EVS FInal Lab

Be able to draw and explain the patterns in prevailing wind directions at different latitudes.

Equator: N.E. and S.E. tradewinds

Middle Latitude: westerlies (west to east)

Polar regions: easterlies (east to west)

Be able to sketch the directions of gyres in ocean basins.

The Coriolis Force deflects due to the Earth’s rotation; air moving in the lower pressure areas in the NH is deflected clockwise (to the right), and in the SH is deflected counterclockwise.

Determine which currents will be cold and which will be warm based on direction of flow.

Since the equator experiences the most solar radiation through direct sunlight, the water flowing away from it is going to be warmer, heating up the ocean. Currents going towards the equator are cold.

Where does the water that flow past Omaha in the Missouri river come from? Based on that, what does it bring with it?

Montana, ND, SD, and Iowa

Runoff from local farm areas in SD, carrying fertilizers and pesticides

Sediments from erosion in the mountain areas in Montana

Where does water leaving Omaha in the Missouri river go? What does it take with it?

Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, and Louisiana → ends up in the Gulf of Mexico

Pollution/litter from the cities as Omaha, is an urban area

Where do the prevailing winds in Omaha come from? What do they bring with them?

In January (winter): the Rocky Mountains brings dry air from mountains (as it rises over mountains, it loses moisture), smoke from wildfires, and dust from dry areas

In July (summer): the Southwest brings in dust from hot, southern areas, warmer temperatures since it is summer, and smoke from wildfires due to intense heat

Where do the prevailing winds in Omaha go to? What do they take with them?

In January (winter): Southeast

In July (summer): Northeast

Since Omaha is urban with numerous citizens and buildings, the wind may carry pollutants

What seasonal variations do you expect in these trends?

Different directions during different seasons

In the winter, wind comes from the northwest (Rocky Mountains) and goes southeast

In the summer, wind comes from the southwest and goes northeast

How fast are surface ocean currents?

The range is 0.0-1.0 m/s

(1 m/1609 m) x (3600 s/1 hr) = 2.24 m/hr, which is slower than the average human walking speed (3 m/hr)

If drifters are released into the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River, what happens to them?

The drifters would go back towards the shore, since the ocean currents are moving clockwise

How does this differ from releasing them on the East Coast of the US?

The drifters circulate in the North Atlantic Ocean

When 5 drifters are released from the same point in the ocean, do you expect them all to end up at the same place?

No, they do not end up all in the same place, but can stay relatively close to each other in an area. It depends on where you drop them in the ocean, as they can end up moving further away from the starting point, but can stay closer to each other.

New England: drifters circulate the North Atlantic Ocean, besides one outlier in Russia (relatively close to each other)

West coast of Australia: the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Africa and Eastern coast of India

California: the Pacific Ocean, in between Asia and North America

Venezuela: circulating the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida

Omaha in Missouri River: end up in the Eastern shoreline of Texas (Gulf of Mexico) and relatively close to each other

What do these observations imply about the need for international agreements about ocean dumping?

Based on the results of the simulations, it shows that dumping one thing (waste) in one area/country’s waters can easily drift to another area/country. Since waste can travel internationally due to ocean currents, local laws do not work, and global cooperation is required. Laws should extend beyond neighboring countries as waste can past neighboring countries. (New England to Russia).

What types of data are available from NANOOS?

Salinity, water temperature, air temperature, wave height, wind speed, wind gust, water density, pressure, chlorophyll

How can one connect wind direction as given in degrees (0-360) to cardinal directions (North, South, East, West)?

Winds blowing from the North to South = 310 to 360 and 0 to 50 → upwelling

How do you find the direction of water transport from the wind direction using the idea of Ekman Transport?

The Ekman Transport is when the water is transported at an angle of 90 degrees to the right of the wind direction in the Northern Hemisphere

Based on the direction of water movement, how do you determine whether or not upwelling is expected to occur (and to explain why)?

The water blows parallel to a coastline, and if water is pushed away from the land, water from deeper down (cold, nutrient-rich) cycles up to the surface to replace it, which is called upwelling

The deeper ocean water is colder, saltier, and rich in nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), which are pushed to the surface due to upwelling, and once hit by sunlight, it triggers fast phytoplankton growth and reproduction, which is the food base for marine animals (zooplankton → larger fish) supporting the ocean ecosystem and fisheries.

What observable properties would be indicators of upwelling (how would salinity change? Why? How would water temperature change? Why? How would chlorophyll levels change? Why?)

Salinty: increase in salinity, since the deepest part of the ocean is saltier/has more salinity. When upwelling occurs, it will bring the saltier water up, increasing the salinity.

Water temperature: decrease, since the deepest part of the ocean is colder and through upwelling, the deep ocean water is pushed to the surface, bringing cold water up, decreasing the surface water temperature

Chlorophyll (a photosynthesizing pigment in plant cells): measures the abundance of phytoplankton, and should be above 25 mg/m3 if upwelling occurred, increases when upwelling occurs. Increased phytoplankton = increased chlorophyll as deep water brings nutrients,, and once hit by sunlight at the surface, it triggers fast phytoplankton growth and reproduction, increasing chlorophyll

From data plots of salinity, etc., can you determine whether upwelling is occurring?

