Note that the study questions are presented here as open-ended responses. This is a useful framework for testing your understanding of concepts. All scheduled exams in this course will be multiple choice (Makeup exams will be given in essay format). The questions below reflect some of the more important material covered in lecture. You will do well in this course if you know the answers to these questions. Of course, other material will also be on the exams, with about 5-10% of each exam focused on topics covered in the reading that were not discussed in class.
How to use these study questions: 1.
After
attending lecture, attempt to answer as many of the questions as
possible.
Use the textbook as an additional resource.
2. Note
that
the goal is to understand the concepts behind the study questions -
writing
down the answers may just be the first step to this understanding.
3. If a
question
is particularly difficult for you, think about how other elements in
the
lecture
might relate to that concept. For example, when describing the surface
winds, you may
want to think about the vertical circulation cells in the atmosphere
and
the direction
that the Coriolis effect deflects winds in each hemisphere.
4. If you are still having trouble with a concept, ask the instructor.
1. What are the various branches of oceanography?
2. What scientific issues are the focus of each of these branches?
3. List one or two reasons why each of these branches of oceanography might be important to society.
4. What does "interdisciplinary" mean?
5. Give one or two examples of the types of oceanographic work that might be considered "interdisciplinary".
6. List several ways that humans use the oceans and several ways that human impact the oceans.
7. List a few resources that humans extract from the oceans.
8. Is stewardship of the oceans likely to become more or less important in the coming decades? Why?
Hurricanes and Storm Surge: Hazards from the Sea
1. What conditions are required for the development of a hurricane?
2. Why is the ocean important to the development of hurricanes?
3. Can hurricanes develop on the equator? Why or why not?
4. Where does a hurricane's energy come from?5. About what fraction of a hurricane's energy is converted to wind energy?
6. Why do hurricanes weaken when they move over land or over cold ocean water?
7. Describe how storm surge develops due to a hurricane or other strong storm.
8. How does the geometry of the coastline influence the height of a storm surge?
9. How do scientists forecast storm surge?10. Why are forecasts of storm surge important?
1. How are earth quakes measured?
2. How are earthquakes located?
3. How are earthquakes ranked in size and by damage?
4. What is "density" and how is it measured?
5. The layers of the Earth, as classified by chemical composition, are the crust, mantle, and core. Describe qualitatively (i.e.,without using the exact numerical values) how density varies for these layers and where each is located in the Earth.
6. What process leads to separation of materials according to their density?
7. How is continental crust different from oceanic crust and why?
8. Name the layers of the Earth, as classified by their physical properties.9. What are the unique features of each of these layers, and how does each layer correspond to the layers defined based on
chemical composition?
10. What is "isostatic equilibrium"?
11. What happens to the "roots" of large mountain ranges as the mountains erode and why?
12. What are the two types of seismic waves and how do they differ?
13. What is a "shadow zone"?
14. How do shadow zones aid in understanding the structure of the Earth?
15. How do shadow zones aid in identifying the locations of earthquakes?
1. What was the continental drift hypothesis?
2. What types of evidence were cited in support of this hypothesis?3. Why is the earth's magnetic field relevant to the development of the the theory of plate tectonics?
4. That the surface of the Earth is divided into "plates" and that these plates move relative to one another is fundamental to thetheory of plate tectonics.
5. Describe a few lines of evidence that scientists used to develop the theory of plate tectonics.
6. Are earthquakes randomly distributed? If not, where are they most common? Where are they less common?
7. What do scientists mean by the term "theory"? How does the scientific usage of the word "theory" differ from the more popularusage of the word?
8. Today, which has more ocean, the northern or southern hemisphere?
9. If you go to the north pole, will you find land or ocean? Will you find the same thing at the south pole?
10. How are latitude and longitude used to specify location on Earth?
11. What is the continental drift hypothesis? What is the evidence for this hypothesis? Why was this hypothesis rejected by
scientists?
12. People used to think that the sea was shaped like a bathtub (i.e., shallow at the edges, deep and featureless in the middle).
13. How does this view differ from reality? How do we know?
14. Measurements of the magnetic properties of rocks in the Atlantic Ocean show a "striped" pattern, which is symmetrical about a
line that runs from north to south down the center of the basin. What does this pattern imply about the formation of these rocks?
15. Where is the seafloor youngest? Oldest? How does the age of the oldest seafloor compare with the age of the oldest
continental rocks?
16. What is a "spreading center"? How does this concept tie together information about the shape of the seafloor, its age, and its
magnetic properties?
