Final

Question 1

What are the three main phases of a grain plant’s life cycle?

Answer 1

Vegetative

Reproductive

Grain filling

Question 2

Is C3 or C4 respiration more efficient? Why?

Answer 2

C4 is more efficient
C3 is so basic that it has no mechanism to prevent energy waste

Question 3

What is the most commonly used type of clean (emission free) energy in the world right now?

Answer 3

Nuclear
Solar is the “holy grail” of clean energy, but nuclear accounts for about 16% of all energy used. Solar only accounts for 4%

Question 4

What happens to the surface temperature as we add more hypothetical layers to our
atmosphere?

Answer 4

The more atmospheric layers, the warmer the ground surface temperature
There are more opportunities to trap heat in a multi-layered atmosphere, but just one chance to let it escape into space

Question 5

Considering methylmercury risks, which fish are the safest for humans to eat?

Answer 5

Fish that are lower on the food chain (less mercury buildup)

Question 6

Why are Pacific cod not adapting well to climate change?

Answer 6

Pacific cod are single-batch breeders, which means they only lay one egg clutch per female fish, and all the eggs are laid the same time of year, which means the eggs require a very specific temperature range.

Question 7

What happens during grain filling?

Answer 7

The plant ovaries seal to the seed shell forming a simple fruit called a caryopsis, or grain

Question 8

What happens to quality and quantity of wheat grains as we increase exposure to atmospheric CO2?

Answer 8

There is more wheat, but it is less
nutritious/contains less protein

Question 9

What type of clean energy is considered by most to be the best?

Answer 9

Solar

Question 10

Why isn’t wind energy as good as solar?

Answer 10

Wind turbines are about 1/1000 as productive as solar panels.

Question 11

What are some ways that insects are affected by climate change?

Answer 11

Increased number of generations
Expansion of geographic range
Outbreak of plant diseases carried by insects
Increased overwintering survival
Desynchronization of insects and their natural enemies
Loss of synchrony with the host plant

Question 12

What is the difference between mitigation and adaptation?

Answer 12

Mitigation treats the problem, adaptation treats the symptoms

Question 13

What is the over-arching theme of climate justice?

Answer 13

Those least responsible for climate change face the greatest consequences of it

Question 14

In India, irrigation channels are sometimes built from glacial lakes to prevent explosive floods. This type of climate response would
be considered…

Answer 14

Adaptation

Question 15

Can CPUE change dramatically from one year to the next?

Answer 15

Yes

Question 16

Are Alaskan king crabs an example of a species that will likely have a dramatic uptick in CPUE from not being fished?

Answer 16

No, because their declining numbers are driven by global warming, not overfishing

Question 17

What is the name of the statistics value that tells us whether the difference between two medians is significant?

Answer 17

p-value

Question 18

Which type of photorespiration, C3 or C4, is more common? What does that mean for climate change?

Answer 18

C3 is more common (~70% of plants)
C3 plants don’t thrive in extremely warm climates, so global warming poses risks to lots of plants, including the ones we eat

Question 19

Why are purple sea urchins so unusual in their response to climate change?

Answer 19

Purple sea urchins have extremely rapid evolution to protect them from climate change (either evolving smaller exoskeletons or genetic mutations that protect them from ocean acidification)

Question 20

What is going on with baby sea turtles?

Answer 20

Sea turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination
During gestation/incubation, 88° or warmer produces females, 82° or cooler produces males
As surface temperatures of beaches around the world get hotter, we produce fewer and fewer male turtles, making it possible that sea turtles in the future will be unable to reproduce

Question 21

What are some indicators for life on a planet other than Earth?

Answer 21

Organically produced greenhouse gases such as methane, water

Question 22

Why are cephalopods going blind?

Answer 22

Lower oxygen in the water means less oxygen to fuel their complex brains and eyes