BIOL 116 - Exam 1 Questions with
Verified Answers
How does toxoplasmosis from cats kill sea otters? - ANSWER-- Toxoplasma
Parasites from prey like rats or birds would then be consumed by predators like cats
or humans, the feces would then be pushed out to the ocean and are starting to
affect sea otters that cannot fight against them.
Experimentation of toxoplasmosis - ANSWER-Step 1:
- Observation: Sea otter populations are not recovering despite being protected by
the Endangered Species Act for 20 years
- Question: What is preventing sea otter populations from increasing?
Step 2:
- Use previous knowledge or intuition to develop possible answers (hypotheses)
- Previous knowledge: A lot of sea otters were dying of infectious diseases in 1992-
1995.
- Develop hypothesis: Infectious diseases are a significant cause of mortality in sea
otters
Step 3:
- Evaluate hypotheses. Researchers collected sea otter carcasses from 1998-2001
and determined cause of death.
Step 4:
- Use the results to modify the hypotheses, to pose new questions, or to draw
conclusions about the natural world. The process is iterative and self-correcting.
Ecological Principles - ANSWER-- Everything is connected to everything else
- Changes to one component of an ecosystem influence other components of an
ecosystem, often in unintended or unpredicted ways
- There is no waste in ecosystems, everything goes somewhere
Why is time important in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Ecosystems change through
time. Ecosystems were different in the past than they are today, and they will be
different in the future.
Why is space important in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Biotic and abiotic factors vary
from place to place, and organisms are influenced by factors at multiple spatial
scales (local, regional, global).
Why is everything a tradeoff in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Negative functional
interaction between traits or functions.
- Organisms only have so much energy to spend on maintenance, growth, and
reproduction. Investing in one function or feature means reduced investment in other
functions or features.
,Why is indefinite growth not possible? - ANSWER-- No population can increase in
size indefinitely. Population growth depends on resources, and resources are not
limitless. So no population can increase forever.
What is the difference between weather and climate? - ANSWER-Weather: Daily
conditions in the atmosphere and our surroundings. It changes constantly. What you
experience outside.
Climate: The average weather over a long period (decades) or prevailing weather
conditions over years. Described using averages and variation in conditions over
decades or longer time scales. Affects distribution of organisms.
What determines temperatures? - ANSWER-Temperature is mostly determined by
the sun.
What are the latitudinal differences in solar radiation at earth's surface? - ANSWER--
The intensity of sunlight is affected by the angle of impact. Sunlight is most direct
and therefore most intense at the equator. At the poles, sunlight hits at an oblique
angle, making the light energy more diffuse and less intense
What are determinant factors of climate? - ANSWER-Latitude and altitude,
atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and topography
surface heating and uplift - ANSWER--solar radiation heats Earths surface
-emits radiation
-warms the air
-warm air is less dense, so it rises
-as it rises, it expands and cools
- cool air falls
Global atmospheric circulation cells - ANSWER-Air stalls out and comes down. It
does not go from the equator to the North Pole. Global wind patterns predicted by
the three-cell model
What are the differences between seasonal weather? (Winter vs Summer) (Dry vs
Hot) - ANSWER-- The tilt produces seasonal changes. Seasonal changes occur
because of the angle that the sun hits the earth as it spins. The tilt stays the same as
the earth travels in a circle throughout the year. When the sun hits the earth as it's
spinning and the angle is tilted away, we have winter season. The sun is more
concentrated in the middle of the globe. When the sun hits the earth as it's spinning
and the angle is tilted forward, we have hotter seasons.
rain shadow effect - ANSWER-- Through the water, warm air rises up the mountain
but starts to cool, leading to precipitation. As it reaches top of mountain, cool air falls
and becomes warm again on leeward side of mountain. Precipitation falls on the
windward side of a mountain range, resulting in lush vegetation & a warm, moist
climate on one side, but a desert area on the leeward side.
Upwelling of coastal waters - ANSWER-Wind blowing parallel to the coast causes
surface water to flow away from the coast pulling deep water upward to replace it.
Upwelling influences surface water temp off the western coast of North America.
, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle - ANSWER-- A periodic warming and
cooling of the central/eastern Pacific Ocean caused by shifts in trade winds. The El
Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a frequency of 3 to 8 years, and lasts about
18 months.
millenial - ANSWER-1000 years
Ice Age - ANSWER-A period of extremely cold temperatures when part of the
planet's surface was covered with massive ice sheets.
What have been the changes in ice over the millennia? - ANSWER-Rise in gas in the
air cause an. increase in global temperatures, causing the climate to warm and melt
ice as the years goes by. Each year climate increases, mostly due to human actions;
leading to the melting of icecaps, etc.
Interglacial periods: - ANSWER-Periods of time lasting thousands of years that are
characterized by relatively warm air temps. And high sea levels. alternate with glacial
periods.
Eons - ANSWER-millions of years
Biomes - ANSWER-- Large scale communities.
- Defined by rainfall and temperature, usually classified by the dominant plants.
- Temperature and precipitation change with altitude. As you go up a mountain, it
gets cooler and wetter. Vertical zonation is a term applied to vegetation zones
defined by altitude.
What are the current biomes? - ANSWER-Chaparral, Tropical Rainforest, desert,
grassland, tundra, savanna, forest, temperate, etc
What is the association between biomes and plant growth forms? - ANSWER--
Plants are associated with biomes because the types of plants present in an
environment means that they have to adapt and survive to the environment,
whatever conditions those are it determines the type of biome they live in.
- Similarities in response to the physical environment climate and soil
- Variation in size and shape (broad-leaved or needle like), deciduousness,
succulence, and sclerophylly
What is a climatograph? - ANSWER-A graph that shows the average temperature
and precipitation of a specific area over time
tropical rainforest - what is the climate? - ANSWER-- SE Asia, Central Africa,
Mexico, Central and South America.
- raining all of the time, cold, but there are times when it is warm, very humid
chaparral - what is the climate? - ANSWER-- Chaparral is the biome for much of the
California coast. Almost all the land bordering the Mediterranean sea in Europe has
a similar climate and biome.
Verified Answers
How does toxoplasmosis from cats kill sea otters? - ANSWER-- Toxoplasma
Parasites from prey like rats or birds would then be consumed by predators like cats
or humans, the feces would then be pushed out to the ocean and are starting to
affect sea otters that cannot fight against them.
Experimentation of toxoplasmosis - ANSWER-Step 1:
- Observation: Sea otter populations are not recovering despite being protected by
the Endangered Species Act for 20 years
- Question: What is preventing sea otter populations from increasing?
Step 2:
- Use previous knowledge or intuition to develop possible answers (hypotheses)
- Previous knowledge: A lot of sea otters were dying of infectious diseases in 1992-
1995.
- Develop hypothesis: Infectious diseases are a significant cause of mortality in sea
otters
Step 3:
- Evaluate hypotheses. Researchers collected sea otter carcasses from 1998-2001
and determined cause of death.
Step 4:
- Use the results to modify the hypotheses, to pose new questions, or to draw
conclusions about the natural world. The process is iterative and self-correcting.
Ecological Principles - ANSWER-- Everything is connected to everything else
- Changes to one component of an ecosystem influence other components of an
ecosystem, often in unintended or unpredicted ways
- There is no waste in ecosystems, everything goes somewhere
Why is time important in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Ecosystems change through
time. Ecosystems were different in the past than they are today, and they will be
different in the future.
Why is space important in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Biotic and abiotic factors vary
from place to place, and organisms are influenced by factors at multiple spatial
scales (local, regional, global).
Why is everything a tradeoff in ecosystems? - ANSWER-- Negative functional
interaction between traits or functions.
- Organisms only have so much energy to spend on maintenance, growth, and
reproduction. Investing in one function or feature means reduced investment in other
functions or features.
,Why is indefinite growth not possible? - ANSWER-- No population can increase in
size indefinitely. Population growth depends on resources, and resources are not
limitless. So no population can increase forever.
What is the difference between weather and climate? - ANSWER-Weather: Daily
conditions in the atmosphere and our surroundings. It changes constantly. What you
experience outside.