Plate Tectonics: The Story of a Dynamic Earth
1. What are lithospheric plates?
2. How do oceanic plates differ from continental plates?
3. What are the two mechanisms that drive plate motion?
4. List a few things about the Earth that are explained by the theory of plate tectonics.5. What is isostatic equilibrium? How does this concept explain the steep drop off between the average height of the continents and 6. the average depth of the oceans?
7. How does isostatic equilibrium result in "roots" of mountain ranges? What do these roots get shallower as mountains erode?
8. What is the relationship between the locations of (most) earthquakes and plate geometry? (You may want to compare figs 3.11and 3.14 in the 4th Ed of the text or 3.11 and 3.15 in the 5th Ed of the text).
9. As mentioned in lecture, the locations of (most) earthquakes are explained by the theory of plate tectonics. What other thingsabout the Earth that are explained by this theory?
Plate Boundaries: Seams in the Crust
Building a tropical Paradise: Hot Spots1. What are the three types of plate boundaries and what type of motion corresponds to each?
2. At what type of plate boundary is lithosphere created? Destroyed?
3. What is a rift?
4. What is magma?
5. Describe the sequence of events that lead to the formation of ocean basins (e.g., the opening of the Atlantic basin).
6. At what types of plate boundaries does subduction occur and why?
7. Why do earthquakes occur near subduction zones and how is the depth of earthquakes related to distance from the subductionzone?
8. Why do volcanoes form near subduction zones?
9. What is an island arc and how do they form?
10. At what type of plate boundary do large, folded mountain ranges form?
11. How are collisions between continental plates different from collisions between oceanic plates?
12. Why do earthquakes occur along transform plate boundaries?13. At what type of plate boundary are deep ocean trenches found?
14. At what type of plate boundary are mid-ocean ridges found?
1. What is the structure of a hot spot within the interior of the Earth?
2. What is signature of a hot spot on the surface of the Earth?
3. What are some features on Earth that were created by hot spots?
4. Are hot spots "connected" to individual lithospheric plates? If not, how do hot spots influence plates?
5. How are volcanic island chains formed at hot spots? Why do these islands take the form of "chains"?
6. Describe the inflation-deflation cycle of hot spot volcanism.
7. Why do earthquakes occur in connection with volcanic activity?
8. What causes explosive eruptions?
9. How can the direction of plate motion be determined from the orientation of island chains created by hot spots?
Marine Sediments: Memory of the Sea
1. Why are marine sediments important?
2. List
several resources that are extracted from marine sedimentary
deposits.
3. What is the difference between drilling and coring?
4. What
is "ice rafted debris"? How does it get into the
sediments?
What
does
it tell scientists about climate?
5. List
the four types of marine sediments, their sources and where
they
are found.
6. What determines how far a sediment particle is transported?
7. What materials form the two main classes of biogenic sediments?
8. What is the CCD? How does it affect each of the two main classes
of biogenic
sediments?
9. How does the type of sediment present at a particular location in the
ocean depend on latitude? Distance from coast? Depth?
10. Why are sediments in the Pacific Ocean primarily terrigenous, while
those in the Atlantic are primarily biogenic?
11. Briefly describe three ways that scientists use sediment to learn about
climate.
1. What
kind of chemical bond holds together the water molecule and
how does this bond affect the electrons in the molecule?
3. Why is water a "polar" molecule? What is the significance of the
polarity
of the water molecule?
4. What properties are characteristic of a solid, liquid and gas?
5. What is heat? What is temperature? How do they differ?
6. What is the difference between latent and sensible heat?
7. What is the difference between the latent heat of fusion and the latent
8. heat of evaporation? What is the significance of the fact that
the
latent
heat of evaporation is greater than the latent heat of fusion for
water?
9. What is heat capacity?
10. What are some effects of water's high heat capacity on the Earth?
11. The seven most common ions in seawater are said to be "in constant
proportions".
12. What does this mean?
13. How do "salts" enter and leave the sea?
14. The sea is said to be in "chemical equilibrium" with regard to
salts.
What
does this mean?
back to topics1. What is pollution? What three characteristics of a pollutant determine its effect on an organism?
2. How are most pollutants delivered to the ocean?
3. What's the difference between a water-soluble, fat soluble and insoluble pollutant?
4. Where does most of the oil in the ocean come from? Describe the largest sources of oil pollution in the ocean.
5. Why are crude oil spills less harmful, in the long run, than spills of refined oil? What other type of oil is particularlyharmful when spilled?
6. What determines the ecological impact of an oil spill?
7. What is "nutrient pollution" (eutrophication)?
8. How can high levels of nutrients (which are sometimes considered good) be detrimental to animals in an ecosystem?
9. What's the difference between "point source" and "non-point source" pollution.
10. In the experience of our society recently, which has been more straightforward to handle, point-source ornon-point source? Why?
