BIO 101 Test 4

  1. extinction
    the elimination of all breeding individual in a population
  2. how natural extinctions occur
    • - species lacks the variability to adapt to environmental change
    • - a new species arises due to the evolution of its ancestor species
  3. mass extinctions
    species losses that are in a global scale, affect a large number of species, and are dramatic in impact
  4. Ordivican-Silvrian mass extinction
    • caused by: temperatures plummeting, huge glaciers forming, and sea levels dropping drastically
    • - was followed by a period of rapid warming and many small marine species died out
  5. Devonian mass extinction
    • caused by: global warning and cooling, rise and fall of sea levels, and a reduction of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
    • - not completely sure of the causes
  6. Permian mass extinction
    • THE GREAT DYING
    • caused by: anomalies in temperature, the carbon cycle, and volcanic eruptions
    • - the volcanoes may have emitted clouds of ash that blocked sunlight and disrupted photosynthesis
  7. Triassic mass extinction
    caused by: colossal geological activity (volcanoes) that increased carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures as well as ocean acidification (CO2 and sulfuric acid)
  8. Cretaceous mass extinction
    • caused by: an asteroid hit the Earth in what is now Mexico, potentially compounded by ongoing volcanism i what is now India
    • - wiped out all remaining non-avian dinosaurs
  9. the end of the dinosaurs
    • a 10-kilometer asteroid (the Chicxulub Impactor) is believed to have collided with Earth in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico; the impact ejected material that blocked out the sun for months if not years
    • - a layer of a rare element called Iridium, which is found in asteroids, can be found all over the world
  10. How humans influence extinction rates
    • 1. habitat loss
    • 2. introduced species/ disease
    • 3. pollution
    • 4. overexploitation (hunting)
    • 5. climate change
    • 1-4 are direct
    • 5 is indirect
  11. anthropogenic
    effects due to human influences
  12. habitat
    the array of resources, physical, and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support survival and reproduction of a particular species
  13. the food chain
    a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (autotrophs) pass through one or more consumers (heterotrophs), and ending at apex predator species, detrivores, or decomposer species
  14. the food chain
    depicts relations between species based on what they consume for energy in trophic levels
  15. the trophic pyramid
    the transfer of energy from one trophic level to another
  16. introduced or exotic species
    organisms brought by human activity, either accidentally or on purpose, to new environments
  17. coevolution
    when pairs or groups of species adapt to each other through natural selection; a biological arms race
  18. pollution
    everyday byproducts of our daily lives - sewage, trash, agriculture and lawn chemicals, industrial and powerplant emissions, etc.- make their way via air and water into the natural environment and become pollutants
  19. eutrophication
    the over-enrichment of water by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous
  20. dead zones
    low oxygen (hypoxic) areas in the world's oceans and lakes
  21. overexploitation
    resource exploitation through recreational, harvesting, or punitive methods can deplete species population density below a threshold necessary for survival
  22. community
    all the organisms living together in a particular habitat
  23. niche
    the role each species plays in a community
  24. ecosystem
    a community of organisms (biotic) plus the non-living (abiotic) components of the environment
  25. biodiversity
    the degree of variability in any population of organisms (including communities and ecosystems)
  26. food web
    all the food chains within a community
  27. symbiosis
    any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different species
  28. predation and parasitism
    one species benefits ad the other is harmed
  29. mutualism
    both species benefit from the interaction
  30. commensalism
    one species benefits and the other is neither harmed or benefitted
  31. amensalism
    one species is harmed and the other is neither harmed not benefitted
  32. keystone species
    when a specific niche of some species is so important that slight changes in their fitness can have dramatic impacts on the entire food web/ environment
  33. The Endangered Species Act (ESA)
    created to protect and encourage the population growth of threatened and endangered species
  34. critical habitats
    specific geological areas that contain physical and biological factors essential to the conservation of an endangered or threatened species and that may require special management and protection
  35. wildlife or habitat corridors
    strips of protected habitats linking larger protected areas, constructed to facilitate uninterrupted movement of wild animals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles between larger protected areas
  36. habitat restoration
    seeks to restore the health, integrity, and sustainability of ecosystems that have been degraded by human activities
  37. water cycle
    the movement of water between states of liquid, gas, and ice
  38. liquid water
    exists as salt or fresh water
  39. ground water
    water trapped in the Earth
  40. water vapor
    exists in the atmosphere
  41. ice
    trapped in the ocean in the polar ice caps or on land in glaciers
  42. carbon cycle
    the use and recycling of carbon on Earth
  43. the greenhouse effect
    the normal process by which heat is radiated from the Earth's surface and trapped by gases in the atmosphere, helping maintain the Earth at a temperature that can support life
  44. greenhouse gas
    a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infared range
  45. CO2
    greenhouse gas that has the largest impact
  46. CH4 (methane)
    greenhouse gas that absorbs the most, but is least abundant
  47. H2O
    greenhouse gas that is least absorbent, but is most abundant
  48. biomes
    large, geographical areas defined by characteristic plant life, which in turn is determined by temperature and moisture
  49. climate
    mean and variability of meteorological  variable over a time spanning from months to millions of years
  50. glacial periods
    indicate periods when Earth was covered in massive ice sheets
  51. interglacial periods
    the warmer periods between glacial periods
  52. glaciers
    large, persistent bodies of ice; they hold about a third of the Earth's fresh water
  53. polar ice caps
    the permanent layers of ice that cover both the north and south poles
  54. coral
    a symbiotic organism composed of a mutualistic relationship between and animal (coral) and a plant (algae)
Author
ellieharris
ID
364957
Card Set
BIO 101 Test 4
Description
Updated