Marine Biology
Stahl Midterm Review 2013-2014
History of Marine Science and Scientific Method
1. What are the steps of the scientific method in order?
2. How much of the Earth’s surface is covered with seawater?
3. Know the following scientists and their contributions to marine biology:
a. Edward Forbes
b. Alexander Agassiz
c. Charles Darwin
d. Charles Wyville Thomas
4. Define oceanography.
5. Define the scientific method.
6. What is the difference between induction and deduction?
7. What is the very first step in the scientific method?
8. Know the contributions of the HMS Beagle and the HMS Challenger.
9. What was the first US Marine Laboratory?
10. What is a scientific theory and in order for it to be accepted what must it show?
11. Define Marine Biology.
12. What is the difference between an independent, dependent, and controlled
variable?
13. The earliest recorded direct studies of marine biology came from which people?
14. Why are oceans important?
15. Where does our knowledge of the ocean come from?
16. What contributed to our current knowledge of Marine Science the most?
17. What are the important marine laboratories around the nation and what coast
are they on?
Marine Ecology
1. Define ecosystem, biosphere, population, biotic, abiotic, and species.
2. What is the difference between anaerobic and aerobic respiration?
3. Define habitat and understand what makes up an organisms habitat.
4. What do nutrients do when they are limited? How do they affect the bay?
5. Where do the products of metabolism accumulate and what are metabolic
wastes?
6. What is the difference between zones of stress, optimal zones, and zones of
intolerance?
Marine Biology
Stahl Midterm Review 2013-2014
7. What must organisms that live in the intertidal deal with on a daily basis?
8. What were the first living organisms considered to be?
9. When is an environment considered harsh?
10. Define symbiosis and know the three types of symbiosis. Be able to provide
examples.
11. What is the difference between an ectotherm and an endotherm?
12. What is the difference between a community and a population?
13. What are keystone species?
14. What is the difference between Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 survival curves?
15. How do nutrients reach the upper levels of the ocean?
16. How much energy is transferred from trophic level to trophic level?
17. What are the important nutrients for photosynthesis both organic and inorganic?
18. What is the difference between abiotic and biotic factors? Give examples.
19. What fundamental role do animals play in the carbon cycle?
20. What is eutrophication and what can it lead to?
21. What is the most important marine photosynthetic organism?
22. Where do chemosynthetic organisms get their energy?
23. What is an important inorganic nutrient found in photosynthesis?
24. What is the difference between intraspecific competition and interspecific
competition?
25. Why are estuaries important?
26. Define salinity.
27. What is a niche?
28. What was oxygen like early on?
29. Define competitive exclusion.
30. Know all of the ocean zones, where they are located, and how they are defined.
31. Where does all of our energy come from?
32. What is the proper order of a predator- prey relationship?
Tampa Bay Unit
1. Define the following: watershed, food chain, estuary, food web, brackish, and
nursery.
2. What counties make up the Tampa Bay watershed area?
3. What are the four major rivers that make up the Tampa Bay watershed?
4. Why is Tampa Bay considered to be an estuary and why is it so important to the
ecosystem?
5. Where are contaminated soils most abundant in Tampa Bay? Why do you think so?
6. Are there any endangered or threatened species in Tampa Bay? Why so and list at
least five?
7. What has happened to the bay since 1950 til present day? Lead me through the
decades.
8. How many creeks drain into the bay? Major rivers?
9. How many people move to the Tampa Bay area weekly?
Marine Biology
Stahl Midterm Review 2013-2014
10 How many species of fish are found in the bay? List three.
11. What is the relationship between Tampa Bay and its watershed?
12. Why is mixing of freshwater and salt water in the bay important?
13. Why is the word nursery used to describe the bay?
14.Be able to label the map of the bay.
15. What is phytoplankton and why is it important?
16. How much money does the Port of Tampa contribute to the economy each year?
17. Who were the first people to inhabit the Tampa Bay area?
18. What are seagrasses?
19. Create a food web using worms, bull shark, manatee, pelican, seagrass,
phytoplankton, red drum, shrimp, sand, and a blue crab.
20. What does turbidity mean?
21. Why did fishing in Tampa Bay become less productive after 1950?
22. Explain why the following affect the bay: storm water run-off, power plants, vehicle
emissions, bio-accumulation, increased population growth, and industry.
23. Where is the most abundant bird sanctuary located in all of Florida?
24. What is a sanctuary and why is it important that we have places like these?
25. How many pairs of birds come to the local sanctuary every spring?
26. List at least five bird species that live at the sanctuary?
27. What is land acquisition and why is it so important?
28. What is a Florida friendly yard and how does it affect the bay if you don’t have one?
29. What type of hands on activities can students like you get involved in?
30. Define restoration.
31. How do oyster habitats stabilize the shoreline?
32. What are prop scars and what can they do to the seagrass beds?
33. What are the three types of mangroves found in Tampa Bay? Why are they
important? Describe each one.
34. Define epiphytes.
35. What are the three types of sea grasses? Why are they important?
36. Define hydrophytes.
37. What is Spartina alterniflora? Why is it important?
38. What are rhizomes and why are they important?
39. What is the function of specialized lacunae?