11. What is a "dead zone"? How do they form? How do "dead zones" affect humans and other animals?
12. How are synthetic organic chemicals used in society?
13. What is "biological amplification"? Why is this a problem for humans?14. How do heavy metals enter the marine environment?
15. What pollutant caused the near extinction of some marine bird species by
reducing the thickness of egg shells?
16. What is eutrophication and how can it harm ecosystems?17. What type of pollution is associated with massive fish kills?
The Atmosphere: Driving force for the Ocean
1. What are the most common gases in the atmosphere? Why are some "trace gases" important to humans even though they are less common?
2. What is the relationship between atmospheric pressure and altitude?
3. What happens to the temperature and moistness of air as it rises? As it sinks? Why?
4. For two air masses at the same altitude, which is denser... warm or cold air? ...moist or dry air?
5. Is the heat balance of the Earth the same at every latitude? Why or why not?
6. What is a convection current?
7. Describe the pattern of atmospheric circulation on a non-rotating Earth. How is this pattern driven by variations of temperature
between the tropics and poles?
8. What factors influence global atmospheric circulation?
9. What is a convection current? How might a convection current
occur
on a non-rotating Earth?
back to topics
The Winds Go Round: Atmosphere on a Spinning Planet
1. What causes the Coriolis effect?
2. What does the Coriolis effect do to moving air parcels in the northern and southern hemispheres?
3. What are the three types of circulation cells found in the atmosphere (on the rotating Earth)? Sketch the direction ofcirculation in each cell.
4. Why are there three types of circulation cells, rather than just one?
5. Describe the surface winds for each of these cells and for regions between the cells.
6. What is the ITCZ? Where is it found? What type of atmospheric motion occcurs at the ITCZ?
7. Why are rainforests found at the convergence of the northern and southern hemisphere Hadley cells?
8. Why are deserts found in regions where the Hadley and Ferrel cells meet?
Important Exercise: Use the principles shown on the overhead projector during class to draw the atmospheric circulation forthe southern hemisphere. (Similar to how we developed the pattern of northern hemisphere circulation during the in-class
demo).
9. What are the polar front and jet stream? How do they influence our
weather in NE Ohio?10. How does the tilt of the Earth's axis influence the amount of solar
radiation received at each latitude at various times of the year?
11. Why is there a seasonal temperature contrast between the land and sea?
Sailing the Seas: The Wind-Driven Circulation
1. What are the differences between the wind-driven and density-driven ocean circulation?
2. When the wind blows over the ocean, which way does the water move in the northern and southern hemispheres? Why is there adifference between the direction the wind blows and the direction the water flows?
3. What two wind systems drive subtropical ocean gyres?
4. Where are eastern and western boundary currents found?
5. List some differences between eastern and western boundary currents.
6. On a map of the oceans, draw the locations (and indicate directions) of the subtropical gyre eastern and western boundarycurrents.
7. Why is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current unique?
8. How does the biological community within a cold core eddy differ from the biological community in surrounding water? Why?What happens to the cold core eddy community over time?
9. What is upwelling? Where and how does it occur?
10. Why are upwelling areas regions of high biological productivity?11. What factors influence ocean circulation and why?
12. Why is the wind-driven ocean circulation important?
13. What does the Coriolis effect do to moving water parcels in the northern and southern hemispheres?
14. What is the Ekman spiral?
15. What is the relationship between the direction of the wind and the direction of water transported in the ocean?16. What two wind systems are important in setting up subarctic gyre circulation in the ocean?
17. Why do subarctic and subtropical gyres in the same hemisphere circulate in opposite directions?
18. On a map of the oceans, draw the locations (and indicate directions) of the:
subtropical gyre western boundary currents
subtropical gyre eastern boundary currents
subtropical gyre transverse currents
subarctic gyre currents
Antarctic Circumpolar Current
19. On the same map, write in the names of the western boundary
currents for the subtropical gyres of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
20. Describe the shape of the sea surface (i.e., sea level) in the subtropical gyres.
21. What is turbulence?
22. How and where do warm-core and cold-core ocean eddies form?
Sea-Ice and the Density-Driven Circulation
1. Why is polar ice important to climate? (Your answer should include concepts involving the ice-albedo feedback).
2. How does the polar ice in the Arctic differ from that in the Antarctic? Which is more susceptible to the effects of climate warming? Why?
3. What two physical properties determine the density of seawater? How does the density of seawater vary as each of theseproperties changes?
4. What is density-driven ocean circulation?
5. What drives this circulation? (be more specific than "density")
6. In most locations, is sea water at depth warmer or colder than at the surface? Fresher or saltier? More or less dense?
