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100 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
List the four types of estuaries
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Drowned river valley
Bar-built estuary Fjord-type estuary Tectonic estuary |
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Define estuary
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A semi-enclosed, coastal body of water, which has a free connection to the open sea, and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived from land drainage.
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Types of coastal habitats
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Salt marsh
Mangroves Sea grass beds Sand dunes Sand beaches pelagic realm oceanic benthos coral reefs hard substrate |
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Define Marine Ecology
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Biological process and functions of marine organisms as mediated by biological, geological, physical, and chemical aspects of their environment.
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Name the three themes of Marine Ecology
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Environment - abiotic factors
Diversity - biotic communities and their classification, organization, structure, origin, and evolution Ecology - interrelationships between environment and biota (populations and communities) |
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What are examples of abiotic factors?
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Chemical - water, pH, salinity, nutrients, dissolved gasses
Physical - temperature, light, pressure, tides, currents, waves, air exposure Geological - substratum type, substratum motion, substratum origin/age |
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List the biotic levels of organization
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Individual - one of a kind
Populations - all of one species in an area defined by a common gene pool Communities - populations of different species in a given area Ecosystem - many communities Biosphere - all living organisms living in the thin layer of crust and atmosphere of Earth |
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List the primary producers
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Phytoplankton
Benthic algae Macroalgae Symbiotic producers Angiosperms |
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What organisms contribute up to 95% of the total primary production in open water?
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Phytoplankton
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Name different phytoplankton and their main characteristics
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Diatoms
Dinoflagellates Coccolithophorids Silicoflagellates Cyanobacteria Prochlorophytes |
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Diatoms
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cilica and pectin cell walls, frustule, coastal zones, colder nutrient-rich water
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Dinoflagellates
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single floating cell, flagellated, parasitic or symbiotic
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Coccolithophorids
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single cell, ornate calcareous plates with gelatinous sheath, warmer, open ocean
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Silicoflagellates
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single, flagellated cell with silicious outer skeleton, colder nutrient-rich water
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Cyanobacteria
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blue-green algae, photosynthetic Eubacteria, chitin cell wall, can be single, clumped, in filaments, or benthic mats
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Prochlorophytes
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prokaryotic, deeper waters
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What are the size classifications of phytoplankton?
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Microplankton - net plankton 20-200um, diatoms, dinoflagellates
Nanoplankton - 2-20um, diatoms, coccolithophores, silicoflagellates Picoplankton - <2um, cyanobacteria, prochlorophytes |
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What are three classes of benthic producers?
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Mud and sandy - microphytobenthos, sea grass, emergent grass, mangroves
Rocky and hard bottoms - macroalgae Coral Reefs - symbiotic dinoflagellates, red coralline algae |
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What are three types of primary producers?
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Autotrophic - produce own energy-rich molecules from reductant
Photosynthetic - light source of energy Chemosynthetic - inorganic compounds provide sources of stored energy |
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What is the equation for photosynthesis?
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CO2 + 2H2A --> CH2O + 2A + H2O
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What is oxygenic photosynthesis?
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Uses H2O as reductant
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What is anoxygenic photosynthesis?
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H2S as reductant
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What happens in the light reaction of photosynthesis?
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H2A is split, releasing an electron, making ATP and NADPH2
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What happens in the dark reaction of photosynthesis?
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ATP and NADPH2 are used to fix CO2 into organic compounds
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When are photosynthetic rates highest? Lowest?
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Highest in corals, macroalgae, and some microalgae. Lowest in phytoplankton
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What are some examples of how to measure primary production?
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Chlorophyll A extraction, light/dark bottles, carbon-14 measurements
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What is a cohort?
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A group of individuals of the same age
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Define Population Density
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Number of individuals per unit area of a given species
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What are the three population distributions?
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Uniform
Clumped (aggregated) Random |
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What affects density and distribution?
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Resource distribution
Competition - intra and interspecific Recruitment variability |
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What can limit the growth of a population?
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Physical factors (temp)
Chemical factors (salinity, oxygen) Food availability Space Predation Disease |
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What are the three types of dispersal?
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Immigration - movement into an area
Emmigration - movement out of an area Exploitation - predation/parasitism, harvesting/fishing |
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What is the equation for population size and what does each factor stand for?
