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Ch 7
Environmental
Systems and
Ecosystem Ecology
Part 1: Foundations of
Environmental Science
PowerPoint® Slides prepared by
Jay Withgott and Heidi Marcum
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Study Guide:
• The nature of
environmental systems
• Ecosystems and how
living and nonliving
entities interact
• Flow of Energy and Cycle
of Matter
• Net Primary Production
• The Carbon, Phosphorus,
Nitrogen, and Water
Cycles
• How Plate Tectonics and
the Rock Cycle shape the
Earth
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Mississippi River
entering Gulp of Mexico
Central Case: The Gulf of Mexico’s “Dead Zone”
- before Hurricane Katrina(2005), & BP Oil Station Explosion(2010)
• Gulf of Mexico brings in 600
million kg/year shrimp, fish,
and shellfish
• Gulf “dead zone”: a region of
water so depleted of oxygen
that kills or drives away
marine organisms
• Hypoxia: low concentrations
of dissolved oxygen water
Normal level:
Minimum:
10 ppm
2 ppm
Hypoxia: below the level
Caused by fertilizer, runoff,
sewage
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ppm: parts/million
% = parts/hundread
ppm=0.0001 %
10,000 ppm = 1 %
The Earth’s systems
• System = a network of relationships among parts.
Consists of elements or components that interact with
and influence one another
- Exchange of energy, matter, or information
- Receives inputs of energy, matter, or information;
processes these inputs; and produces outputs
• Systems often show behavior that is hard to predict
• Feedback loop = a system’s output serves as input to
that same system
- A circular process
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Earth Systems
System changes (active)
 Most of earth’s systems are in dynamic equilibrium or
steady state – Balanced & stable state
Rate of change in one direction equals that in the other.
results in no change in net results. (eg. Zero pop. growth)
 Feedback
 Negative feedback- change triggers a response that
counteracts the changed condition-
stabilize the system, common in nature
 Positive feedback- change triggers a response that
intensifies the changing condition
drive the system to an extreme, human induced
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Feedback
Negative Feedback
Stabilize the system
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Positive Feedback
Drive to an extreme (Unstable)
Understanding requires system considerations
• Environmental entities are complex systems that interact with
each other
- For example, river systems consist of hundreds of smaller
tributary subsystems
• To solve environmental problems, all appropriate systems
must be considered
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Systems are perceived in various ways
• Categorizing environmental systems helps make
Earth’s dazzling complexity comprehensible
• For example, the earth consists of structural spheres
- Lithosphere = rock and sediment
- Atmosphere = the air
- Hydrosphere = liquid, solid or vapor water
- Biosphere = all the planet’s living organisms and
the abiotic portions of the environment
• Boundaries overlap, so the systems interact
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Ecology
• Biosphere contains earth’s communities, ecosystems
and landscapes, and includes:



Atmosphere gaseous envelope
surrounding earth
Hydrosphere - earth’s
supply of water
Lithosphere - soil and
rock of the earth’s
crust
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The Gulf of Mexico from a systems perspective
• Nutrients from fertilizer enter
the Mississippi River from
Midwestern farms
• Fertilizer use has increased,
which causes….
• Phytoplankton to grow,
then…
• Bacteria eat dead
phytoplankton and wastes and
deplete oxygen, causing…
• Fish and other aquatic
organisms to suffocate
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Eutrophication
• The process of nutrient overenrichment, blooms of
algae, increased production of organic matter, and
ecosystem degradation
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Ecosystems
• Ecosystem = all organisms and nonliving entities that
occur and interact in a particular area at the same time
- Includes abiotic and biotic components
- Energy flows and matter cycles among these
components
• Biological entities are highly intertwined with chemical
and physical entities
- Interactions and feedback loops
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Systems of interacting entities in ecosystems
• Energy from the sun flows in one direction
- Energy entering the system is processed and transformed
chemical energy(green) & heat energy (red)
• Matter is recycled within ecosystem, resulting in outputs such
as heat, water flow, and waste products
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Energy & mass(Nutrient) are converted to biomass
• Primary production:
conversion of solar energy to chemical energy (in sugars) by
autotrophs – All photosynthetic output
• Gross primary production (GPP):
GPP = E(CR) + NPP
assimilation of energy by autotrophs
= Energy for Cellular Respiration + Biomass (Carbohydrate)
• Net primary production (NPP) : energy remaining after
respiration, and is used to generate Biomass NPP = GPP - E(CR)
- Available as a food for heterotrophs
• Secondary production:
total biomass that heterotrophs generate by consuming autotrophs
• Productivity: rate at which ecosystems generate Biomass
normally given in g C/m2/yr
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Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
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NPP variation causes global geographic patterns
NPP increases with temperature and precipitation on land, and
with light and nutrients in aquatic ecosystems
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Net primary productivity of various ecosystems
High net primary productivity = ecosystems whose plants
rapidly convert solar energy to biomass
Corn, or Potato
• Tropical
Rainforest:
~ 5 lbs/m2/yr
• Temp. g’land.