7. What is a water mass? Why are many water masses layered vertically in the ocean?
8. What happens when two water masses are forced together by the wind?
9. What is "bottom water"? How does it form?
10. How can evaporation lead to the formation of dense water?
11. The basic concept behind the thermohaline circulation is quite similar to the temperature-driven convection currents discussed inthe lecture on atmospheric circulation. Why is this?
12. What is the pathway of the density-driven (thermohaline) circulation? How does this differ from the pathways of wind-drivencirculation?
13. If less sea ice were to form each year, how would this affect the density-driven circulation?14. How does the density of fresh water vary with changes in this physical property?
15. How does one read a T-S diagram?
16. Is water at depth warmer or colder than at the surface? Fresher or saltier? More or less dense?
17. Sketch an idealized equator to pole cross section of the ocean indicating the direction of flow in the thermohaline circulation andthe effect of the atmosphere on ocean temperatures.
18. What happens when two water masses are forced together by the wind in a convergence zone?
19. Sketch a cross-section of the Atlantic basin from Antarctic to the Arctic.
20. Label the main water masses and indicate their direction of flow.
Sea, Sky, Land, The Climate Connection
1. What is climate? How is climate different from weather?
2. What is the difference between "external" and "internal" forcing of climate variations?
3. What is an example of a climate change that is caused by "external forcing"? On what time scales do externally force climatechanges typically occur?
4. Very different climates can occur for the same amount of solar radiation received at the top of the atmosphere. Why is this?
5. What is heat capacity? How does the difference in heat capacity between water and rocks (e.g., granite) influence how thetemperatures of these substances change as they are heated or cooled?
6. How does the difference in heat capacity between ocean and land influence climate in coastal and continental regions?
7. Describe how the wind-driven ocean circulation influences climate on the eastern and western sides of an ocean basin.
8. Why do sea and land breezes occur in coastal zones?
9. What is a monsoon? How and where do they occur?
10. What aspects of society are sensitive to monsoons?
11. What is El Nino? How does it affect societies?12. What is the "normal" atmospheric circulation pattern in the tropical Pacific? How does this change in an El Nino year?
13. Scientists can now provide advance warning of a developing El Nino or La Nina. What information do they use in order to detectthese climate changes in their early stages?
Climate Change and Life in the Greenhouse
1. What is climate? How does climate differ from weather?
2. Very different climates can occur for the same amount of solar radiation received at the top of the atmosphere. Why is this?
3. How do scientists learn about past climates?
4. What is the greenhouse effect and why is it important to most life on Earth?
5. List some ways that greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere naturally. List some ways that greenhouse gases enter theatmosphere via human activities.
6. What is the present concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere (in parts per million)? How does this compare with the concentrationof atmospheric CO2 prior to industrialization?
7. Direct measurements of atmospheric chemistry (in particular carbon dioxide concentrations) have been systematically collectedfor only a few decades. How do scientists know the chemical composition of the atmosphere hundreds or thousands of years
ago?
8. Many experts believe that unless efforts are made to reduce emissions, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will increaseover the next 100 years to at least double their present value. When was the last time in Earth's history that many scientists think
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were this high?
9. Based on the evidence that's accumulated so far, has the Earth really warmed up over the past 100 years? If so, how much (onaverage, globally)?
10. What aspects of climate are expected to change due the increase of greenhouse gases? Have any of these changes alreadybeen observed?
11. What sectors of society might be affected by climate changes associated with increased concentrations of greenhouse gases?
12. Do scientists fully understand how climate will change in the future? Why or why not?
13. What options are available to societies in the event of significant climate change?
Seas of Change: The Arctic and Future Climate
1. Describe how the "ice-albedo" feedback works.
2. What is sea ice? How is sea ice different from land ice?
3. Why is Arctic sea ice more sensitive to climatological heating than land ice on Antarctica?
4. What aspects of Arctic climate are now changing? Do scientists expect that these changes will become more dramatic in thefuture? Why or why not?
5. Describe two ways in which a warming Arctic can influence global sea level. Are sea level changes anticipated from Arcticwarming over the next 100 years a concern in areas other than the Arctic?
6. How might the input of fresh water into the sea in the north polar area influence the thermohaline circulation?
7. Have scientists observed changes in the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice in recent years? How might changes in sea icecover affect Arctic ecology?
8. How might anticipated changes in Arctic sea ice cover affect global climate via the "ice-albedo" feedback?
back to topics
1. What is a wave?
2. Describe how the water particles move as an ocean wave passes by. How does this compare to how the energy of the wavemoves?
3. Draw a sketch of a wave. Label the wave crest, trough, wavelength and wave height.
4. What is a disturbing force? How does it affect a wave's energy? Give a few examples of disturbing forces for ocean waves.
