MSCI Final

In clear ocean waters, the photic zone may extend to depths of ___ m.

100

An iceberg near Antarctica will drift to ___ under polar easterlies.

Southwest

Which parameter determines the density of seawater

Temperature and Salinity

Convergence resulting from Ekman Transport and the geostrophic current leads to ___ in subtropical gyres.

Low surface nutrient concentration

____ generates energy in the form of ATP

Respiration

The trade winds along the equator blow from ____.

East to West

Upper water column stratification is the strongest in the ____ ocean.

Tropical

The average depth of the world’s ocean is ____

3\.8 km

Most picocyanobacteria are less than _____ um (microns) in size.

2

Which element is not a macronutrient?

Iron

The deepest water mass in the earth’s oceans is formed ____

Near Antartica

Which molecule typically do not enter oceanic cells by passive transport?

Glucose

Which type of organism can fix nitrogen?

Trichodemium

In the Northern Hemisphere at mid-latitudes, the highest phytoplankton biomass occurs during _____

March to September

Dead Organic matter suspended in the water column is known as ____

Detritus.

Some species of haptophytes (coccolithophores) are covered in ___ composed of ___.

Scales, calcium carbonate

The Thaumarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota, and Euryarchaeota are members of the ____

Archaea

Marine bacteria may be ____.

autotrophic, heterotrophic, or chemotropic

The carbon atoms in carbohydrates synthesized by photosynthesis comes from ____.

CO2

Which group of organisms is considered responsible for the Great Oxidation Event (GOE)?

Cyanobacteria

What is a micronutrient for phytoplankton?

Iron

_____ in the seawater does not attenuate light

Dissolved Oxygen

The layer geologic layer for the Earth’s crust is the _____.

Lithosphere

____ light has the deepest penetration depth on the open ocean.

Blue

Most cellular metabolisms are catalyzed by ___

Proteins

What is the limiting macronutrient in most parts of the ocean?

Nitrogen

The most abundant living organisms in the marine environment are in the size range of ____.

Picoplankton

The Big Bang occurred ____ billion years ago, and Earth formed ____ billion years ago.

14, 4.5

Light (irradiance) has physical characteristics of ____ .

particles, waves, energy, and color

The great oxidation event (GOE) took place approximately ____ years ago.

2\.5 billion

Which theory is not proposed for the origin of life on eath?

DNA First

Diatoms are unique in that they have ____ silica frustules.

Silica

The shoaling of the ___ is a ket factor leading up to the spring bloom in the North Atlantic.

mixed layer depth

Which gas molecules was not present wen earth first formed?

oxygen

Theoretically, one mole of carbon fixed by photosynthesis = ___ of oxygen evolved.

1 mole +

The ___ pelagic region is deeper than the mesopelagic region of the water column in the ocean.

hadal and abyssal

Most of the oxygen in today’s atmosphere was produced by _____.

Plants

The only prokaryotic group of phytoplankton are the _____.

cyanbacteria

Which nutrient is required by diatoms but not by other types of phytoplankton?

Silicic acid

Which trait is NOT an accurate description fro cyanobacteria?

Fast-sinking

Marine and terrestrial production are approximately equal at around 50 ____ per year

petagrams or billion tons

What is the thrid most abundant gas molecule in earth’s atmosphere today?

Argon

Which regions of the ocean are characterized by low annual mean primary production?

The subtropical gyres

Organisms in the size range of 2 to 20 microns are termed _____

nanoplankton

Oxygen released as a by-product of photosynthesis comes from ____.

H20

Where did the water on earth come from?

Earth’s Interior and Comets

Chlorophyll a reflects ____ light.

green

The hydrothermal vent theory for the origin of life provides the strongest support to the ___ theory for the origin of life

Metabolism First

The most abundant photosynthetic genus on Earth is ____.

Prochlorococcus

Which current listed below is responsible for the mild winters in western Europe?