Winds are blowing from the North (wind dir is between 310 to 360 or 0 to 50, more than 48 hours

Surface currents are moving south/and or west

Decrease in surface temperature and increase in surface salinity (past month)

Chlorophyll concentrations are above 25 mg/m3

What types of organisms have the most diversity (number of species)?

So many species are insects (1.5 million)

How many species are on Earth? How well do we know this number?

10 million, (ranged from 10 million to 100 million), a large range, so we do not know this number, as we only have 2.12 million species identified, but many species have not been described, so it is a large underestimate

Do we have an accurate understanding of how many species on Earth are threatened? Why or why not?

No, as scientists have only assessed about 8.02% of identified species, which is a low percentage to see if they are in danger and of assessed only 28.2% be threatened

What is the IUCN Red list?

A list of threatened species, which only shows at least 80% of the species in that group, has been assessed

Code/Key: Extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, data deficient, not threatened, and of least concern

What types of organisms are more threatened? Why?

Cycads are the most threatened, with the largest fraction (71%), with very little missing information, making it more accurate

Be familiar with names of various terrestrial biomes, their general properties, and their locations on the globe.

Tropical rain forest (nearest equator)

Savanna

Desert

Chaparral

Temperature Deciduous Forest

Boreal Forest

Tundra (nearest pole)

Tropical rain forest (nearest equator): 0 N, 24 E

Min temp: 23 °C, max temp: 25 °C, min rainfall: 130 mm, max rainfall: 175 mm, 153 species

Savanna: 13 N, 24 E

Min temp: 20 °C, max temp: 29 °C, min rainfall: 0 mm, max rainfall: 180 mm, 61 species

Desert: 28 N, 24 E

Min temp: 11 °C, max temp: 30 °C, min rainfall: 0 mm, max rainfall: 0 mm, 16 species

Chaparral: 40 N, 24 E

Min temp: 8 °C, max temp: 26 °C, min rainfall: 0 mm, max rainfall: 75 mm, 93 species

Temperate Coniferous Forest: 54 N, 24 E

Min temp: -5 °C, max temp: 18 °C, min rainfall: 30 mm, max rainfall: 100 mm, 91 species

Temperature Deciduous Forest: 63 N, 24 E

Min temp: -5 °C, max temp: 18 °C, min rainfall: 10 mm, max rainfall: 75 mm, 75 species

Boreal Forest: 63 N, 24 E

Min temp: -10°C, max temp: 15 °C, min rainfall: 10 mm, max rainfall: 75 mm, 46 species

Tundra (nearest pole): 80 N, 24 E

Min temp: -15 °C, max temp: 3 °C, min rainfall: 0 mm, max rainfall: 10 mm, 11 species

How can the locations of various biomes be understood based on our knowledge of atmospheric and oceanic circulation?

Equator = rising warm air (rainforests)

30 N/S = sinking dry air (desert)

60 N/S = rising moist air (temperate forests)

Poles = sinking cold dry air (tundra)

Coasts with warmer currents = wetter, warmer biomes

Coasts with cold currents = cool, dry biomes

How does “species richness” vary with biome type? With latitude? What factors explain this?

The most diversity = the Tropical Rainforest and Chaparral

The least diversity = Savanna and Tundra

As the latitude increases, the number of species decreases → more diversity closer to the equator as there is more sunlight, higher primary productivity, etc.

What reptiles most/least prevalent? What about mammals?

Reptiles are least prevalent at poles because they are cold blooded animals and cannot regulate body temperature and most prevalent in warmer biomes (tropics, deserts)

Mammals are more prevalent near the poles (as latitude increases)

Where is net primary productivity the greatest? What factors contribute to this? How does this relate to biodiversity?

The Tropical Rainforest has the highest net productivity due to warmer temperatures, sunlight, high moistures as it correlates to high levels of precipitation.

Higher net productivity = high diversity because there are more resources

What is an “anthrome”?

Human biome shaped by direct human interactions with ecosystems, such as agriculture and urbanization (not defined by climated, but by human land use and population density)

Ex: Villages, urban, croplands, rangelands

How has the percentage of land use by humans changed over the last several hundred years?

Increased by 40-50%, 60% of land is used by humans

How have humans altered the land usage of various biomes? Which biomes are best suited for which human uses? Why?

Human land use often reduces biodiversity because of the changes they make to habitats and alter the conditions needed for survival for many species.

Rangelands, croplands are often used by humans the most because they are less drastic conditions and are good for building/growing crops on

What are keystone species?

Species that have very large impacts on the ecosystem and if they are removed, the whole ecosystem changes dramatically

What was the effect on biodiversity of removing starfish from tidal pools? Why did this occur?

