CH 1-3 Environmental Biology

an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography to study the environment and the solution of environmental problems.

Volcanic, low limestone islands, raised limestone, and continental.

consist of a single volcanic peak rising from the sea floor. A ring of coral forms a fringing reef and sometimes also a barrier reef around the island. Ex. are Hawaiian islands, Bora Bora

made of reef material-coral remains. There may be only a single small island; however there are generally several on a barrier reef, forming an atoll. Tips of sunken volcanoes. Ex are Marshall islands and Coco Island.

Formed when old coral reefs or atolls are pushed up above sea level. Ex are southern marianas (Guam to Saipan) and the rock islands of Palau

Made up of rock characteristics of continents( often old, metamorphic and mineral rich), rather than formed from isolated volcanoes. Ex. are The islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and the Philippines.

Guam is 44 millions years old

seasonally reversing winds that bring alternately strong rains and a distinct dry season. Occurs in India and southeast Asia

Climate especially rainfall, affect the kinds of plants that can survive on each island.

Vegetation has a major influence on the species of animals that can live there.

Climate and all other factors that affect organisms of a particular place.

islands far from continents and not part of the continental crust; usually formed from undersea volcanoes. ( Plants/animals get here via accident/travel. Generally have fewer species)

A biological community, or several interacting communities plus their environment. (E.g coral reefs, wetlands and forest)

species that occur only on single islands or island groups because they evolved there. (Ex. Guam rail and Hawaiian goose)

They used fire to clear the forests for farms, created and extended wetlands for their taro patches. Europeans dramatically accelerated the rate of species introduction, habitat destruction, and extinctions.

A scientific questions or explanation expressed in a way that it can be tested through observations or controlled experiments.

A gray or dark dark brown mixture of minerals from deep in the Earth.

The coral reef along the shore of a high island.

Coral reefs are made by algae and animals living and dying together. Skeletons build up layer by layer and become limestone rock, which is white and composed chiefly of calcium carbonate. Exposure to air at low tide stops growth.

The shallow water between a fringing reef and a barrier reef, or in the middle of an atoll.

Ultimate and proximate questions

Scientific questions that include a historical component and usually cannot be answered by experiments in the present.

Scientific questions about processes happening in the present, or that can be answered with experiments in the present.

is when different individuals are trying to get the same resource.

is an essential part of a scientific experiment, in which the test condition or factor is left out but all other conditions are the same.

A condition that may influence species.

Exploitation and interference

individuals use the same resource but don't interaction (two competing species have = access to a resource, but differ in how fast and how efficiently they use it.)

one individual prevents another from using the resource or limits its access to that resource, for instance by fighting off or threating that individual.

1. Either the 2 species will share the resources (resource partitioning) or 2. one species will so severely outcompete the other that the other species dies out (competitive exclusion)

An explanation of a fairly broad or widespread phenomenon that is widely supported by the results of various experiments and observations, and that accounts for all the relevant data.

A logical argument in which the conclusion is contained in the premises. (E.g. all butterflies are insects, this animal is a butterfly; therefore this animals is an insect.) (Contrast inductive reasoning)

A logical argument in which the conclusion goes beyond the premises and is therefore only true with some degree of probability or confidence. (E.g. By observation of a sample of beans from a barrel, 75% of the sample are grade A, therefore argument that 75% of all the beans in the barrel are grade A.)

Portions taken for analysis, such as samples of a population. In order to get good estimates, scientist strive to take representative and statistically sound samples.

An argument that because two things are similar in some ways, they are therefore probably similar in some additional way. A type of inductive reasoning.

when two events are related, but without indication of cause- effect relations. (If A and B are correlated, A may cause B or vice versa, or they may occur together because both are caused by something else.)

The occurrence of two events of things at the same time and place by chance alone.

The arrangement of parts into ever larger systems, in which each system has new characters (emergent properties) not seen in its component parts. (E.g. an organism is made up of organs.)

1.molecules 2.cells 3.organs 4.individuals (organisms) 5.population 6.communities 7.ecosystems.

consists of all the populations of different species living in the same habitat or geographic place.

Words and phrases used by scientist to convey the level of confidence in their conclusions. (Ex. may, probability, tend to be and usually.)

Population, resources and environmental changes

Are based on the usefulness of something to human welfare.

are related to the utility of something to both humans and other species, as well as natural ecosystems.

are based on appreciation of beauty, including that of natural world.

insists that all entities have inherent worth and a right to exist, regardless of the needs of people.

1. Identify the Question 2. Form testable hypothesis 3. Collect data to test hypothesis 4. Interpret results 5. Report from peer review 6. Publish findings.

Multiple cases of the same test, control, or observations, to provide statistical reliability in the results.

is the study of the relationship of organisms and their environment (Factors that influence, where, when, and how many is the physical, biotic, and abiotic environment

Environment influence by non-living entities such as temperature, pH, radiation, water and pressure

is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystem.

