (10/29/15): Climate Change
1. List 5 key points about climate change.
2. What is the difference between weather vs. climate?
3. What methods are being used to examine climate variation over the past several thousand years?
4. Describe the greenhouse gas effect. List 4 greenhouse gases.
5. Why is the greenhouse gas effected needed for life on Earth?
6. What is causing an increase in the greenhouse gas effect and why is this increase potentially
harmful?
7. Describe 4 different impacts of warming oceans on marine organism.
8. List the 2 different reasons why sea level is rising.
9. List 4 impacts of sea ice melting (rising sea levels) on marine organisms.
10. How is climate change impacting ocean productivity?
11. What causes ocean acidification?
12. List 3 impacts of ocean acidification.
Lecture 19 (11/3/15): Biodegradable Marine Pollutants
1. Define: pollution, biodegradable (what organisms are responsible for biodegradation?)
2. If oil is biodegradable, why can it persist in the environment for so long? (list factors that limit the
biodegradation rate).
3. List 5 different pathways that oil may take once released into the ocean (either naturally or by a
spill).
4. List 3 different groups of marine organisms and provide examples of how oil spills affect them.
5. List the 2 worst oil spills in human history, stating where & why they occurred.
6. What is one benefit and one potential negative of using dispersants on oil spills?
7. What are 2 negative impacts of sewage being released into the ocean?
8. What are dead zones and why do they occur?
Lecture 20 (11/5/15): Persistent Marine Pollutants
1. Describe the process of global distillation and how this causes high pollution in polar areas
despite low numbers of people living there.
2. List 7 different persistent marine pollutants. For each one, list a source and one potential impact
on marine organisms.
3. Provide an example of a sublethal effect of a persistent pollutant.
4. Describe what caused brown pelicans to almost go extinct and what saved them.
5. Explain radioactive decay and why radioactive elements are dangerous for so long.
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List 3 impacts of plastic pollution on marine organisms.
What is the ratio of plastic pellets to plankton now?
Explain how plastic pellets can cause bioaccumulation rates to increase.
Lecture 21 (11/10/15): Clean Water Act; Trash Gyres; Invasive Species
1. What is the purpose of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)?
2. What does the Clean Water Act regulate?
3. List 2 key environmental disasters led to the increase in pollution regulations and awareness (i.e.,
creation of the EPA and the CWA).
4. List 4 impacts of plastic pollution on marine organisms & explain the danger of each.
5. Plastics in the ocean are largely small fragments. List the 3 sources of these microbeads.
6. Why are gyres important ecosystems to understand?
7. Why do we know so little about gyre centers?
8. Explain how and why plastics accumulate in gyre centers.
9. Why did it take us so long to realize the Garbage Patches existed?
10. What actions can we take to help clean-up the trash gyres?
11. List 3 different ways that species can get moved into a new environment.
12. What factors would make an organism a successful invader of a new area?
13. Provide 2 examples of invasive marine species.
Lecture 22 (11/12/15): Subtidal hard substrate benthic ecosystems; Kelp forests
1. Why do marine rocky substrates have higher species diversity than soft-sediment habitats?
2. Infauna are rare in rocks. List 2 examples and state what benefit they provide to other
organisms due to their burrowing.
3. How do algae differ from terrestrial plants in terms of what substrate they need to grown on
and how they anchor to it?
4. List & briefly describe 5 abiotic requirements for kelps.
5. Why are kelps more abundant on the western coasts than on eastern coasts?
6. Define foundation species.
7. Describe 2 ways that kelp assists in building an ecosystem rich in other species
8. Kelp forest organisms feed directly on kelp in 3 different ways – briefly describe them.
9. List 1 potentially negative impact of kelp on organisms within a kelp forest.
10. Define keystone species and give an example from a kelp forest (be sure to note what happens
to the ecosystem when this keystone species is removed).