5. What is a restoring force? How does it affect a wave's energy? What two restoring forces are important for ocean waves?
6. What determines whether a wave is a "deep water wave" or a "shallow water wave"? Give an example (or two) of deep andshallow water waves.
7. Sketch the particle motion for deep and shallow water waves. How does the motion of water particles differ for these two wavetypes?
8. What three aspects of wind affect wave development? Why are the waves of fully developed seas on Lake Erie usually smallerthan the waves of fully developed seas in the North Atlantic Ocean?
9. What is the difference between free and forced waves?10. What is dispersion and how does it influence waves created by a storm as they travel away from the region where they were
formed?
11. What are constructive and destructive interference?
12. How does interference generate "rogue" waves? Why are these dangerous to ships?
13. Why do waves break at the shore?
14. What is the difference between a spilling and a plunging breaker (and how is this related to the rate at which the wave losesenergy)?
15. What conditions produce great surfing? (Think about local winds versus winds far away and the shape of the beach).16. Why do waves refract (bend) when they approach shore from an angle?
1. How can an earthquake or a landslide generate a tsunami?
2. What happens to the energy of a tsunami after it is generated?
3. Are tsunami classified as deep or shallow water waves? Why? (also see Lecture 19)
4. If you are at sea and a tsunami passes under your ship, what would you experience as the tsunami passed?
5. Why does the height of a tsunami increase as the tsunami approaches shore?
6. What determines how destructive a tsunami will be once it reaches shore?
7. Why are tsunami more common in the Pacific than the Atlantic?
8. We talked about several elements of a tsunami warning system during lecture...
a) What information is used to detect events that might trigger a tsunami? Is this information readily available to scientistsworldwide?
b) How can a tsunami be detected at sea after it has been triggered? Are the instruments needed to do this widely distributedthroughout the world's oceans?
c) How are scientists using computerized simulations to estimate which regions of the coast might be most significantly impactedby a tsunami?
d) Why have populations not always responded appropriately to tsunami warnings? What challenges does this present indeveloping a more effective warning system?
9. A tsunami warning network has been established in the Pacific.
a) Is more advance warning of a tsunami generally available in Hawaii or Alaska? Explain why.
b) Could a destructive tsunami affect the Atlantic? Would it make sense to expand the warning network to the Atlantic Ocean?
1. What two forces result in tides? Do tides result from a balancing (i.e., an equal and opposite match) of these forces or an imbalance between these forces?
2. Which are larger - lunar or solar tides? Why?
3. According to the equilibrium theory of tides, there is a tidal bulge on the side of the Earth facing the tide-generating body (i.e., moon or sun) and a tidal bulge of the side of the Earth facing away from the tide-generating body. How do each of these tidal bulges arise?
4. At any location on Earth, how many high and low tides are expected in one day according to the equilibrium (i.e., simplest) theory of tides?
5. What causes spring and neap tides?
6. How are spring and neap tides related to the positions of the Earth, moon, and sun and the locations of the lunar and solar tidal bulges? (Sketch this and understand it).
7. What are semidiurnal, diurnal and mixed tides? Why do these occur?
8. Describe how the distribution of animals and plants in many coastal areas reflects the influence of tides. Describe some aspects of animal behavior that are linked to tidal cycles.9. How does the Coriolis effect impact tidal motion within an ocean basin?
10. Why are tides important to many marine organisms? Give some examples of behavior that is linked to tidal cycles. 10 . Are tides waves and if so, what kind?
11. What important feature of the Earth is neglected in the equilibrium theory of tides? (Note that this feature is accounted for by the
dynamic theory of tides).
12. Why are there more different types of tidal motion in the Pacific basin than in the Atlantic?
1. How can changes in sea level influence the location of a coast? What might cause a large change in sea level?
8. What is long shore drift? How is it accomplished?
2. What is the difference between a primary coast and a secondary coast?
3. List a few processes that form primary coasts.
4. List a few processes that shape secondary coasts.
5. How do the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. differ in terms of their coastlines (i.e., beaches vs rocky shores), wave energy, and the amount of sand available to build beaches?
6. What is wave "refraction"? Why do waves refract as they approach shore?
7. How does wave refraction straighten secondary coasts over long periods of time?
Life in the Ocean1. Why do waves break at the shore?
2. What is the difference between a spilling and a plunging breaker (and how is this related to the rate at which the wave loses energy and the shape of the beach)?