Core, Mantle and Crust

approximately 3,500 km thick and is divided into two sub layers, inner core and outer core. The inner core is solid and composed mostly of iron and nickel surrounded by a liquid outer core.

Geologically, the layer of the Earth between the solid crust (lithosphere) and the hot, dense core. The upper part of it, the asthenosphere, is plastic and circulates very slowly, causing plate tectonics.(approximately 2,900 km thick and it, too has an inner fluid part and a solid outer layer, directly under the crust. Believed that the mantle near the Earth's core rises and expands as it becomes heated and then descends after it cools. )

The solid outer layer of the planet. It is fragmented into 14 major plates. These plates rest on top of the mantle and are buoyed along in part by the movements of the mantle below and by more complex forces related to the thickness and density of the plate itself.

the scientific theory that describes the movement of crustal plates and the underlying lithosphere.

Oceanic and continental crust.

denser than continental crust and contains a greater average concentration of heavier chemical elements such as iron than continental crust. 7km thick, 3.0g/cm^3 density of rock, probable composition is basalt, and age is 190 million years old.

30-50 km thick, 2.7g/cm^3 density of rock, probable composition is granite and is 3.964 billion years old.

process in plate tectonics in which one plate moves down under another where they meet. It is one kind of convergent boundary between plates.

New/recent animals

early recent

wholly/ really recent

dawn of the new

Facpi, Alutom, and Umatac

Barrigada limestone and Mariana limestone

the long term patterns in factors such as temperature, rainfall, day length, and their seasonal changes.

short-term changes in temperature, rainfall, wind, etc., at a particular place

Algae that drift in marine or freshwater; may have limited ability to swim. (E.g. some diatoms and dinoflagellates.) The primary producers of the ocean

a powerful spiral (cyclonic) tropical storms (sustained wind speed more than 74 mph)

The process by which deep, nutrient-rich water is pulled up to replace water blown along the surface by winds.

Rocks that originated from magma, usually rising through the Earth's crust as volcano. This includes basalt, as well as a variety of other rock types.

another type of volcanic activity associated with pacific island formation. are focused areas of volcanic activity that are believed to be the result of superheated mantle plumes from deep within the Earth.

Tertiary and Quaternary

The mid-Eocene (dawn of the new)

When the winds meets mountains, they must go over or around them. As the air rises, it cools and cannot hold as much water, so that water falls as rain. (resulting in the other side getting less rain=rain shadow)

1.Geological nature of the island (high/low; volcanic/carbonate) 2. The geographic location and therefore rainfall patterns.

El Nino and Southern Oscillation which is a vast weather pattern involving the ocean and the atmosphere

make deserts green/ summers wet/ but made the sea warm (driving out the anchovies and sardines). Atmospheric pressure is normally high over the southern Pacific Ocean and low over the Indian Ocean. This difference in pressure between the air over the Pacific and Indian ocean is what causes the trade winds to blow across the Pacific. When the easterties weaken, the islands experience heavy rains. When the easterly winds are strong (in what we still refer to as "normal years), there is little or no rain.

trade winds weaken in the easter Pacific. Warm water is not pushed as far across the ocean, and the upwelling is reduced. Without deep upwelling, there are no nutrients at the surface, therefore no phytoplankton and no fish. Warm water warms the air above it, and more evaporation causes clouds to form. These changes in the air affect the winds.

Water, heat, air pressure and moisture

A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 38 mph (33 nots) or less.

A tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds 39-73 mph (34-63 nots)

Modify terrestrial communities by increasing leaf littering and opening forest gaps. Reefs may experience damage from waves and surge. Atolls may become flooded, and groundwater from the aquifer may become contaminated with salt.

A whole community of floating organisms.

Waves produce strong back and forth currents.

is a way to reduce the force of water or air

The part of the seashore between the high and low tides, whter marine organisms are periodically out of water. Where there are large changes in salinity.

Blue and Green light (photosynthesis pigments absorbs primary red and blue light, leaving green and yellow to be reflected or transmitted)

Immature stages in the life cycle of an animal when they do not resemble the adults.

have little or no mobility for mating or dispersal but overcome this limitation by shedding planktonic eggs or larva that can drift or swim.

The gradual changes in vegetation ( a visual clue that factors are changing, even though we may not be able to see the factor itself) (caused by both gradients in abiotic and biotic factors)

The area between the high and low tide (anything beyond is the pelagic (deep water) zone.

Where sunlight reaches the ocean (40-600m)

the area where sunlight does not penetrate (>600m)

water that is below 6,000 meters

When it hits 4 degrees Celsius. (when water gets colder it becomes denser)

Depths of rapid density changes

rapid temperature change

Rapid salinity changes