Chapter 3: The Aquatic Environment

Question 1

Movement of water between atmosphere and Earth by way of precipitation and evaporation

Answer 1

Water cycle

Question 2

All the forms of water that fall to Earth

Includes rain, snow, hail, sleet, fog, mist, drizzle, and the measured amounts of each

Answer 2

Precipitation

Question 3

A measure of the total quantity of dissolved substances in water in parts per thousand (0/00) by weight

Answer 3

Salinity

Question 4

The excess water that flows across the surface of the ground when the soil is saturated during heavy rains

Answer 4

Surface runoff

Question 5

Water that occurs below Earth’s surface in pose spaces within bedrock and soil, free to move under the influence of gravity

Answer 5

Groundwater

Question 6

Loss of water vapor from a plant to the outside atmosphere

Answer 6

Transpiration

Question 7

Sum of the loss of moisture by evaporation from land and water surfaces and by transpiration from plants

Answer 7

Evapotranspiration

Question 8

Property of a fluid that resists the force that causes it to flow

Answer 8

Viscosity

Question 9

The power of a fluid to exert an upward force on a body placed in it

Answer 9

Buoyancy

Question 10

Elastic film across the surface of a liquid, caused by the attractive forces between molecules at the surface of the liquid

Answer 10

Surface tension

Question 11

Layer in a thermally stratified body of water in which temperature changes rapidly relative to the remainder of the body

Answer 11

Thermocline

Question 12

Warm, oxygen-rich upper layer of water in a lake or other body of water, usually seasonal

Answer 12

Epilimnion

Question 13

Cold, oxygen-poor zone of a lake, below the thermocline

Answer 13

Hypolimnion

Question 14

In oceans and large lakes, a water current or movement of surface waters produced by wind that brings nutrient-loaded colder water to the surface.

In open oceans, regions where surface currents diverge deep waters, which rise to the surface to replace departing waters.

Answer 14

Upwelling

Question 15

Area lying between the lines of high and low tide

Answer 15

Intertidal zone

Question 16

A partially enclosed embayment where freshwater and seawater meet and mix

Answer 16

Estuary

Question 17

What is the effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels on ocean acidification and calcification?

Answer 17

The increased carbon dioxide concentrations of the surface waters have resulted in a decline in pH and reduced carbonate concentrations.

The reduction in carbonate concentrations has reduced calcium carbonate mineral concentrations that are essential for calcifying marine species such as oysters, clams, sea urchins, shallow water corals, deep sea corals, and calcareous plankton.

“Ocean acidification impacts processes so fundamental to the overall structure and function of marine ecosystems that any significant changes could have far-reaching consequences for the oceans of the future.”