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Ecology > Lecture 7 - RH > Flashcards

Lecture 7 - RH Flashcards

1
Q

What does bathymetry mean?

A

Topogrophy of the sea floor

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2
Q

What are the bathymetric zones of an ocean?

A

Intertidal zone

Neritic zone (rooted plants growing out into continental shelf)

Oceanic zone (contains the deeper sections of the ocean)

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3
Q

What is the continental shelf?

A

The point before the big dropoff seen typically before the deep part of the ocean

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4
Q

What is the bathyal shelf?

A

The slope that follows the continental shelf and leads to the abyssal zone. It separates the continental shelf from the abyssal zone.

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5
Q

What is the abyssal zone of the ocean?

A

Makes up most of the ocean floor. Contains trenches called deep-sea trenches.

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6
Q

How deep is the abyssal zone usually?

A

Between 2000 meters and 4000 meters

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7
Q

How deep can deep-sea trenches be?

A

11000 meters

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8
Q

How deep is the sunlit water?

A

Up to 200 meters

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9
Q

How deep is the twilight zone?

A

Up to 1000 meters

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10
Q

How deep is the sunless water?

A

greater than 1000 meters deep

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11
Q

What separates the neritic zone from the oceanic zone?

A

The continental shelf

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12
Q

What makes life hard to conceive in hydrothermal vents?

A

Releases very hot water (>400 degrees) from beneath the crust

Dissolved minerals precipitate immediately (high concentrations of minerals near the vent)

High concentration of hydrogen sulfide and other gasses)

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13
Q

What kind of species live in hydrothermal vents?

A

Endemic species with unique adaptations for high-temperature, sulfide-rich toxic water.

Chemosynthetic bacteria are the producers and are located within the organisms and live symbiotically

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14
Q

Why is salinity highest in the subtropics?

A

Higher evaporation than precipitation in subtropics

Tropics have lots of rain so they have lower salinity

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15
Q

What buffering system is found in both freshwater and ocean systems? Where is it more effective?

A

The Carbonate-Buffer system. It is more effective in oceans.

pH in oceans is 7.5 - 8.4 and is more stable than in fresh water systems

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16
Q

What is the pycnocline?

A

The sharp change in density between surface water and deep water

17
Q

Do oceans undergo inverse stratification?

A

No, because of salt content the density doesn’t reach a maximum at 4 degrees but rather keeps increasing with lower temperatures.

18
Q

Why is salinity higher at the surface in lower latitudes?

A

Low latitudes have warmer water and so salty water is still less dense than the water below

19
Q

What is the effect of high tide and low tide on organisms living in estuaries?

A

Tides affect the salinities that the organisms are typically exposed to making certain adaptations (eg osmoregulation) important for their survival

20
Q

What causes coastal upwelling?

A

Wind blows along coast and coriolis deflection moves water offshore or onshore.

21
Q

Why is upwelling so important?

A

The flow of water brings nutrients to the surface and these nutrients stimulate biological productivity

22
Q

Describe the coriolis effect:

A

The coriolis effect describes a phenomenon caused by the earth’s spin where the relative rate of spin is faster near the equator than it is near the north and south pole.

The earth’s greater spin at the equator means fluids will move in a clockwise direction north of the equator and counter-clockwise south of the equator.

The movement of water onshore or offshore depends on the location of the continent and the movement of the water.

23
Q

Where is the greatest rate of upwelling?

A

at the equator

24
Q

Why does Australia have little upwelling?

A

Due to the current patterns around Australia.

25
Q

Where are fisheries most productive?

A

in upwelling zones

26
Q

What causes spring tides?

A

Gravitational effect of the sun and moon are additive and on the same side

27
Q

What causes neap tides?

A

Sun pulls on water in places it would otherwise have been low tide (moon gravitational force vector directly perpendicular to sun gravitational force vector)

28
Q

What affects tidal range?

A

Lunar cycle (neap/spring cycles)

Coastal geography

Macrotidal regions caused by coastal channeling

29
Q

What is the trophic cascade?

A

An increase in predators causes the lower trophic level to have fewer members and so the next trophic level has more members and so on

30
Q

Why do intertidal zones have zonation with the life that live on them?

A

Exposure time to air and to water. Organisms that can tolerate stress better survive more

31
Q

What physical stresses need to be tolerated in intertidal zones?

A

Overheating

Desiccation

Wave forces

Salinity stress

Oxygen stress

Reduced feeding time

UV exposure

Competition for space and food

Predation/grazing

Larval settlement

32
Q

What are the phyiscal stresses in estuaries?

A

Salinity

Temperature

Soft substrate

Wave action and currents

Turbid water, suspended sediments

Oxygen rick in the water column but poor in the substrate

33
Q

What drives food webs in estuaries?

A

Detritus from rooted grasses (seagrasses or marsh plants)

34
Q

What are the different feeding methods of zoobenthos?

A

Deposit feeding (eat sediment, digest all organisms and organic matter)

Suspension feeders (capture suspended plankton)

Herbivores (eat live algae or plants)

Predators

Scavengers

35
Q

Why are salt marshes anoxic?

A

Microbial breakdown of organic matter

36
Q

How are Australian salt marshes different to salt marshes around the world?

A

Australian salt marshes have lots of bare mud and presence of taller plants such as spartina and sclerostegia.

Australian salt marshes are less marine and found at higher elevation

Ecology (22 decks)

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