Exam 4 Flashcards
Capacity to sustain plant life
Undergone soil forming processes
is an open system with formation factors maintaining the system
Soil
What are soil formation factors?
Natrual factor: Climate Organics (biology) Relief (slope steepness) and topography Parent material (substrate composition) Time CLORPT
What are the different soil horizons?
A, E, B, C, and R horizon
Humus and clay particles
provide essential chemical links between soil nutrients and plants
A horizon
Composed of coarse sand, silt and resistant minerals Fine particles removed by eluviation (leaching, or removed by water)
E horizon
Composed of accumulations of clays, aluminum, and iron by illuviation
B horizon(subsoil)
Weathered bedrock or regolith
Plant roots or soil microogranisms are rare
C horizon
Rock horizon
R horizon
What soil horizons are Solum = true definable soil of the profile
A, E, & B, soil horizons
What are the different soil properties and how do they differ?
Suggests composition and chemical makeup
Can be deceptive as different compositions and makeups can have similar colors
Tropical soils in hot and humid areas
Oxisols
Single largest soil order in the world
Aridisols
rassland soils World’s best land for agriculture
Mollisols
Spatially the most widespread Moderately weathered forest soils
Alfisols
Highly weathered forest soils
Lower CEC, lower soil fertility
Ultisols
A complex network of interconnected food chains is known as a _____
Food web
What three natural elements are the most abundant in living matter?
Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon
get all their carbon from CO2 (plants)
Autotrophs
rely on producers or other consumers for their carbon (animals)
Heterotrophs
bacteria and fungi that digest organic debris and wastes outside their bodies
Decomposers
the consumption of stored energy (photosynthesis in reverse)
Respiration
in which the cleared area undergoes a series of changes in species composition as newer communities of plants and animals replace older ones ex. Kilauea volcano in Hawaii
Succession
During lecture 2, I discussed “5 Reasons for Seasons”. One of these is Earth’s revolution where it completes one full ellipse around the Sun every year. Please name three more and describe what they are.
3 more reasons for seasons is Rotation, Tilt of Earth’s axis, and Axial parallelism.
Rotation is Earth rotates on axis once every 24
hours (day). Tilt of Earth’s axis is Axis is tilted 23.5° from plane of ecliptic. Axial Parallelism is Axis maintains alignment during orbit around the Sun.
Las Vegas is located in a desert climate. A) Name and describe the three climate controls of deserts identified in Chapter 15 notes, and B) identify which of these best explains why Las Vegas has an arid environment (justify your answer)?
The three climate controls are Areas dominated by subtropical high-pressure cells, between 15-35 degrees both N and S attitude, Rain shadow areas on the lee side of mountain ranges and Areas at great distance from moisture-bearing air masses such as Asia.
Las Vegas has such an arid environment because of the mountains the mountains we are surrounded by.
1) Define both physical and chemical weathering, and 2) name and define one example of each that was presented as part of the lecture notes or covered in the textbook
Physical and chemical weathering include the breaking and disintegration of rock.
Physical weathering involves mechanical processes while chemical weathering is the decomposition of minerals via some chemical reaction.
An example of physical weathering includes frost wedging where water gets in joints, freezes, and expands the gap further.
An example of chemical weathering includes dissolution where minerals dissolve into solution (e.g., salt dissolves in water).
- Draw the rock cycle and describe the processes involved. Give one example of each rock type (e.g., an example of a sedimentary rock is sandstone).
The rock cycle can go from sediment - sedimentary - metamophic - magma - igneous - sediment.
The rock cycle is the name for the continuous alteration of earth materials rock from one rock type to another. As you can see in the cycle down above it, it is just continuous patter where earth materials go from one to another and then back to the beginning. This how we get different rock types. An Example of igneous rock type is granite, Metamorphic is Marble and Sedimentary is Sandstone.
Explain the theory of plate tectonics. As part of your answer, A) define the terms lithosphere and asthenosphere, and B) identify the three types of plate boundaries.
Plate tectonics is the theory that the lithosphere is divided into a number of plates that float independently over the mantle and along whose boundaries occur the formation of new crust, the building of mountains, and the seismic activity that case earthquakes.
Lithosphere is Rigid rock comprising the crust (oceanic and continental) as well as the underlying rock
Athenosphere is Plastic or mushy upper part of the mantle
Three type of plate boundaries are Convergent, Divergent and Transform.
Imagine that you have the choice of purchasing a home located along a meandering river. Home A is located on the inside of the river bend, and Home B is located on the outside of the river bend. Please select which home you would purchase based solely on your desire for the house not to fall into the river as the meander moves over time. As part of your answer, A) define the terms aggradation and degradation, and B) correctly identify which process is associated with the inside and the outside of a river bend. Don’t forget to tell me which house you would purchase.
I would buy home A that is located on the inside of the river of the bend because that is where aggradation occurs so the house won’t be swept into the stream. Degradation is was occurs on the outside of the stream and is not where I would want build my house. Aggradation is the deposit of sediments, slower velocity where as Degradation is the removal of sediments and rock and has faster velocity.
balancedmixturegoodforplants(sandyloamidealfor
agriculture b/c of its water holding characterisitcs)
loam
A measure of fertility
High CEC – High fertility
Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) –
High base cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+)
Linked to salinity
Alkalinity
H+ ions stimulate acid formation
Accelerates chemical weathering and nutrient depletion
Acidity
soils do not _____ nor can they be ________
reproduce
recreate
a self-sustaining association of living plants and animals and their non-living physical environment (vary in size: small – large)
ecosystem
non living organisms
Abiotic
living organisms
Biotic
subgroup of an ecosystem; formed by the interactions among populations of living organisms
community
the type of environment where an organism resides (adaptation)
habitat
the function or occupation of a life form within a given community
Niche
no two species occupy the same niche successfully in a stable condition
Competitive exclusion principle
two or more species exist together in an overlapping relationship
Symbiotic
shared support over an extended period of time Examples: bees and flowers, clownfish and sea anemone
Mutualistic
a relationship that is one-way and detrimental to one of the organisms over time
Parasitic
What capture diffuse sunlight and convert it into an important food base for all life?
Plants
small pores on the leaves that open and close with the needs of the plants
Stomata
Takes place in structures within green leaves called chloroplasts
Photosynthesis
the consumption of stored energy (photosynthesis in reverse)
Respiration
net photosynthesis for entire ecosystem; amount of stored chemical energy ecosystem generates
Net primary productivity
The balance of the two is called
net photosynthesis
zonation of plants with altitude that roughly corresponds to increasing latitude
Life zone concept
refers to physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the environment that determine species distributions and population size
Limiting factors
The most abundant natural elements in living matter are
hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and carbon (C)
Energy flows from producers to consumers and eventually detritivores (bottom feeders). Such energy flow through the system is called
food chain
is a complex network of interconnected food chains.
food web
When a community is disturbed enough that most, or all, of its species are eliminated, a process known as
ecological succession
An area of bare rock or disturbed site with no vestige (or trace) of a former community can be a site for
primary succession
which occurs when some aspect of a previously functioning community is still present
secondary succession