The gulf stream

The vast majority of marine primary production takes place in ___.

The open ocean

Marine bacteria may be ____.

autotrophic, heterotrophic or chemotropic

The gelatinous material in jellyfish is called ____.

Mesoglea

As temperature increases, enzyme activity _____.

increases

The microfossils of _____ is NOT used to reconstruct past climate and earth history.

Cyanobacteria

Plankton in the size range of 2-20 microns size range are termed ____

nanoplankton

The amount of particulate organic matter ____ with depth in the ocean.

decreases

The most abundant heterotrophic bacteria in the ocean is ____.

Pelagibacter

Krill that feed on phytoplankton are _____.

primary consumers

The oxygen minimum zone in the ocean water is due to ____.

respiration

Seawater is slightly ____ with respect to pH.

Basic

The number of archaeal cells is ____ in the deep ocean compared to the surface ocean.

Lower

_____ is NOT a criterion to determine whether an iron fertilization experiment worked or not.

Iron drawdown

Which process is not responsible for DOM production in the ocean?

Respiration

All pteropods make shells

False

____ are typically responsible for harmful algal blooms

Dinoflagellates

Which region of the ocean is characterized by high chlorophyll low nutrient?

Southern Ocean

Which region is characterized by low surface nitrate concentration?

Subtropical gyres

A plankton net with a mesh size of 500 microns will capture _____

macroplankton and some mesoplankton

Net primary production (NPP) is equal to gross primary production (GPP) ____

\- respiration

Radiolarians have ____ skeletons

silica

About ___ of primary production passes though the microbial loop

50%

What are some limitations of measuring primary productivity using satellites (ocean colors)

Cloud coverage and it only measures the surface chlorophyll.

What is the fate of primary production?

Consumed by the food web, recycled in the surface ocean, buried in the deep ocean, recycled in the deep ocean.

Why is the rapidly increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 a problem for calcareous organisms?

Ir causes dissolution of calcium carbonate

Jellyfish, anemones, and corals are in the Phylum ____.

Cnidaria

Eukaryotic algae likely evolved as heterotrophic bacteria engulfed ____.

cyanobacteria

____ isotope is commonly used to infer trophic levels of marine organisms

Nitrogen

What is the benefit of diel vertical migration for zooplankton?

Predator evasion

Which is not a reason for bioluminescence in the ocean?

food digestion

____ is a major limitation of measuring primary productivity by measuring the production of oxygen.

Lack of spatial coverage

The “comb jellies” are

ctenophores

Zooplankton can be

omnivores, herbivores, carnivores

The dark bottles in the Light/Dark Bottle Method measures ____

Respiration

Which type of region has the lowest transfer efficiency between trophic levels?

Open ocean

Dinoflagellates are covered in ____ composed of ____.

theca, cellulose

Zooplankton diel vertical migration ___ the amount organic transferred from the surface ocean to the deep ocean.

increases

Siphonophores are jellyfish

False

The most common limiting nutrient in oligotrophic ocean waters is fixed _____

nitrogen

Which nutrient enters the ocean from land primarily by atmospheric transport?

Iron

The endosymbiotic algae in corals are

dinoflagellates known as zooxanthellae

The Redfield Ratio of nutrients in the ocean is the molar ratio of 106__: 16___: 1___ .

C,N,P

Ciliate protists may be _____

mixotrophs, herbivores, or carnivores

Which process does not contribute to regenerated production in the surface ocean?

Nitrogen fixation

Which process is primarily responsible for fixed nitrogen loss in the ocean?

Denitrification

____ is the major substrate supporting the microbial loop

DOM

Sharks (class Chondrichthyes) have a well-developed operculum.

False

Corals feed by ____

Forming symbiotic relationship with endosymbiotic dinoflagellates and capturing plankton

Most seamounts are ____

shorter than 3800 m

Sea lice in salmon aquaculture can be controlled by _____

a biocontrol species