11. Provide examples of 2 different ways that kelp forests are being rehabilitated.
Lecture 23 (11/17/15): Polar marine ecosystems
1. List 2 key physical factors that influence polar marine organisms.
2. Define anchor ice and explain where and why it is a risk for organisms.
3. List the 3 zones of nearshore Antarctic waters and explain what factors most influence life in
each. Which is most diverse and why?
4. Coral reefs have high diversity but relatively low population sizes for each species. Polar marine
habitats have very low diversity, but very high population sizes (and biomass). Explain why this
is so.
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5. Compare the following characteristics of tropical vs. polar marine organisms: growth rates,
lifespan, maximum size, number of offspring, time spent as larvae, color/ornamentation,
calcification. Briefly explain why each characteristic differs in the way it does.
6. Describe an adaptation for each of the following to polar marine environments: ice fishes,
penguins, walrus, whales, polar bear.
Lecture 24 (11/19/15): Bioluminesence; Mesopelagic
1. Define bioluminescence. Describe the basic chemical reaction, noting each of the most
common types of chemicals involved.
2. What spectrum of light is bioluminescence usually produced in and why?
3. Briefly explain why bioluminescence is important and list 3 different purposes of it
4. Describe each of the following characteristics of the mesopelagic: a) depth range, b) light levels,
c) temperature, d) oxygen levels, e) abundance of organisms/food.
5. Why is oxygen limitation an issue in the mesopelagic? What are 3 different adaptations to
handle this restraint?
6. Describe 4 different ways that organisms enhance vision in the mesopelagic.
7. Camouflage is very important in the mesopelagic because organisms can’t afford the energetic
costs of fast swimming, defensive spines & scales. Why not?
8. List 4 different ways to camouflage in the mesopelagic.
9. What are photophores? Explain how their patterns can assist mesopelagic organisms.
10. Define counter-illumination. Provide an example of an organism that uses it.
11. Food is limited in the mesopelagic. Describe 3 different adaptations of mesopelagic organisms
to enhance predation ability.
Lecture 25 (11/24/15): Deep Sea
1. What is the largest ecosystem on Earth?
2. Describe the physical characteristics of deep sea environment in terms of: 1) light, 2) pressure, 3)
oxygen source, 4) food sources, 5) temperature, 6) salinity
3. Describe 3 specific adaptations of deep sea pelagic organisms to the lack of light
4. List 5 adaptations of deep sea fishes that allow them to conserve energy in this low food
environment.
5. Reproduction is difficult in the deep sea due to the low probability of finding a mate. Provide 6
different adaptations of deep seas organisms to aid reproduction.
6. List an adaptation for dealing with the high pressure in the deep sea.
7. Know that there is high biodiversity in the deep sea, higher than in shallow shelf areas– many rare
species (low in number). Perhaps due to environmental stability.
8. Microbes may constitute ½ the living biomass on Earth. List the 2 types of microbes and note 2
important roles they play.
9. Define meiofauna in terms of size, where they live, and list a few types of deep sea ones.
Lecture 26 (12/1/15): Hydrothermal Vents; Cold Seeps, Whale falls
1. List 4 physical characteristics distinct to hydrothermal vents.
2. Describe how & where a vent forms, citing plate tectonics, sea floor spreading, and the roles of
magma, water, and minerals.
3. Explain how life is possible without photosynthesis (define/explain chemosynthesis).
4. Briefly describe the main source of food for each of the following vent food chains and name at
least one consumer for each: benthic, suspension, symbiotic.
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5. Provide 3 reasons why vents are important.
6. What are cold seeps?
7. List & describe the 3 successional stages of the communities that form on whale falls.
Lecture 27 (12/3/15): Ocean Threats & Solutions
1. This semester, we have discussed several ways that humans have negatively impacted the ocean
environment including eutrophication, biodegradable & persistent pollutants, climate change,
fishing methods, overhunting/overfishing, habitat destruction. For each one of these, be able to
describe: a) a cause, b) in detail, how it creates a negative impact, c) types of
organisms/ecosystems affected, d) one way that people have succeeded in helping to correct the
damage.