Exam 2 Flashcards
(44 cards)
Descriptive Studies
Unique properties of water
High heat capacity
Occurs in 3 states
Universal Solvent
High heat capacity
can take a lot of heat without changing temperature very much. This is important because it limits the amount of energy needed to maintain body temp
What 3 states do water occur in
liquid, solid, gas
universal solvent
dissolves more things than any other liquid on the planet. This is important because all nutrients are dissolved in water and carried to cells
Major storage areas of water
atmosphere, freshwater lakes and rivers, oceans, ground water
major processes in the water cycle
precipitation, evaporation, infiltration, condensation, transpiration
precipitation
rain and snow and stuff
evaporation
water gets hot, turns to gas
infiltration
water soaks into the ground
transpiration
water sucked up from the ground by trees and allowed to escape from leaves
water table
the line between saturated and unsaturated ground
aquifer
an underground water body with good quality water for human use
ultimate source of energy for stream flow
the sun (water evaporates, then it rains, then the water eventually ends up in the river)
where does water come from in stream during drought
groundwater
watershed
an area of land where all water drains to one area
significance of ammonia
mainly made of Nitrogen, important nutrients for phytoplankton
significance of phosphorus
important nutrients for phytoplanketon
significance of fluorescence
fluorescence comes from the chlorophyll in plants, high numbers of fluorescence means that there is a lot of phytoplankton in a water body
origins of lakes
glaciers carving holes in the ground, rifts between tectonic plates, craters (like the blown off top of the volcano in Crater lake), reservoirs
typical food chain of lakes and ponds
producers (plants/phytoplankton), consumers (zooplankton), secondary consumers (small fish), etc.
eutrophic system
lots of nutrients in the water! generally look pretty gross, but lots of life are in them
oligotrophic systems
look very pretty, but there is almost no life in them due to a lack of nutrients
problems caused by excess nutrient enrichment
algal blooms can completely deplete the oxygen levels of a water body
