Quiz 3 Flashcards
Name and describe two different measures of biodiversity
1) Species richness: number of species in an area
2) Species diversity: number of species and their relative abundances in an area (heterogeneity)
Four main factors affect species richness and diversity on islands; what are they?
1) Latitude
2) Time
3) Habitat size
4) Distance from other communities
True or false: Mammal diversity increases as you get closer to the equator
True
Describe the relationship between time and biodiversity
- Biodiversity increases over time when there’s colonization of a new environment and succession occurs
- Biodiversity decreases over time where there is invasive species introduction, human activity, and/or a natural disaster event
Describe the relationship between biodiversity and habitat size
The bigger the habitat, the more biodiverse
Describe the relationship between distance from other communities/ land masses and biodiversity
The further from other communities, the less biodiverse
EO Wilson studied:
Ants
What did EO Wilson’s studies lead to?
The theory of island biogeography based on:
1) Species-area relationships
2) Effect of isolation
3) Species turnover (immigration and emigration/extinction)
True or false: Small, far away islands are most likely to be the least biodiverse
True
Can the theory of island biogeography be applied to habitat ‘islands’ on larger land masses?
Yes
The Bahamas’ biota is probably younger than ___ million years old
65
True or false: Recent colonization of the Bahamas islands happened during the last ice age when the sea level was lower (2.5 million - 11,700 years ago)
True
Isolation can result in ______
speciation
____% of reptile species are endemic in the bahamas
68
Describe the geological history reefs
Approximately 3.5 billion years ago microbialites began to appear in the fossil record (first reef builders)
-At the start of the paleozoic era the first stony corals and algal reefs began to form
______ corals were reef builders in the paleozoic era
Rugose (horn corals)
Describe some limiting factors of corals (their needs)
- Warm sea temperature (>68 degrees F)
- High light (shallow water)
- Marine salinites (32-35ppt)
- Low turbidity
What are some coral growth factors?
- Strong sea water currents, wave action
- Reef growth and balance between growth and bioerosion
- Reef growth must respond to rises and falls of the sea level
Give an example of bioerosion
Urchins can scrape and erode coral into sand
Corals have a symbiotic relationship with what?
Algae
Name 4 types of reefs
1) Fringing
2) Barrier
3) Atolls
4) Patch
Describe coral reproduction
- Asexual through budding when the parent divides
- Sexual reproduction: brooders
Describe broadcast spawners in coral
- Male and female gametes are released into the water during a synchronized event
- Multiple environmental cues cause this to happen: temperature,
Describe seagrass growth and reproduction
- Seagrasses grow both vertically and horizontally
- They spread by two methods: asexual clonal growth and sexual growth
Describe asexual clonal growth in seagrass
-Shoots are connected underground by a network of large root-like structures
Describe sexual reproduction of seagrasses
- Male seagrass flowers release pollen from the stamens into the water
- The clumps are moved by currents until they land on the pistil of a female flower
- Small invertebrates, such as amphipods (tiny shrimp-like crustaceans) and polychaetes feed on the seagrass pollen
Seagrasses are known as the ________ of the sea
lungs
List the different habitats that can be found in the bahamas (book content)
- Costal terrestrial and wetland habitats
- Rocky shores
- Costal beaches and dunes
- Mangroves, mud flats, and salinas
- Costal ponds, marshes, and wetlands
List the different terrestrial habitats that can be found in the bahamas (book content)
- Pine forests, pineyards, and pine barrens
- Dry broadleaf evergreen formations or coppice
- Inland limestone coppice
- Costal sand coppice
Name the subsurface habitat that can be found in the bahamas (book content)
Caves
True or false: many habitat types in the bahamas blend into each other
True
As the tide rises, water moves toward the shore. This is called a _____ current.
flood
As the tide recedes, the waters move away from the shore. This is called an _____ current.
ebb
Describe ocean tides
Basically, tides are very long-period waves that move through the oceans in response to the forces exerted by the moon and sun. Tides originate in the oceans and progress toward the coastlines where they appear as the regular rise and fall of the sea surface.
When the highest part, or crest of the wave reaches a particular location, high tide occurs; low tide corresponds to the lowest part of the wave, or its ____. The difference in height between the high tide and the low tide is called the _____ _____.
trough; tidal range
A horizontal movement of water often accompanies the rising and falling of the tide. This is called the ____ current.
tidal
Describe the conditions that affect ocean current strength
The strongest flood and ebb currents usually occur before or near the time of the high and low tides. The weakest currents occur between the flood and ebb currents and are called “slack water” or “slack current”. In the open ocean tidal currents are relatively weak. Near estuary entrances, narrow straits and inlets, the speed of tidal currents can reach up to several kilometers per hour.
______ is one major force that creates tides.
Gravity
Newton’s law of universal gravitation states that:
the gravitational attraction between two bodies is directly proportional to their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the bodies
The effect of distance on tidal forces is seen in the relationship between the what three things?
sun, the moon, and the Earth’s waters.
The sun’s tide-generating force is about ____ that of the moon, and the moon is the dominant force affecting the Earth’s tides.
half
Mangrove forests in the Florida Everglades
benefit from _____ and ______ washed up during some major hurricanes, and
that helps coastal areas adapt to rising seas,
nutrients and sediment
The study found the effect of hurricanes is so dramatic that two major storms in
Florida raised the coastal elevation in parts of Everglades-area mangroves by more
than ____ inches each time,
2
