Chapter 4 - Biogeochemical cycles and the biosphere

Question 1

What is water budget?

Answer 1

 An accounting of the amounts of precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil moisture storage, and runoff at a given place

Question 2

What is precipitation?

Answer 2

refers to any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back to Earth.

Question 3

What is evaporation?

Answer 3

process by which a liquid turns into a gas.

Question 4

What is transpiration?

Answer 4

 The use of water by plants, normally drawing it from the soil via their roots, evaporating it in their leaves and releasing it to the atmosphere

Question 5

What is evapotranspiration?

Answer 5

The sum of water converting from liquid to vapor state via evaporation and transpiration

Question 6

What is real, actual, potential?

Answer 6

actual - something that is real
Potential - theoretical - not actual

Question 7

What is runoff?

Answer 7

Flow of water from the land, either on the soil surface or in streams

Question 8

What are two of the biogeochemical cycles on the earth that makes is possible?

Answer 8

carbon cycle
oxygen cycle

Question 9

What is the carbon cycle?

Answer 9

Plants take in CO2 and water to create sugars like glucose through the process of photosynthesis. The plants then release oxygen and water vapor as byproducts. The oxygen goes back into the oxygen cycle and the water vapor enters the water cycle.

Question 10

What is the oxygen cycle?

Answer 10

Photosynthesis is the driver of the oxygen cycle. In this process, plants transform CO2 and water into sugars to use in their metabolism, help them to grow and to provide food for other organisms.

Without plants, CO2 level would build up to dangerous levels in the atmosphere

Question 11

What is photosynthesis?

Answer 11

Carbon dioxide (air) + water (soil) + energy (solar) –) carbohydrates and oxygen

Question 12

What is respiration?

Answer 12

Carbohydrates + oxygen –) carbon dioxide, water, and heat

Question 13

What is combustion?

Answer 13

The process of burning something

Question 14

What is leaching?

Answer 14

Draining away from soil, ash, or similar material by the action of percolating liquid, especially rain water.

Question 15

What is oxidation?

Answer 15

is the loss of electrons during a reaction by a molecule, atom or ion.

An example would be rust.

Question 16

What is ecosystem?

Answer 16

An interrelated collection of plants and animals and the physical environment with which they interact

Question 17

What are producers?

Answer 17

primary source of biomass on earth and form the bottom of all energy pyramids

Question 18

What are consumers?

Answer 18

organisms that cannot make their own food and must eat plants or other animals to get energy.

Question 19

What are decomposers?

Answer 19

organisms that break down organic materials such as the remains of dead organisms

Question 20

What are abiotic material?

Answer 20

refers to non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems.
Example - temperature, light, water, salinity

Question 21

What is biome?

Answer 21

 A large grouping of ecosystems characterized by particular plant and animal types

Question 22

What is savanna?

Answer 22

 A vegetation type characterized by grasses and scattered trees, characteristic of seasonally dry tropical climates

Question 23

What is prairie?

Answer 23

 A vegetation type characterized by dense grass up to 2 meters high, found in midlatitude semiarid climates

Question 24

What is steppe?

Answer 24

dry grassy plain. Occur in temperate climates which lie between the tropics and polar regions.

Question 25

What is tundra?

Answer 25

Type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons.

Question 26

what is the impact of human activities on deforestation?

Answer 26

Agriculture
logging
Mining an durban expansion

Question 27

what is the impact of human activities on combustion?

Answer 27

Changes to fluxes in the carbon cycle that humans are responsible for include: increased contribution of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass; increased contribution of CO 2 to the atmosphere due to land-use changes; increased CO 2 dissolving into the ocean through ocean-atmosphere exchange; and increased terrestrial photosynthesis.

Question 28

what is the impact of human activities on desertification?

Answer 28

Climate Change – hotter and drier conditions are increasing the risk of land turning to desert;
Removal of trees for fuel – cutting down trees to use the wood for fuel leads to roots dying. …
Overgrazing – soil becomes bare as the result of vegetation being removed by grazing animals. …
Over-cultivation – as a population grows there is a greater demand for food

Question 29

what is the impact of human activities on erosion?

