extreme events to warming drought impacts

Question 1

extreme events become more frequent with climate change because of an increase in…

Answer 1

mean - warmer temps overall = hot weather more likely

variance - more variance in climate means more extremes are more likely

Question 2

abruptness

Answer 2

magnitude/duration

Question 3

winter trophic system

Answer 3

3 herbivores:
- svalbard reindeer
- svalbard rock ptarmigan
- sibling vole
1 consumer
- arctic fox
large population fluctuation

Question 4

natural external influences on climate

Answer 4

changes in amount of particles in the atmosphere from volcanoes
sun’s energy
both have influenced past climate

Question 5

internal influences on climate

Answer 5

interactions between ocean and atmosphere e.g. el nino

north atlantic oscillation

Question 6

north atlantic oscillation

Answer 6

dominant driver of winter climate in the north atlantic hemisphere
wet winters in europe
cold and dry winters in n. canada and greenland

Question 7

liquidity

Answer 7

water molecules stick together vie weak hydrogen bonds

water is liquid at unusually high temperatures

Question 8

marine photoautotrophs

Answer 8

capture about 3% of the sun’s energy that hits the sea

Question 9

macrophytes (seaweeds)

Answer 9

benthic autotrophs (live at bottom layer of ocean/lake)
need to be attached to seabed
need light

Question 10

phytoplankton

Answer 10

single floating cells
occur throughout oceans
produce about half the oxygen in the atmosphere

Question 11

4 major classes of marine phytoplankton

Answer 11

cyanobacteria, haptophytes, dinoflagellates, diatoms

Question 12

problems for phytoplankton

Answer 12

phytoplankton tend to sink = life threatening

bigger cells sink faster

Question 13

overcoming 2 layered ocean dilemma

Answer 13

mixing of surface waters by wind
coriolis effect caused by earths rotation
surface currents driven by ocean to atmosphere interactions

Question 14

thermohaline circulation

Answer 14

cold water sinks near poles and moves equatorwards through the deep oceans
tropical water is lifted, mixed or welled towards surface
at surface it is heated and moves towards poles

Question 15

native plant species decline (uk)

Answer 15

28% native plant species have decreased

median change +7

Question 16

native breeding birds decline

Answer 16

54% native bird species declined

median change -2

Question 17

native butterfly decline

Answer 17

71% native butterfly species decline

median change -13

Question 18

resistance

Answer 18

the ability of the plant community to maintain composition and biomass

Question 19

resilience

Answer 19

rate of recovery

Question 20

PCA

Answer 20

principle component analysis

• summarises plant community composition
• plots close together have a similar composition

Question 21

wytham

Answer 21

early successional state

community more dynamic and prone to change

Question 22

why is buxton resistant to change

Answer 22

infertile system - slow growing

Question 23

space occupancy

Answer 23

major barrier to change in systems of long lived plants

Question 24

climate envelope

Answer 24

limit of range based on tolerance to climatic variables

Question 25

climate velocity

Answer 25

the speed you need to move to keep pace with climate change

• slowest in mountain biome
• fastest for flat biomes

Question 26

normalised difference vegetation index

Answer 26

leaf cover or greenness or photosynthetic capacity

Question 27

vegetation sensitivity index

Answer 27

how responsive productivity was to inter annual climate variability

Question 28

elevated CO2 increases:

Answer 28

light saturated carbon uptake
diurnal c assimilation
growth and above-ground production

Question 29

elevated CO2 decreases:

Answer 29

specific leaf area

stomatal conductance

Question 30

3 directions of responses to climate:

Answer 30

• physiology
• space
• time (phenology)

Question 31

permafrost

Answer 31

24% land in N. hemisphere