Climate Change Flashcards
Study for Unit 2, Climate Change, of Biology 1108 at UGA
Liebig’s Law of Minimums (Individuals)
Individuals will grow only up to the point it runs out of a vital resource, even if there are surpluses in other categories
Liebig’s Law of Minimums (Population)
Populations will grow only up to the point that they run out of a vital resource
Carrying Capacity (K)
The max size of a population that an ecosystem can sustain, based solely on the resources available and not by predators or competitors
Can carrying capacity change?
Carrying capacity changes as the amount of resources changes (for better or worse)
Can populations surpass carrying capacity?
Populations can also surpass carrying capacity but will return to it to maintain equilibrium (negative feedback loop)
What is not related to climate change?
examples: hole in the ozone layers, smog/pollution, acid rain, ocean acidification
Climate vs Temperature
Climate is long term averages (upward trend of ~30 years, intensity/frequency) while weather is an individualistic, singular event
What is the Greenhouse Effect
A natural process that warms the Earth’s surface by trapping heat from the sun in the atmosphere
The Process of Greenhouse Gases
1) Sunlight reaches the Earth’s atmosphere.
2) Some of the sunlight is reflected back into space.
3) The remaining sunlight is absorbed by the Earth’s land and oceans, heating them up.
4) The Earth radiates heat back into space.
5) Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap some of this heat, preventing it from escaping
How to alter the Greenhouse Effect?
Absorbed (by the atmosphere, land or water causing warming); Reflected (bounced back into space without causing warming); Radiated out into space (passively escapes)
Earth’s Energy Budget
Energy Entering = Energy Escaping = Stable Temperature
Milankovitch Cycles
Natural and very long-term fluctuations in sun intensity caused by changes in the Earth’s orbit that changes the Earth’s temperature, ~100,000 year cycles (responsible for Ice Age)
Albedo
Reflectivity of a surface
High vs Low Albedo
High Albedo: light colored, reflects more light/energy
Low Albedo: dark colored, absorbs more light/energy
Top Five Greenhouse Gases
Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Methane, Fluorinated Gases, Water Vapor
What is Global Warming Potential (GWP) determined by?
Determined by how well it absorbs light energy and residence time (how long it remains in the atmosphere)
Global Warming Potential of Different Gases
Carbon Dioxide: 1 GWP
Nitrous Oxide: ~300 GWP
Methane: ~20 GWP
Fluorinated Gases: ~ 5000 GWP
Albedo Feedback
a positive feedback loop that occurs when the Earth’s surface reflectivity changes, which in turn affects the climate
Water Vapor Feedback
A positive feedback loop that occurs when the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increases as the planet warms
Physics of Gases
warm air holds MORE water vapor; warm water holds LESS dissolved carbon dioxide gas
Ocean-Carbon Dioxide Gas Feedback
positive feedback loop where increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by the ocean, leading to changes in the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide
Permafrost Feedback
a positive feedback loop that occurs when thawing permafrost releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which then warms the planet and thaws more permafrost
Where is Earth warming the fastest?
The arctic regions
Carbon Cycle
How carbon moves and changes
Pools: Where carbon is stored in different forms
Fluxes (processes): How carbon moves between pools
Migration
Moving across the landscape (for climate change, organisms would move upwards or pole-wards)
Forest Migration
Trees have it the hardest because they have to find space
in the understory and need to make and disperse seeds to grow
Climate Envelopes
The set of environmental/climatic conditions that an organism requires in order to survive
Assisted Migration
Move plants and animals to places where we think they will be able to survive in the future to “speed up” their migration
Phenology Mismatch
When the timing of events for interacting species no longer co-occur
If they can’t migrate fast enough, or they have an insurmountable phenological mismatch, what are the options
Adapt/Evolve or Extinction
How much emissions stays in the atmosphere?
Only ~50% of emissions stay in the atmosphere, the rest go either to the land or the ocean
What is kelp?
Kelp are microalgae (convergent evolution of a plant-like body plan)
Abiotic Characteristics of a Kelp Forest
cold water all year (Northern California), highly dissolved nutrients (upwelling due to water currents), high dissolved oxygen gas
What is the relationship between temperature of water and gas?
All dissolved gases are lower in warmer waters including carbon dioxide and oxygen gas
Where do aquatic animals get their oxygen?
Animals like fish, shrimp, starfish, plankton etc. get their oxygen from the water
Marine and Terrestrial Net Primary Production (NPP)
Measure of plant biomass
Where are the most productive marine ecosystems located?