3. Where does beach sand come from? Where does it (ultimately) go?
4. How can changes in the energy of waves with the seasons change the shape of a beach?
5. What is a rip current and how do they form?
6. Why are rip currents a drowning hazard? How can swimmers escape a rip current?
7. What is longshore drift? How is it accomplished? Where does it occur?
8. In the photograph of the Port Mansfield Channel (Texas) shown in class, what direction is the longshore drift? How can you tell by looking at the beach and the jetties at the entrance to the channel?
9. What is a barrier island? Why are these islands extremely susceptible to erosion?
10. List some methods of shoreline stabilization. Describe why each is successful in the short run, but requires maintenance in the long run.
11. What are the main differences between Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S.?12. How does sand move into, within, and out of a coastal cell?
13. How does a bay mouth bar form?
14. What is the difference between a barrier island and a sea island?
1. What four properties are common to all living things?
2. What is a species?
3. Describe the process of evolution by natural selection.
4. What is natural selection?5. How does natural selection allow species to adapt to changing environments?
6. What is convergent evolution?
7. Describe how energy moves through an ecosystem - is energy recycled or is it used and then lost?
8. Describe how matter moves through an ecosystem - is matter recycled or is it used and then lost?
9. What materials are the inputs and the outputs of photosynthesis and respiration?
10. What types of organisms photosynthesize? What types of organisms respire?
11. How is a food web organized? Why are food webs more realistic representations of feeding relationships than food chains?
12. What are phytoplankton? How are they different from zooplankton?
13. Very small marine plants account for up to 95% of the ocean's biological growth. This is very different from the situation on land, where relatively large plants account for a large fraction of the biological growth. What properties of the ocean favor small plants instead of large ones?14. What are scientific names and why are the useful?
Challenges of the Marine Environment
1. List some physical factors that are important in the marine environment.
2. What happens to light when it enters seawater? How is this different for this different wavelengths (colors) of light?
3. What is the euphotic zone? Disphotic zone? Aphotic zone? In which of these is photosynthesis possible? In which is vision possible?
4. Why is the availability of light in the ocean important to almost *all* marine organisms (even those that don't use light directly)?
5. Describe how and why eye structures in fish differ depending on the depth where the fish lives.
6. What is bioluminescence? How can it help an organism thrive?
7. Why do many marine animals use sound instead of vision to locate prey and mates?
8. Why is floatation important to marine plants?
9. What are some strategies marine plants use to provide floatation?
10. What are some strategies marine animals use to provide floatation?
11. What is a "sofar layer"? How do marine animals make use of these zones to communicate?
1. What are the characteristics of a typical marine plant?
2. Why are marine plants important to most marine ecosystems?
3. What factor of the environment is the primary control on the vertical distribution of marine plants? The horizontal distribution of marine plants? What other factors are important in determining where plants can thrive in the ocean?
4. Are seaweeds typical marine plants? Why or why not?
5. How does the absorption of sunlight by the ocean influence the colors of seaweeds that live at different depths?
6. What do diatoms, coccoliths and dinoflagellates have in common? How do they differ?
7. What is primary production? Is primary productivity the same everywhere in the ocean? If not, where is the ocean more productive, and where is it less productive?
8. What is a "spring bloom"? Why do they occur?9. Describe how energy moves through an ecosystem - is energy recycled or is it used and then lost?
10. Describe how matter moves through an ecosystem - is matter recycled or is it used and then lost?
11. What materials are the inputs and the outputs of photosynthesis and respiration?
12. What types of organisms photosynthesize? What types of organisms respire? What is a trophic level?
13. What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
14. What are phytoplankton?
15. The very small phytoplankton account for up to 95% of the ocean's primary productivity. This is very different from the situation on land, where larger plants account for a large fraction of the primary productivity. What properties of the oceans favor small plants instead of large ones?
1. How did the composition of the atmosphere change after plants began to colonize the Earth? How did this change make the evolution of animals possible?
2. What distinguishes an invertebrate from a chordate from a vertebrate?
3. How do sponges digest their food? How do cnidarias catch and digest their food? (and how does this differ from sponges?)
4. Where do the medusa and polyp forms of cnidaria live?
5. How do the three types of marine worms differ in the complexity of their body systems (e.g., digestive, respiratory, and sensory systems)?
6. What are the three mollusk body plans? For each body plan, for which environment is it best adapted?
7. What three characteristics of arthropods are responsible for their success?
8. Why are crustaceans important to other life in the sea?
9. What type of body symmetry do echinoderms share?
10. How does a sea star devour its prey?
11. How does a sea cucumber defend itself against potential predators?
12. How is the digestive process of a tunicate different from that of less advanced forms (like a sponge or the cnidaria)?13. What are zooplankton? How are they different from phytoplankton?