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N=(b-d) + (I-E)
N=number pf individuals b=natality d=death I=immigration E=emigration |
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What can cause a rapid population change?
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Decrease generation time, increase net gain due to difference between reproduction and mortality
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What are the characteristics of a J-curve?
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Accelerating slope, high natality, low mortality, longevity, no emigration, unlimited growth
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What factors can limit K (carrying capacity)?
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Food, space, disease/parasitism, cannibalism, recruitment of juveniles
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What is the inflection point?
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Threshold where rate of change goes from positive to negative (N=K/2)
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What are the assumptions of S-curve?
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All individuals contribute equally, r is constant, K is constant, no time lag
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When do regular oscillations occur?
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Periodic changes in seasonally or other regularly occurring patterns
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When do irregular oscillations occur?
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Variable, non-periodic environmental conditions
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What are causes of failure in populations?
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Increase predation, decreased food supply, decreased space, and abiotic factors
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(Intro and Basic Concepts Cont) What reasons make an ecosystem self-sustaining?
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A source of energy - usually the sun
Primary producers - organisms capable of assimilating the energy Consumers - transfer organic molecules through food web Nutrient cycles - transfer between abiotic and biotic spheres |
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List the three marine environments
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Estuary - zone of salt and freshwater mixing
Continental shelf - up to 150 miles offshore Open ocean - >150 miles offshore |
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What are the two marine zones?
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Benthic - sediments, substrata, ocean bottom
Pelagic - open waters, water column |
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What are the benthic zones?
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Littoral - intertidal
Continental shelf - subtidal to 150-200m out, low angle descent Continental slope - 200-4000m, greater angle of descent Abyssal Plain - 4000m-6000m, flat Hadal - >6000m, trenches |
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List pelagic surface zones
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Neretic - nearshore, usually very productive coastal zone
Oceanic - offshore, relatively non-productive |
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List pelagic depth zones
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Epipelagic - top 150m, photic
Mesopelagic - 150m-1000m, aphotic Bathypelagic- 1000-4000m, aphotic Abyssal Pelagic - 4000-6000m, aphotic |
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List littoral zones
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Supratidal - above high tide
Intertidal - between high and low tides Subtidal - below low tide |
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List salinity zones
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Oligohaline - 0.5-5 ppt
Mesohaline - 5-18ppt Polyhaline - 18-30ppt Euhaline - 30-40ppt |
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What is a halocline?
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Region of rapid change in salinity
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What does Eury mean?
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Organisms able to tolerate large changes in conditions, adapted to less stable environment
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What does Steno mean?
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Organisms unable to tolerate large changes in conditions, constant environment
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(Population Ecology Cont.) Give an example of the three types of survivoship curves and their characteristics
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Type I - humans, very low juvenile mortality, live long, die at old age
Type II - Coral, fairly constant rate of mortality Type III - Plants, most offspring die, those that survive live long |
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What do the variables of the life table stand for?
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Look at Population Ecology PowerPoint (Population Age Structure Slide)
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What are some methods of obtaining life table data?
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Follow cohort over lifetime
Record age of death of individuals marked at birth Age carcasses Age population killed catastrophe Census living population |
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What is semelparity?
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Breed once in a lifetime
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What is iteroparity
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Breed repeatedly over lifetime (annually)
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What are the three reproductive strategies?
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R-K dichotomy
Bet-hedging in variable environment, mix of characteristics of r-K selected Abundance/intermittency hypothesis - three types |
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What are characteristics of r-selection?
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Reproduce early, high fecundity, semelparous, no parental care, numerous offspring, short-lived
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What are K-selection characteristics?
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Later reproduction, low fecundity, iteroparous, parental care, long gestation, large offspring, long lifespan
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What are the three types of abundance reproductive strategy?
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Adversity selected - resource poor environment; constant low population density
Exploitative - unpredictable conditions; opportunistic generalists; sharp increase in population growth Saturation - constant conditions, high density, high competition |
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What is Liebig's Law of the Minimum?
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Yield is proportional to the amount of the most limiting nutrient
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Density-Dependent Factors
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Intraspecific competition
interspecific competition social behavior predation parasitism pathogenic disease biotic emissions |
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Density Independent
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Abiotic Factors:
Drought Flooding Extreme temperatures Oxygenic depletion chemical poison excess turbidity seasonal changes |
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What is the Q10 principle or Van Hoff's principle?