They’re not near the equator, but rather colder places
Regulator
Organisms with the ability to keep internal environment constant regardless of external environment
Conformer
Organisms in which their internal environment matches external environment
Thermoregulator
Organisms that have internal temperature control, good for enzyme functions (range of temperatures that keep it from denaturation)
Thermoconformer
An organism that allows its body temperature to fluctuate with the temperature of its environment, less energy expended
Adaptations for being too hot
Sweat
Widening of blood vessels (vasodilation)
Panting
Burrow
Big Ears
Adaptations for being too cold
Shivering
Vasoconstriction
Increase metabolic rate
Goosebumps
Limit blood flow to extremities
How are metabolic rates measured?
Oxygen consumption
Thermoneutral Zone
The temperature range in which metabolic rate does not need to rise to maintain body temperature
Homeotherm
Have a very small range of tolerable internal temperatures
Poikilotherm
Have a wide tolerable range of internal temperatures, with slower biological processes
Endotherm
internal temp can be controlled by altering metabolic rate (birds, mammals), can thermoregulate
Ectotherm
body temperature can not controlled with metabolism (reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates), can thermoregulate
Sea Otter
maximize heat through thermogenesis, skips the step of making ATP and goes straight to heat, needs a lot of food to maintain both metabolism and thermogenesis, are endothermic homeotherms
Thermogenesis
The process of heat production in organisms in which the body raises temperature or energy output by increasing metabolism
Marine vs Terrestrial Mammals
Marine mammals have higher metabolic requirements than terrestrial mammals because water sucks the heat from them
Homeostasis
A dynamic equilibrium which is actively regulated to maintain a variable at an acceptable/tolerable range (active regulatory process - negative feedback loop)
Osmolarity
Salinity (increased osmolarity = salty whereas decreased osmolarity = fresh)
Estuary
Where oceans and rivers meet, has fluctuations in salinity (high tide = high salinity)
Osmoregulator vs Osmoconformer
Osmoregulator remains constant salinity; Osmoconformer has a positive relationship for salinity
Cellular Respiration
The process by which cells convert chemical energy from nutrients like glucose into usable energy (ATP) by breaking down oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide and water
First Law of Thermodynamics
Energy can be transferred and transformed, but not created or destroyed
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Every energy transfer or transformation increases the entropy (disorder) of the universe; everytime energy gets transferred, there’s always a little energy that gets released as heat.
Trophic Levels
The energetic relationships between organisms and how far it is energetically removed from photosynthesis (not a perfect transfer of energy)
Autotroph vs. Heterotroph Metabolism
Autotrophs: Inorganic C (carbon dioxide)
Heterotrophs: Organic C (C and H)
Trophic Efficiency
Each step up the trophic level, only ~10% is retained
What are plankton?
Organisms (mostly microorganisms) that drift with the tides
What are phyto-plankton?
plant-plankton, photosynthetic microorganisms/algae, contribute to about 1/2 of the atmospheric oxygen
What are zoo plankton?
usually just small invertebrates, eat phytoplankton or other zoo plankton
Otter Energy Budget
rest, feed, groom, swim; try to minimize energy intensive activities like grooming and swimming
Net Energy
energy gained - energy spent
Optimal Forge Theory
Maximize energy gain by maximizing net energy
Prey Switching
As one prey option runs out, the organisms switches to another based on preferred order
Trophic Cascade
When one trophic level changes dramatically which causes big effects throughout food webs
Eutrophication
Caused by nutrient pollution by runoff leading to an excess in nitrogen and phosphorus. In waterways, there will be low levels of dissolved oxygen, excess primary producers, and death of other organisms
Relationship Between Oxygen and Phosphorus
Dissolved Oxygen and Phosphorus are inversely proportional in an environment with eutrophication
Solution for Eutrophication
Reduction of fertilizer, erosion control, riparian (river) buffers
Biomagnification
Increase of toxins/substances in the tissue of organisms, as the trophic levels of the food web increases
Bioaccumilation
Toxins build up in an individual as it ages
Alternate Stable States
Ecosystems can have multiple states of stability that are difficult to transition out of (urchin barren vs kelp forest)
Why are kelp forest preferable to urchin barrens?
Carbon sequestration, vertical complexity, ecosystem stability, economic importance
Ocean Acidification
More CO2 in the atmosphere, more CO2 in the ocean due to diffusion, which results in the basic pH of the ocean to become more acidic
Shell Construction
carbonic acid “steals” carbonate need by marine organisms for their shells so they will dissolve (takes a lot of energy to make, needed for survival)
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) Metal
Stored in fatty tissue of organism that is accumulated through time and passed through blood and tissue
