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Geo Final > Chapter 15 > Flashcards

Chapter 15 Flashcards

1
Q

Earth’s environments are in a state of ___ – ever changing, but balanced and resilient – so conditions don’t swing too wildly, and the planet continues to be habitable

A

Dynamic Equilibrium

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2
Q

The envelope of gas that surrounded early Earth

A

Primary Atmosphere

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3
Q

Earth generated a ___ by volcanic outgassing of volatile materials from its interior

A

Secondary Atmosphere

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4
Q

Traces of oxygen were probably generated in the early atmosphere through the breakdown of water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen by ultraviolet light

A

Photodissociation

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5
Q

A chemical reaction whereby plants use light energy to induce carbon dioxide to react with water, producing carbohydrates and oxygen

A

Photosynthesis

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6
Q

The period from 2.4 to 2.0 billion years ago, during which free oxygen began to build up in the ocean and atmosphere, is known as the ___

A

Great Oxygenation Event

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7
Q

Photosynthesis in the oxygen cycle is balanced by ___, in which organic carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide

A

Decomposition

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8
Q

Around 3.55 billion years ago, entire colonies of bacterial life forms have developed and can be found in fossils of layered structures of bacterial origin

A

Stromatolites

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9
Q

Extracting energy and material sustenance from its environment

A

Metabolism

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10
Q

Set of 20 carbon-based molecules

A

Amino Acids

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11
Q

The basic structure and functional unit of life; a complex grouping of chemical compounds enclosed in a porous membrane

A

Cell

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12
Q

Maintaining a relatively constant chemical environment

A

Homeostasis

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13
Q

Carbon is essential to life on Earth because carbon atoms can ___ to form very long chains and complex molecules which enable cells to function

A

Polymerize

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14
Q

Every cell nucleus contains a molecule called ___

A

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

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15
Q

A double-chain biopolymer that contains all the genetic information needed for an organism to grow and reproduce

A

DNA

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16
Q

DNA is like a good ole’ twisted ladder, in each run consists of two complementary organic molecules called ___, which fit together like a lock and key

A

Nucleotides

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17
Q

Most experts believe that a simpler, single-stranded molecule called ___ must have appeared first

A

RNA (Ribonucleic Acid)

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18
Q

___ is when animals obtain energy from the food they eat, and oxygen is needed to release the energy

A

Aerobic Metabolism

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19
Q

Many kinds of bacteria have ___, obtaining energy through the nonoxygenated breakdown of food by the process of fermentation

A

Anaerobic Metabolisms

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20
Q

___ is when an organism can extract energy directly from hydrogen, sulfur or salt

A

Chemosynthesis

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21
Q

Organisms that live in the extreme end of the chemical and thermal circumstances in which organic molecules can remain chemically stable are called ___

A

Extremophiles

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22
Q

Chemical residues that signal the former presence of life

A

Biosignatures

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23
Q

A single-celled organism with no distinct nucleus - that is, no membrane separates its DNA from the rest of the cell

A

Prokaryote

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24
Q

The broadest taxonomic category of living organisms; biologists today recognize three domains: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya

A

Domain

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25
Q

___ are mound-like structures that consist of many thin layers of calcium carbonate

A

Stromatolites

26
Q

Similar structures to stromatolites can be found today and are formed in seawater by the action of photosynthetic organisms called ___

A

Cyanobacteria

27
Q

An organism composed of cells - that is, cells that have a well-defined nucleus and organelles

A

Eukaryote

28
Q

Eukaryotes appeared at least ___ billion years ago

A

1.4

29
Q

The earliest fossils of multicellular eukaryotic organisms appeared at the end of the Proterozoic Era, preserved in rock about ___ million years old. These organisms were called ___

A

630, Ediacara Fauna

30
Q

The theory that life on Earth has developed gradually, from simple organism to more complex organisms

A

Evolution

31
Q

The process by which individuals that are well adapted to their environment have a survival advantage and pass on their favorable characteristics to their offspring

A

Natural Selection

32
Q

A ___ trait is one that is transmissible from parent to offspring

A

Heritable

33
Q

Heritable traits are encoded in ___ on an organisms DNA

A

Genes

34
Q

A population of genetically and/or morphologically similar individuals that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring

A

Species

35
Q

Darwin favored extremely slow, ___ change

A

Gradual

Called Gradualism

36
Q

Stephen Jay Gould, and some other folks, argued for ___, in which species persist for a very long time with few changes and undergo occasional periods of very rapid change

A

Punctuated Equilibrium

37
Q

Remains of an organism from a past age, embedded and preserved in rock

A

Fossil

38
Q

___ is when bones and shells are often replaced, molecule by molecule, by minerals carried in solution by groundwater

A

Mineralization

39
Q

Mineralization creates ___

A

Wood

40
Q

___ can preserve even delicate leaf structures; it occurs when volatile material in the plant evaporates, leaving behind a thin film of carbon

A

Carbonization

41
Q

Organelles that are responsible for producing colour

A

Melanosomes

42
Q

Fossilized evidence of an organism’s life processes, such as tracks, footprints, and burrows

A

Trace Fossil

43
Q

Prehistoric animals also left behind fecal droppings (shit.) called ___ when preserved and fossilized

A

Coprolites

44
Q

The Paleozoic Era started ___ million years ago, with the Cambrian period

A

541

45
Q

The Cambrian period ushered in the development of ___

A

Skeletons, internal and external

46
Q

Hard shell organisms are called ___

A

Trilobites

47
Q

The second-broadest taxonomic category. The six recognized kingdoms are Bacteria, Archaea, and Protista, Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia. The hierarchical subdivisions of this are phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species

A

Kingdom

48
Q

Plants evolved from green algae more than ___ million years ago

A

600

49
Q

During the Silurian period, ___ evolved. These plants have structural support from stems and limbs, and they have a set of vessels through which water and dissolved elements are transferred from the roots to the leaves

A

Vascular Plants

50
Q

Gas exchange occurs by diffusion through adjustable openings in the leaves called ___

A

Stomata

51
Q

A naked-seed plant

A

Gymnosperm

52
Q

First creature to make transition from sea to land. Crabs, spiders, centipedes, and insects. Named for their jointed legs.

A

Arthropods

53
Q

The phylum that humans belong to. These animals have the least primitive version of a spinal cord.

A

Chordates

54
Q

Permanent disappearance of a species

A

Extinction

55
Q

__% of all living species disappeared at the end of the Permian period, in the greatest mass extinction in history

A

96

56
Q

A flowering, or seed-enclosed, plant

A

Angiosperm

57
Q

During the Pleistocene epoch, giant sloths, tapirs, saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, bison, mammoths, and mastodons roamed through Europe, North America, and South America, constituting what is know as the ___

A

Pleistocene Megafauna

58
Q

Human-like organisms

A

Hominids

59
Q

Routinely walking upright

A

Bipedal

60
Q

Scientists refer to the fact that the majority of species that have ever lived are now extinct as ___

A

Background Extinction

61
Q

A catastrophic episode in which a large fraction of living species become extinct within a geologically short time

A

Mass Extinction

62
Q

The most famous mass extinction occurred __ million years ago and is sometimes called the __ extinction

A

65 and K-T

Geo Final (5 decks)

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