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Ecol 417 > Quiz 2 Lecture 1 > Flashcards

Quiz 2 Lecture 1 Flashcards

1
Q

What are aquatic communities and ecosystems?

A

ecosystems found in bodies of water- such as oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands

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2
Q

What is the definition of freshwater ecosystems?

A

Are aquatic ecosystems with low salinity, typically less than 0.5 ppt

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3
Q

What are the three things freshwater ecosystems can be classified as?

A

Lentic- slow moving water, including pools, ponds, and lakes
Lotic- characterized by faster-moving water, like streams or rivers
Wetlands- areas of land where the soil is saturated for some part of the year

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4
Q

What two traits are lotic freshwater ecosystems classified by?

A
  • Water bodies that move in one direction from higher to lower elevations
    -Have high oxygen levels and varying temperatures
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5
Q

What four traits are lentic freshwater ecosystems characterized by?

A

-Standing freshwater bodies that vary in size and depth
-Have stratified water columns
-have varying temperature and nutrient levels in their “layers”

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6
Q

What are freshwater wetlands characterized by?

A

-Is the interphase between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
-Is characterized by permanent/seasonal water saturation at or near the surface

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7
Q

What are the four types of terrestrial wetlands? Describe them

A

Shallow open water wetlands: have standing/slow moving water
Marshes: Wetlands consisting of soft stemmed plants like cattails.
Swamps: Have woody plants (trees and shrubs)
Fens: Are nutrient rich, have peat, and are fed by groundwater
Bogs: are rain fed, have peat accumulation, sphagnum moss, and are acidic

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8
Q

Draw the wetland classes and types diagram, slide 8

A
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9
Q

How much water are in shallow open water wetlands?

A

Less than 2 m deep

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10
Q

What are the 3 characteristics of the plant community in shallow open water wetlands?

A

It’s dominated by floating plants, less than 25% of the surface is covered by plants, the plants grow on either mineral or organic substrate

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11
Q

Where are shallow open water wetlands usually found?

A

at the margin of a swamp, marsh, fen, or bog, and open water

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12
Q

What are areas that have deeper than 2m of water classified as? what are they characterized by?

A

As deep water aquatic systems, have completely submerged plants (ex: ponds, lakes)

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13
Q

What is the difference between a pong and a lake from a plant growth perspective?

A

light reaches the bottom of a pond, but very little or no light reaches the bottom of a lake

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14
Q

Are swamps lotic or lentic aquatic systems?

A

can be either

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15
Q

What are characteristics of swamps?

A

-Dominated by woody plants
-trees grow on mineral soil (rich in nutrients with neutral to slightly acidic pH)
-They can be coniferous, hardwood, or shrub swamp
-The rhizosphere is underwater (usually)
-peat accumulation is low (mosses absent)
-organic matter is produced by decayed herbaceous and woody plants

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16
Q

Swamps are usually formed through what process? If the process proceeds what happens?

A

Paludification, which can form peatlands

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17
Q

What kind of plant are marshes dominated by?

A

emergent graminoids (sedges, rushes, and grasses)

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18
Q

What are the two diff types of marshes?

A

freshwater or saline/brackish marshes

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19
Q

What determines the dominant plant in marshes? What determines the plant community layout?

A

water chemistry
depth and wave action

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20
Q

What is plant productivity like in marshes and what does it provide?

A

it’s very high, this give habitat for breeding birds and wildlife

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21
Q

Is flooding common in marshes?

A

yes

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22
Q

Why is peat accumulation low in marshes?

A

bcuz mosses are absent

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23
Q

Is organic matter produced in marshes? How?

A

yes, bcuz of gathering of decayed herbaceous plants

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24
Q

What is the different between shallow open water wetlands and marshes: defined by the areas of plant coverage?

A

the area covered by the emergent plants are greater than 25%

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25
Q

What are fens?

A

wetlands with organic matter depth greater than 40 cm.

26
Q

What is usually the nutrient content of fens?

A

are primarily nutrient rich (with neutral to alkaline pH, but intermediate and nutrient poor fens also exist

27
Q

What are minerotrophic fens?

A

These are fens connected to groundwater and geogenous water from the landscapes around them

28
Q

What are the dominant plants in fens?

A

Sedges, grasses, and brown mosses

29
Q

What are the two classifications of fens?

A

graminoid or open fen/ shrubby or treed fen

30
Q

What are the dominant peatland types in the boreal forest?

A

fens

31
Q

What are Bogs?

A

are nutrients and mineral-poor peatlands w acidic pH (oligotrophic)

32
Q

Why are bogs oligotrophic?

A

Because they’re isolated from external sources of groundwater and rely solely on ppt as a source of nutrient and water

33
Q

What do bogs have that make them important for carbon storage in the form of organic matter?