Answer 29

When humans disturb the earth with construction, gardening, logging and mining activities the result is a weakening of the topsoil of the earth, which leads to excessive wearing away and erosion.

Question 30

How do the water budget processes differ in different environments?

Answer 30

climate
land
ocean

Question 31

How do the water budget processes affect vegetation and soil formation?

Answer 31

Chemical weathering reactions (especially the formation of clay minerals) and biochemical reactions proceed fastest under warm conditions, and plant growth is enhanced in warm climates. Too much water (e.g., in rainforests) can lead to the leaching of important chemical nutrients and hence to acidic soils.

Question 32

how do the water budget processes affect the impact of deforestation?

Answer 32

Infiltration and runoff are more components of the water cycle impacted by deforestation. Normally, tree roots soak up rainwater, ensuring an adequate amount of infiltration and reduced levels of runoff. However, deforestation promotes the opposite course of action

Question 33

What is the biochemical cycle?

Answer 33

cyclic exchange of nutrient material between living organisms and their no living environment

Question 34

How is the biosphere connected to the atmosphere?

Answer 34

atmosphere provides the biosphere with gases , heat, and sunlight (energy).

Question 35

how is the biosphere connected to the lithosphere?

Answer 35

A plant (biosphere) may dig its roots into the cracks in a rocks surface causing the rock (lithosphere) to weather and split.

Question 36

how is the biosphere connected to the hydrosphere?

Answer 36

The biosphere receives water from the hydrosphere

Question 37

What is the composition of a soil?

Answer 37

minerals - phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen)
water - crucial for plant hydration and nutrient transport
air - pockets of air alow for gas exchange
organic matter - includes both living (plant roots) and once living (decomposed leaves)
plants - living vegetation
insects and microorganisms - earthworms, bacteria fungi

Question 38

how is soil made (horizons) -

Answer 38

they are distinct layers of soil that develop beneath the surface of the Earth. These layers result from the combined actions of living organisms and percolating water. These horizons form over time due to natural processes such as weathering, erosion, and organic matter decomposition. Living creatures and other natural forces shape the soil, creating the layers

Question 39

how does soil formation relate to climate and vegetation?

Answer 39

Energy and precipitation play crucial roles in soil development.

Physical and chemical reactions occur on the parent material (the initial state of soil) due to climate.

Temperature affects the rate of chemical reactions, while precipitation influences leaching and nutrient movement.

Climate zones determine the types of vegetation that can thrive, which, in turn, impacts soil properties

Question 40

how soil formation relates to the level of infiltration

Answer 40

Soil texture, or the percentage of sand, silt, and clay in soil, is the major inherent factor affecting infiltration.

Question 41

how does soil formation relate to runoff and the water cycle?

Answer 41

The topography (soil formation) influences the way the hydrologic cycle affects earth’s material. Precipitation may run off the land surface causing soil erosion or it may percolate into the soil profiles and become part of the subsurface runoff, which eventually makes its way into the stream system.

Question 42

why is there a multitude of different soils throughout the world?

Answer 42

leaching
oxidization

Question 43

What is a biome?

Answer 43

A large grouping of ecosystems characterized by particular plant and animal types

Question 44

What is the relationship between climates, soils, and biomes?

Answer 44

Biomes are influenced by climatic factors but also the soils that are located below ground. Climate and plant type play an important role in soil formation.

Question 45

Why and how are human activities increasingly threatening biodiversity and the biosphere?

Answer 45

As the population grows, more resources have to be farmed to support the growing population, as a result, many ecosystems are stripped away of their resources.

overfishing, overhunting, overharvesting

pollution from pesticides, and plastic waste

Question 46

What is biogeochemical oxygen demand?

Answer 46

The amount of dissolved oxygen in a water body that is consumed by decay of organic pollutants added to the water

Question 47

What is biogeochemical cycle?

Answer 47

The environmental recycling process that passes essential substances such as carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients among the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and/or lithosphere