Intro and Ocean Exploration Flashcards
Fossils in the burgess shale are from the ___ period.
fossils of ____ can be found here and at Sask River Crossing- this means ___ were once here
Cambrian
corals- oceans
Explain the fossils found in the Ediacara Hills in Australia
a group of animals- we don’t really know what they are= Ediacaran animals
- may have given rise to our current aquatic animals
Stromatolites=
bacterial mounds/ mats that photosynthesize
- first lifeform
- photosynthesized= increased atmospheric O2 on earth
Ecology=
how organisms interact with the environment
- patterns of diversity and abundance
Biodiversity=
what species live in a habitat, and why so many or few
- how do they make a living
Functional biology=
how organisms move, feed, reproduce
- what adaptations organisms have to the enviros they live in
____ began the observation of natural history
Aristotle
____ first developed a systematic classification of organisms
- Naming scheme- genus and species
Linnaeus
What did Georges Cuvier propose?
- system of phyla- organize living and fossil species into groups
- also helped established the first system of describing benthic habitats (biostratigraphy)
What’s the earliest record of navigation of the oceans?
Polynesian explorers who used stars and currents
1 degree latitude= __ minutes= ___ nautical miles
1 minute = 60 ____= ___ nautical mile
1 degree latitude= 60 minutes= 60 nautical miles
1 minute = 60 seconds= 1 nautical mile
What was the issue with clocks in early ocean navigation?
What was the solution?
the clocks weren’t accurate on ships because the pendulum moved
solution= Harrison’s chronometers: run by springs instead of pendulums so that gravity has no effect
A ____ gives the angle of the sun above the horizon
- use the almanac’s known position of stars to find your latitude
- can also predict tides!
sexant
list 3 tools used to navigate the oceans
- GEE: generalized estimating equation- Britain WWII
- Loran: low-frequency radio signals from fixed beacons- US WWII
- GPS: global positioning system and GPS map
1 and 2 aren’t used anymore
Edward Forbes developed which hypothesis? Why is this so important
Azoic theory= there’s no life deeper than 300 fathoms
important b/c this was the first major marine scientific hypothesis
Who disproved Forbes’ Azoic theory? How?
Micheal Sars (Norwegian marine biologist)
- described specimens he dredged from deeper than 300 fathoms in norway’s fjords
What’s the theory of coral reef subsidence? Who proposed it?
pictured reefs as a balance of growth of reef and sinking of seafloor (islands sink, reefs come up)
Charles Darwin
What was the HMS Challenger? What’s one big thing they found?
an expedition ship sent out to explore the oceans (all but the arctic). 4 year circumnavigation of the globe
They discovered the Marianas Trench! Had 300km of hemp rope for sounding
Data from the challenger refuted Haeckel’s Bathybius theory
1. what was the theory
2. how did they refute it?
- life arose from a primordial slime in the oceans (mold/ amoeba)
- it was actually marine snow (organic material that’s actually food)
What are 5 improvements in technology that has helped with marine exploration?
- vessels: eg JP Tully, Canada research vessel
- Submersibles
- Aquarius Underwater Sea Lab in Florida- 6 week underwater research stays
- Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) and Gliders (not tethered). eg. Nereus Woods Hole: imploded at 9977m
- Cabled Undersea Observatory: huge cable- info and internet