A

Have a deep peat layer

34
Q

What are the keystone vegetation species in bogs?

A

sphagnum mosses

35
Q

Draw a peat bog, slide 15

A
36
Q

How much of Alberta’s land area is covered by wetlands?

A

20%

37
Q

What are the two major zones for wetlands in Alberta?

A

The white zone and green zone

38
Q

What are the distinct uses of the white zone versus the green zone?

A

Green area:
Less settled
oil sands
conventional oil & gas
coal mining
forestry
some agriculture

White area:
settled
agriculture
conventional oil&gas
urban

39
Q

How much of alberta’s land is covered by green wetland zone? What does it consist mostly of?

A

60% of Alberta’s land, consists mostly of crown land

40
Q

What are the dominant types of wetland found in the green wetland zone?

A

bogs and fens

41
Q

What are the three primary uses of the green zones?

A

bogs and fens

42
Q

The white wetland zone covers how much of albertas land? who owns it?

A

Covers 40% of Alberta’s land and is primarily privately owned, includes southern and central parts of Alberta

43
Q

What kind of wetlands are in the white wetland zone?

A

prairie pothole wetlands, marshes, swamps, and shallow open-water wetlands

44
Q

Most wetlands in the white wetland zone have been drained for what?

A

agriculture, urban development, and settlement

45
Q

What are five disturbances to the green zone?

A

Oil and gas mining
Forestry operations
Linear infrastructure
Hydroelectric development
Climate change impacts

46
Q

What are five disturbances to the white zone?

A

Agricultural drainage
Urban development
pollution
fragmentation for infrastructure
climate change impacts

47
Q

What does the Alberta Wetland Policy govern?

A

wetland conservation and restoration in the Green and White zones, maintains ecological services

48
Q

Why does the greenzone focus more on wetland conservation?

A

Due to it’s lower population density and presence of natural resource industries

49
Q

Why does the white zone focus more on wetland restoration?

A

because wetlands are critical for water management and biodiversity

50
Q

What is the alberta wetland policy goal and 4 outcomes?

A

Goal is to conserve, restore, protect, and manage Alberta’s wetlands to keep up the benefits they provide to earth, us, and economy.

Outcomes:
1. Wetlands of highest values are protected
2. Wetlands and their benefits are conserved and restored in areas where losses have been high
3. Wetlands are managed by minimizing neg impacts, and if needed raplacing lost wetland value
4. Wetland management considers regional context.

51
Q

What is the concept of relative wetland value?

A

Alberta’s wetland not all equal in value, functions and benefits will be used to inform their management:
wetland functions: Biodiversity, water quality improvement, flood mitigation
Wetland benefits:
Education, recreation, and cultural significance

52
Q

How does relative wetland abundance inform the value assessment?

A

In areas of low abundance and high loss, the value of individual wetlands may be higher, in the opposit the value might be lower as manages loss could be sustainable

53
Q

What is the mitigation system?

A

Avoid
minimize
replace- last resort when other’s dont work

54
Q

How do wetland get replaced? how does this work?

A

through the replacement system
1. Propnent pays money based on the restorative and non restorative measures to be relived of liability
2. Permittee-responsible compensation
-PRoponent takes up responsibilt for a replacement program, the option have a range of restorative and non-restorative measures with the restorative being the priority

55
Q

What is the replacement matrix?

A

Value of lost wetland and value of replacement wetland, and uses it to give ratios of hectares of wetland

56
Q

How much of the land is covered by oil sand that can’t be mined?

A

97%

57
Q

What is the ecosystem functions of boreal peatlands (4)?

A

Cultural significance to indigenous people

Carbon sequestration and climate regulation

Habitat Provision for wildlife and birds

Water quality and flow regulation

58
Q

What traces of disturbance are left by oil and gas on wetlands? (6)

A

Shift/loss of vegetation and/or productivity

Altered hydrology/water flow

Change in soil physical and chemical properties

Change in carbon dynamics

Habitat fragmentation

Loss of function and value

59
Q

What does the environmental protection and enhancement act do?

A

supports and promotes protection enhancement and wise use of the environment

60
Q

What are past reclamation practices in peatland settings? What’s the issues w them?

A

a- Keep mineral, reclaim as a forested site- bad as it isn’t the same land capability
b- remove all mineral fill, and use moss layer transfer technique to revegetate peat- capital intensive

61
Q

How does clay pad removal and peat inversion work?

A

remove clay pad, remove underlying peat, put clay back in gap, and put underlying peat on top of clay strip

62
Q

What are some big projects to restore wetlands?

A

slave lake alberta- make shallow trenches, grow more sphagnum moss
remove mineral well pad to make it closer to water table
moss layer transfer and spearing straw mulch

Ecol 417 (15 decks)

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