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Within certain ranges, for every 10 degrees C increase in temperature, metabolic activities are double or tripled
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Define biotic community
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The combined assemblage of plants and animals inhabiting the same physical area.
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What is a dominant species?
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Most common in a community; also may be co-dominant
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Give examples of a community and its dominant species
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Sand dunes - beach grass
Salt marsh - marsh grass Sea grass beds - sea grass Mangrove swamp - red,black or white mangrove trees Pelagic water - phytoplankton Coral reef - coral animals |
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Define ecological niche
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Organisms functional role or what resources it utilizes within its environment
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Define competition
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When organisms living in the same place use the same limited resources
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What are some limiting resources?
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Space, food, oxygen, light, nutrients
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What is Gause's competitive exclusion principle?
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If two competing species coexist in a stable environment, then they do so as a result of niche differentiation.
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What is a realized niche?
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The niche the species actually occupies or is restricted to in the natural world.
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What is a fundamental niche?
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Niche that the species could have access to, but is not due to some restriction
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What is resource partitioning?
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Utilization of different aspects of resources, size, while other species utilizes other portion of resource
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What does each of the variables in the Lotka-Volterra model for predation stand for?
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P=prey number
C=predator number a'=attack frequency f=efficiency of prey to convert food to offspring q=mortality rate of predators in absence of prey |
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What are the assumptions of the Lotka-Volterra model for predation?
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Prey grows exponentially in absence of predator
Predator population declines exponentially in absence of prey Predators move at random among randomly distributed prey Proportions of encounters that result in capture are constant at all predator prey densities No time lag |
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What is the Simpson's index of dominance?
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The probability that two individuals are of the same species.
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What are the major nutrients?
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Carbon
nitrogen phosphorous oxygen silicon magnesium potassium calcium iron copper vanadium vitamins |
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How are nutrients lost to the deeper regions of the ocean?
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marine snow
sinking carcasses fecal pellets ....All of these fall to the bottom of the ocean floor |
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What are some limiting factors in seawater?
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Nitrogen and phosphorous
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What are some dissolved organics?
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Fats
oils carbohydrates vitamins amino acids proteins |
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How are organic compounds produced and why are they important?
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Produced through photosynthesis and chemosythesis. Important food sources for bacteria and fungi
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What are some biological fates of carbon?
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Formation of shells, bones and carbonate buffer system
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What are the sources of carbon?
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Atmosphere
Respiration Bacterial decomposition Chemical reactions with water |
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What are the two forms of organic carbon?
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DOC - dissolved organic carbon
POC - particulate organic carbon |
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What are some characteristics of DOC?
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Passes through 0.2-0.45um mesh
high quality molecules in forms of carbohydrates, sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids |
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What are some characteristics of POC?
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Living: phytoplankton, zooplankton, bacteria
Dead - detritus, morphous fragments, mucus, amorphous aggregations |
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What are external sources of organic carbon?
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Photosynthesis, river input, horizontal transport, marsh export, wind transport, human-made hydrocarbons.
Death of producers, defecation from consumers, fragmentation during feeding, aggregation and absorption of DOC |
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What are internal sources of organic carbon?
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Excretion by consumers
Release from cells during feeding and viral lysis Leaching Hydrolysis Exudation by primary producers |
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What are some losses of organic carbon?
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Sedimentation
Consumption Aggregation Decomposition Burial |
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What are the three decomposition processes?
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Leaching
Microbial degradation Refractory phase |
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What is the only source of phosphorous
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Lithogenic-erosion of rocks and soils
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What are the biological uses of phosphorous?
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ATP, nucleic acids, phospholipids, bones, teeth
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In what four forms does phosphorous occur in the ocean?
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DIP, DOP, Particulate phosphorous, living tissue (majority)
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What are the biological uses of nitrogen?
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Protein synthesis
Amino acids Deamination Ammonia |
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What are the characteristics of nitrate?
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Most oxidized
Most abundant Used directly by plants Assimilated to amine form |
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What are the forms of nitrogen?
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Nitrate
Ammonium ion DON sediments |
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What are the sources of nitrogen?
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Nitrogen fixation, vertical mixing, horizontal transportation, precipitation
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What are the losses of nitrogen?
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Burial
transport denitrification |