14. How are they different from other marine animals?15. How do cnidaria use cnidoblasts?
16. To structure your synthesis of the material for this lecture, you may want to try the following exercise...
For each of the animal groups we discussed (sponges, cnidarians, flat worms, round worms, segmentedworms, mollusks), indicate the following ...
Digestive system: none, single-cavity, flow-through
Nervous system: none, primitive nerves, central nervous system
Sensory organs: none, eye spots, advanced sensory system
Locomotion: non-motile (unable to move about), burrowing, crawling, free swimming
Habitat: usually attached to rocks, sandy or muddy sea bottom, free swimming
Other outstanding features:
For example: here's an entry for cnidarians:
Digestive system: single-cavity
Nervous system: primitive nerve cells
Sensory organs: eye spots at tips of tenticles; touch sensitive stinging cells
Locomotion: non-motile (polyp form - anemones and corals) or free
swimming (medusa form - jellyfish)
Habitat: attached to surfaces (polyp form) or free swimming (medusa
form)
Outstanding features: stinging cells, tentacles, can be poisonous to
humans and other animals
Note that some categories have more than one possible answer (e.g., see locomotion in my cnidarian example).
Notice how this exercise illustrates the progression from simple to complex invertebrate body forms.
1. What are the classes of marine vertebrates?
2. Which vertebrates are not found in the ocean? Why?3. Are ancient vertebrates less successful than one that evolved more recently?
4. What are the three classes of fishes? How do they differ?
5. What type or fish is a Lamprey? Where does it live and how does it make its living?
6. What are some adaptations that fishes have evolved to live in the marine environment?7. Give examples of two successful ancient vertebrates.
8. What function do sharks perform in their environment?
9. How do bottom-dwelling skates and rays impact their environment?
10. Why are sharks vulnerable to overfishing?
11. Why do sharks occasionally attack humans? Are unprovoked shark attacks common?
12. How does a ray-finned fish differ from a lobe-finned fish?
13. How is the form of a fish's body related to its swimming style and its habitat?14. What do gills do? How do they work?
15. Which has larger gill area, a more active or less active fish?
16. How does viscosity affect the efficiency of motion in a fluid?
17. What strategies are used to reduce the effects of drag?
18. Describe the shape of a streamlined organism.
19. Describe the difference between the swimming method used by eels vs fish. How does this influence the hunting strategies used by many of these organisms?
20. Why are most species of fish either exclusively marine or exclusively freshwater?
1. What are the three major classifications of marine mammals. Give examples of animals in each of these classifications.
2. What impacts do humans have on manatees?
3. List a few strategies marine mammals use to maximize the efficiency of their respiratory system (i.e., breathing)?
4. Why are there no marine mammals smaller than a sea otter?
5. What functions does a blubber layer perform?
6. Which moves more gracefully on land, a seal or sea lion? Why?
7. Why do whales migrate? How do whales know where to go in their migrations?
8. What are the feeding strategies used by baleen and toothed whales?
9. Why do the mouths of right and blue whales (which are both baleen whales) look different?
10. Which have more advanced brains, baleen or toothed whales? Why?
11. Whales are social animals. Describe some of their behaviors that reflect their participation in social groups.
12. What technological advances led to dramatic increases in whale harvests?13. What is the current status of many whale species that were hunted previously?
14. How does echolocation differ from "whale songs"?
15. Why might certain species of whales not recover, even though they are no
longer hunted?
1. What is ecology? How does an organism's habitat differ from its niche?
2. What determines how successful an organism will be within a community?
3. Give a few examples of resources that marine species might compete over.
4. How can competition restrict the spatial range of a population?
5. Population growth can follow either a "J"-shaped or an "S"-shaped curve. What's the difference between these two cases?
Which is more commonly found in
nature? Under what conditions would the other type be found?
6. Where does the food come from that sustains (a) blue water, (b) midwater
and (c) deep sea floor habitats?
7. What is meant by the "optimal range" of an environmental condition (e.g., temperature)?
8. What happens as temperature deviates from this optimal range?
9. What types of biological interactions provide the forcing for evolution by natural selection in open ocean communities?
10. What are some strategies used by open ocean fishes to avoid predation?
11. What are the advantages of "schooling" for species in the open ocean? What is "cooperative hunting"? What other s
strategies are used by blue-water
organisms to aid in hunting and in avoiding predation?
12. What camouflage strategies are most effective in the sunlit zone,
midwater zone and deep sea?
13. What is the DSL? What happens to the DSL during the day? At night?
14. What anatomical adaptations do deep-water fish and organisms that live
on the deep sea floor have that help them survive in
these
food-poor habitats?
15. What is hermaphroditism? What is a parasitic male? Why are these
strategies useful in the deep sea?
