Intro Lecture Flashcards
What is Biodiversity?
the total number and variety of living things in a given area
What is ontario’s biodiversity
greater than 100,000 species
Abiotic Vs. Biotic
Abiotic: means not living, things like temperature, wind, precipitation, bedrock, Glacial deposits etc.
Biotic: is living things, plants and animals.
What is sedimentary rock?
produced from sediments under oceans (and animals in oceans such as corals) mostly younger rock (400-500 million years old)
What is limestone?
A common sedimentary rock. Contains calcium (calcium chloride)=basic pH
What is igneous?
Produced by magma hardening
What is Granite?
Common type of igneous that hardened underground; lots of silicate minerals so acidic pH
What is Basalt?
hardened aboveground (volcanic); low in silicate minerals= basic pH. older rock most are 1-3 billion years old.
What is metamorphic rock?
made from pre existing rock modified by heat and pressure; maintains chemical and physical properties of its parent rock
What is Gneiss?
it is metamorphic rock formed from granite
What is marble?
Metamorphic rock formed from limestone, very old limestone so marble is 1-3billion years old. (marble effervesces)
What is a calciphile?
an organism that loves calcium
What is the test for calcium?
10% hydrochloric acid (HCl) +calcium carbonate (CaCO3) =water (H2O) +
carbon dioxide (CO2)+ calcium chloride (CaCl2).
The CO2 gas and water is why limestone effervesces when HCl is dropped on it.
Where is sedimentary rock found?
It is flat, and underlies lowlands
Where is Metamorphic and Igneous rock found?
Usually underlie hilly terrains known as highlands
What is a physiographic region?
Based on underlying rock type and lay of the land
What is an ecological or forest region?
Based on dominant canopy forming trees.
Water is a major force that:
Creates habitats, carries, sorts and deposits material by weight and size
What had a major effect on Ontario during the ice age (pleistocene)
Glaciers, they depressed the land (rebound=isostatic rebound), removed and deposited materials, meltwater from the receding glaciers created lakes)
What are some signs of glaciers?
Striations (scratches on rocks) and erratics (large boulders dropped onto a different bedrock)
What are lichens?
symbotic relationship between algae and fungi (or cyanobacteria). Lichens attain all nutrients from the air.
What are Crustose lichens?
they colonize bare rocks and are a pioneer species.
where do Arboreal lichens grow?
on trees
What do mosses and lichens initiate?
succession
Where do colonizing species arrive from?
Glacial refugia
White birch and poplar are what kind of species?
Shade tolerant pioneer species. under them grow shade tolerant species such as spruces, maples etc. that can eventually form climax forest
What is a climax forest?
is a self sustaining and self replacing forest system.
