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What is the littoral zone?
shallow waters along the shore, where flowering plants are rooted
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what is the limnetic zone?
offshore and comprises water the receives enough sunlight to support photosynthesis
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Benthic zone?
made up of substrate
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Photic zone?
regions of the littoral limnetic and benthic zones that receive sunlight
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aphotic zone?
do not receive sunlight
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What is emergent vegetation? where does this occur?
plants grow above the surface of the water, wetlands
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What is the difference between bogs and marshes and swamps?
unproductive b/c of anoxicity and poor nutrients due to stagnancy of the water; decomp slows as oxgyen is depleted in water; marshes and swamps are extremely productive. Marshes have nonwoody plants and swamps have trees and shrubs
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What is the water movement of streams?
one direction, can be fast or slow. fast moving from mountains are cold and can hold more oxgen; it also has more oxgen when it hits rocks, slow moving part has more nutrients, becuase it is not easily washed away
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Explain the three zones in ocean.
- intertidal zone: consists of rocky, sandy, or muddy beach that is exposed to air at low tide but submerged at high tide
- neritic zone: extends from intertidal zone to the end of continental shelf
- oceanic zone: open ocean
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what is estuaries and what is unique about them?
where river meets the ocean; water flow fluctuates which alters salinity, which in turn affect the tyes of organisms present. Among the most productive; high nutrients (nutrient-ladden sediments are deposited when flowing river slows as it enters the ocean)
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Which zones of the ocean are nutrient rich and nutrient poor?
neritic and intertidal zones are nutrient rich b/c they receive nutrients from rivers and upwellings; oceanic zone has less nutrients due to rain of dead organisms drifiting to the benethic zone
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How is conservation biology related to ecology?
ecologist study how interactions between organisms and their environments result in a particular species being found in a particular area at a particular populaton size. Conservation biologist apply these date to study, preserve species and restore environments
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What are the 4 levels that researchers work at?
- organismal: morphological, physiological, behavioral adaptations that allow an individual to live in a particular area
- population: (group of individuals of the same species that lives in the same area at the same time) how the numbers of individuals in a population change over time
- community: (consists of species that interact with each other within a particular area) ask questions about the consequences and nature of these interactions
- ecosystem: (all organisms in a particular region along with abiotic factors) how nutrients and energy move among organisms and through the surrounding atmosphere
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What affects the distribution and abundance of organisms in aquatic environments?
nutrient availability, water depth and water movement, light availability
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Describe ocean upwelling.
- winds blow moving water at surface
- moving surface water moves offshore, forced by earth's rotation
- as surface water leaves, it is replaced by nutrient ladden water welling up from the bottom
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What is thermocline?
change in temperature as we change the depth of water
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Describe lake turnover.
- Winter: highest level of oxgyen on top, bottom of the water is oxgyen poor, top is 0 degrees
- spring, ice melts, water becomes warm until it get 4 degrees, gets dense and sinks, water at bottom is displaced and comes to surface, carrying nutrients from the bottom, increase growth of photosynthetic algae (spring bloom)
- summer: warm water on top
- fall temp at top reaches 4 degrees and sinks, displacing water at bottom
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