Climate: The average weather over a long period (decades) or prevailing weather
conditions over years. Described using averages and variation in conditions over
decades or longer time scales. Affects distribution of organisms.
What determines temperatures? - ANSWER-Temperature is mostly determined by
the sun.
What are the latitudinal differences in solar radiation at earth's surface? - ANSWER--
The intensity of sunlight is affected by the angle of impact. Sunlight is most direct
and therefore most intense at the equator. At the poles, sunlight hits at an oblique
angle, making the light energy more diffuse and less intense
What are determinant factors of climate? - ANSWER-Latitude and altitude,
atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and topography
surface heating and uplift - ANSWER--solar radiation heats Earths surface
-emits radiation
-warms the air
-warm air is less dense, so it rises
-as it rises, it expands and cools
- cool air falls
Global atmospheric circulation cells - ANSWER-Air stalls out and comes down. It
does not go from the equator to the North Pole. Global wind patterns predicted by
the three-cell model
What are the differences between seasonal weather? (Winter vs Summer) (Dry vs
Hot) - ANSWER-- The tilt produces seasonal changes. Seasonal changes occur
because of the angle that the sun hits the earth as it spins. The tilt stays the same as
the earth travels in a circle throughout the year. When the sun hits the earth as it's
spinning and the angle is tilted away, we have winter season. The sun is more
concentrated in the middle of the globe. When the sun hits the earth as it's spinning
and the angle is tilted forward, we have hotter seasons.
rain shadow effect - ANSWER-- Through the water, warm air rises up the mountain
but starts to cool, leading to precipitation. As it reaches top of mountain, cool air falls
and becomes warm again on leeward side of mountain. Precipitation falls on the
windward side of a mountain range, resulting in lush vegetation & a warm, moist
climate on one side, but a desert area on the leeward side.
Upwelling of coastal waters - ANSWER-Wind blowing parallel to the coast causes
surface water to flow away from the coast pulling deep water upward to replace it.
Upwelling influences surface water temp off the western coast of North America.
, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle - ANSWER-- A periodic warming and
cooling of the central/eastern Pacific Ocean caused by shifts in trade winds. The El
Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has a frequency of 3 to 8 years, and lasts about
18 months.
millenial - ANSWER-1000 years
Ice Age - ANSWER-A period of extremely cold temperatures when part of the
planet's surface was covered with massive ice sheets.
What have been the changes in ice over the millennia? - ANSWER-Rise in gas in the
air cause an. increase in global temperatures, causing the climate to warm and melt
ice as the years goes by. Each year climate increases, mostly due to human actions;
leading to the melting of icecaps, etc.
Interglacial periods: - ANSWER-Periods of time lasting thousands of years that are
characterized by relatively warm air temps. And high sea levels. alternate with glacial
periods.
Eons - ANSWER-millions of years
Biomes - ANSWER-- Large scale communities.
- Defined by rainfall and temperature, usually classified by the dominant plants.
- Temperature and precipitation change with altitude. As you go up a mountain, it
gets cooler and wetter. Vertical zonation is a term applied to vegetation zones
defined by altitude.
What are the current biomes? - ANSWER-Chaparral, Tropical Rainforest, desert,
grassland, tundra, savanna, forest, temperate, etc
What is the association between biomes and plant growth forms? - ANSWER--
Plants are associated with biomes because the types of plants present in an
environment means that they have to adapt and survive to the environment,
whatever conditions those are it determines the type of biome they live in.
- Similarities in response to the physical environment climate and soil
- Variation in size and shape (broad-leaved or needle like), deciduousness,
succulence, and sclerophylly
What is a climatograph? - ANSWER-A graph that shows the average temperature
and precipitation of a specific area over time
tropical rainforest - what is the climate? - ANSWER-- SE Asia, Central Africa,
Mexico, Central and South America.
- raining all of the time, cold, but there are times when it is warm, very humid
chaparral - what is the climate? - ANSWER-- Chaparral is the biome for much of the
California coast. Almost all the land bordering the Mediterranean sea in Europe has
a similar climate and biome.