1. Why do coastal and open ocean communities differ so greatly?
2. What physical and biological factors challenge organisms that live in rocky intertidal zones? What opportunities make this
environment desirable for many species?
3. Why are estuaries important to life in the sea?
4. What is the economic importance of estuaries?
5. Where is the intertidal zone?
6. What are the challenges and advantages of living in a rocky intertidal
zone?
7. Why are sandy beaches difficult environments for small animals?
8. Describe the physical conditions in the rocky intertidal zones?
9. What are the advantages of living in a rocky intertidal zone?
10. What challenges are faced by organisms in sandy or cobble communities?
11. What life strategies have these organisms developed?
12. What are some advantages to living below wave base?
13. Why is the distribution of organisms within the rocky intertidal zone
"vertically banded"?
14. What are some adaptations that organisms use to cope with exposure to
air and the changes of temperature typical of rocky
intertidal areas?
15. What types of animals thrive on sand and cobble beaches? Why are sand
and cobble beaches challenging environments for
other
types of organisms?and ecosystems?
1. Where in the ocean are kelp forests found? What conditions are needed for growth of a healthy kelp forest?
2. How does the high biodiversity of a kelp forest reflect the principle of the "intermediate disturbance hypothesis"?
3. Of the two kelp species discussed in class, which is better adapted to high energy environments and why?
4. What is the "understory"? Why do understory plants thrive when the kelp plants are in a state of decline?
6. Describe some of the ways that animals can "make a living" in a kelp forest. How does this compare with the ways to make aliving in the open ocean or sandy beach environments?
7. Why are kelp forests good nursery grounds for many species of fish?
8. Why are marine mammals common visitors to or inhabitants of kelp forests?
9. What is a "keystone predator"?
10. Describe the relationship between kelp, sea urchins and sea otters. Why is this relationship important to the entire kelp forestecosystem?
11. Can organism in the kelp community influence community structure in other communities? How?
1. What do the extreme environments discussed in class have in common?
2. What is chemosynthesis? Why is it important to hydrothermal vent communities?3. How is it like photosynthesis? How is it different from photosynthesis?
4. What are some other places where chemosynthetic commmunities are found?
5. What types of plate tectonic settings are the various chemosynthetic communities found in?
6. Describe some of the organisms found in chemosynthetic communities?
7. Where are hydrothermal vents found?
8. Where does the hydrothermal vent fluid (which fuels chemosynthesis) come
from?
9. How do hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and brine pools differ?
10. What organisms form the bottom of the food web in hydrothermal vent, cold
seep and brine pool communities?
11. Where do animals that are part of a brine pool community actually live?
Why?
12. Why are chemosynthetic communities in the deep sea of interest to
scientists who study life in other parts of the solar system and in other
parts of the universe?
1. What is coral? What are zooxanthellae? What is their relationship to coral?
2. What is the difference between the living and nonliving (i.e., hard) parts of a coral reef?
3. How do fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls differ?
4. What conditions are required for the development of a healthy reef? Where are these conditions (and hence coral reefs)found?
5. How does the biodiversity and productivity of coral reefs compare with the biodiversity and productivity of most tropical ocean
waters?
6. Describe some strategies that reef inhabitants use to deal with the
intense competition in this habitat.
7. What benefits do coral reefs provide to society?
8. What natural and human-related problems threaten the health of coral
reefs?
1. Describe why fisheries are globally important to people? Support your answers with data.
2. Which countries support the largest fisheries? Where do they fish?3. What is an EEZ?
4. What are some important issues facing fisheries today?
5. What fishing methods are in use today?
6. What are bycatch and ghost fishing?
7. What is MSY, how it is determined?
8. What is mariculture (aquaculture)? Will it likely increase or decrease in importance in the future?9. Where are most fish caught? Why?
10. What are some challenges currently facing the fishing industry? (both from economic and environmental perspectives)
11. How does purse seining, trawling and longlining work? In addition to catching the targeted species, what other effectsare associated with the use of each of these three fishing techniques?
12. What is maximum sustainable yield?
13. From a management perspective, what factors need to be considered when calculating MSY?
14. What are the consequences of exceeding MSY? (in the short-run and in the long-run)
15. What is the status of the world's fishing industry today - are catches increasing, level or declining in most regions? Howdoes this compare with the status of the industry 30-40 years ago?
16. How does a fishery collapse? Describe the two scenarios of collapsed fisheries discussed in class. Which scenario hasa brighter long-term outlook and why?
17. What is mariculture?. Why is mariculture expected to be important to the future of the fishing industry?
18. What are the properties of species that can be profitably maricultured? Are any species profitably maricultured in theU.S. today? If so, name a few.
19. What challenges are facing the U.S. mariculture industry today?