The effect of removing starfish was overgrowth of mussels and and less everything else, because the starfish maintains the mussel population from taking over. Even though barnacles are preyed on by starfish, they are also prey to carnivorous gastropods. Starfish removal decreased biodiversity because it led to the domination of the strong competitor, mussels, thus without the predator at top it all falls down.

What was the effect on biodiversity of removing wolves from Yellowstone? Why did this occur?

The effect of removing wolves was much less greenery (aspen and willow) because there was an overgrowth of elk and beavers and they ate a lot of greenery

How many species in Nebraska are classified as “endangered”?

15

Why is the Salt Creek tiger beetle endangered? Why is being done to preserve it?

The salt creek tiger beetle is endangered because it is losing its habitat- saline wetlands- contamination of things like construction, light, foods, invasive plants, etc (pollution).

What roles do Carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus play in the biological processes and functions of plants?

Carbon - plants use CO2 in photosynthesis, light energy is converted into carbon- containing sugars- these are compounds for food for all consumers in the ecosystem

Nitrogen - plant nitrogen is found in amino acids and are the building blocks of proteins and nitrogenous bases- meaning DNA, RNA, and ATP- used for chlorophyll

Phosphorous - Plants use phosphates to make nucleotides for DNA and RNA, phospholipids for cell membranes and ATP- used for cellular respiration

Where do plants get each of these nutrients? (From what part of the earth system?)

Carbon comes from the air

Nitrogen and Phosphorus come from soil

What factors affect how easily plants can get the needed nutrients?

Soil microbes, other organisms that help plants get nutrients like dung beetles transporting and breaking down complex organic matter (defecation), detritivores (organisms that eat decomposing metter and feces, which help creates hotspot, increasing productivity), termites transporting and breaking down complex organic matter, etc.

What is a “limiting nutrient”?

a nutrient that limits the growth of a plant 

Nitrogen 

Why is nitrogen frequently the “limiting nutrient” despite its abundance in the atmosphere?

Nitrogen is often in an unusable form, fixation is slow and limited, organisms require it in large amounts, and usable nitrogen is sometimes lost.

What 3 roles do soil microbes play in the cycling of nitrogen?

They convert organic and complex matter into other forms- either used by plants or released into the atmosphere- nitrogen fixation, ammonium and denitrification

Nitrogen fixing = bacteria convert N2 from the atmosphere into forms used by

Denitrifying bacteria converts nitrate into N2

Ammonfiing bacerteria convert organic forms of nitrogen into ammonium

What role do detritivores play in the cycling of nutrients? Are they beneficial or detrimental?

They are beneficial- they help create hotspots for productivity and increase nutrient uptake, as well as transport and break down complex organic matter.

How does carbon move through the earth system in the processes of photosynthesis and respiration?

Photosynthesis takes in carbon and releases CO₂ for plants and oxygen for people

Respiration: organisms take in CH₂O and release CO₂ into the atmosphere

How would the decrease in the numbers of lions affect the cycling of nutrients in the Serengeti?

Decrease in lions can lead to more wildebeests (more respiration, defecation = more waste = more carbon) and fewer plants (less photosynthesis)

To what extent is the cycling we studied specific to the Serengeti, and to what extent is it universal?

it is somewhat specific, but if you take a top predator then every food chain will be off balance.

Most healthy ecosystems are in a balance where the effects of each species are regulated by other species in the ecosystem, but human activities can disrupt that balance, which may have a negative effect on the number/diversity of other species

What is a hypothesis? When you conduct an experiment, you have two hypotheses: the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis; if you can prove that the null hypothesis is TRUE, what does that tell us about the alternative hypothesis?

Hypothesis are testable statements

Null hypothesis means that Ho: Beta=0, meaning that there is no correlation or relationship

Alternative hypothesis Ha: Beta does not = 0, meaning there is a correlation or relationship.

If you can prove the null hypothesis is true, that means the alternative is not true. They are mutually exclusive.

What is “correlation”? What does it mean for two data sets to be “positively correlated”? What is the range of values for the correlation statistic?

Correlation is a number that describes how two data sets are related to each other. It’s usually indicated by the letter “r”. It ranges from -1 to 1.

Positive correlation is as one data set’s values go UP, the other one goes up too, and when one goes DOWN, the other goes down too

What kind of trend do you expect from random data?

Not exactly 0, but very close to it

What is a “trend”? For temperature data with respect to a period of time, what are the units of a temperature trend?

A pattern or recognizable piece of data that repears

Time and degrees

What is a histogram? Some histograms are “bell-shaped”; what does it mean for a distribution to be “bell-shaped”?

Histograms show distribution of trends that are seen in sets of trendless numbers

If there is a bell curve, that means that the numbers are random, and there is a normal distribution 

If you reject a hypothesis at the 95% confidence level, what does that mean?

This means that there is a very unlikely chance that the null hypothesis is true- meaning that the p-value (the slope, the percentage chance that the numbers were random) is 5% or less.