(Midwest)
~ 2 lbs m2/yr
• Tundra
~ 1 lbs/m2/yr
• Desert
~0.5 lbs/m2/yr
1m2 = 11 ft2
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Nutrients can limit productivity
• Nutrients = elements
and compounds
required for survival
that are consume by
organisms
- Nitrogen, carbon,
phosphorus
- Stimulate plant
production
Table 4.1 p89
Composition
of Organisms:
O 65%
C 18.5%
H 9.5%
N 3.3%
Ca 1.5%
P 1.0 %
• N&P
K 0.4%
are important for plant S 0.3%
and
algal growth
Others 0.5%
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Dramatic growth of algae
in water treated with
phosphate
Biogeochemical Cycle (Nutrient Cycle)
- Nutrients circulate through ecosystems
• Physical matter is circulated continually in an ecosystem
• Nutrient (biogeochemical) cycle : the movement of nutrients
through ecosystems
- Atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere
• Pools (reservoirs) : where nutrients reside for varying
amounts of time
• Flux : movement of nutrients among pools, which change over
time and are influenced by human activities
• Sources :pools that release more nutrients than they accept
• Sinks : accept more nutrients than they release
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The carbon cycle
• Carbon is found in carbohydrates, fats, proteins, bones
• Carbon cycle = describes the routes that carbon atoms take
through the environment
• Photosynthesis moves carbon from the air to organisms
• Respiration returns carbon to the air and oceans
• Decomposition returns carbon to the sediment, the largest reservoir
of carbon
- Ultimately, it may be converted into fossil fuels
• The world’s oceans are the second largest reservoir of carbon
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The carbon cycle: amount in Pg (Peta grams)
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Humans affect the carbon cycle
• Burning fossil fuels moves C from the ground to the air
• Cutting forests & burning fields moves carbon from
organisms (Biosphere) to the air
• Today’s atmospheric carbon dioxide reservoir is the
largest in the past 650,000 years
- The driving force behind climate change
• The missing carbon sink: 1-2 billion metric tons of
carbon are unaccounted for
- It may be the plants or soils of northern temperate and
boreal forests
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The phosphorus cycle
• Phosphorus is a key component of cell membranes, DNA,
RNA, ATP and ADP, and ? (in an animal)
• Phosphorus cycle = describes the routes that phosphorus
atoms take through the environment
- No significant atmospheric component
- Most phosphorus is within rocks and is released by
weathering
• With naturally low environmental concentrations,
phosphorus is a limiting factor for plant growth
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The phosphorus cycle: (in Tg)
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Humans affect the phosphorus cycle
• Mining rocks for fertilizer moves phosphorus from the
soil to water systems
- Wastewater discharge also releases phosphorus
• Runoff containing phosphorus causes eutrophication of
aquatic systems
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The nitrogen cycle
• Nitrogen comprises 78% of our atmosphere, and is
contained in Proteins, DNA and RNA
• Nitrogen cycle = describes the routes that nitrogen atoms
take through the environment
- N2 gas is inert and cannot be used by organisms
• Nitrogen fixation = Nitrogen gas is combined (fixed)
with hydrogen by nitrogen-fixing bacteria to become
ammonium
that can be used
by plants
N2+3H2 → 2NH3
& 2NH4 +
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Nitrification and denitrification
• Nitrification: = that convert ammonium ions first into
nitrite ions then into nitrate ions by bacteria
NH3 / NH4+- →
NO2 - →
NO3 -
- Plants can take up these ions
Animals obtain nitrogen by eating plants or other animals
• Denitrification: convert nitrates in soil or water to
gaseous nitrogen, releasing it back into the atmosphere
by bacteria
NO3 - →
NO2 - →
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N2 (the atmosphere)
The nitrogen cycle; (in Tg)
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Humans affect the nitrogen cycle
• Haber-Bosch process = synthetic production of fertilizers by
combining nitrogen and hydrogen to synthesize ammonia
- Dramatically changed the nitrogen cycle
- Humans are fixing as much nitrogen as nature does
• Increased emissions of nitrogen-containing greenhouse gases
• Calcium and potassium in soil washed out by fertilizers
• Acidified water and soils
• Moved more nitrogen into plants and terrestrial systems
• Reduced biodiversity of plants adapted to low-nitrogen soils
• Changed estuaries and coastal ecosystems and fisheries
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Human inputs of nitrogen into the environment
Fully half of nitrogen entering the environment is of human origin
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A law addressing hypoxia in the Gulf
• The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and
Control Act (1998) called for an assessment of hypoxia in
the Gulf
• Solutions outlined included:
- Reduce nitrogen fertilizer use in Midwestern farms
- Change timing of fertilizer applications to minimize
runoff
- Use alternative crops
- Restore wetlands and create artificial ones
- Improve sewage = treatment technologies
- Evaluate these approaches
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The hydrologic cycle
• Water is essential for biochemical reactions and is
involved in nearly every environmental system
• Hydrologic cycle = summarizes how liquid, gaseous and
solid water flows through the environment
- Oceans are the main reservoir
• Evaporation = water moves from aquatic and land
systems to air
• Transpiration = release of water vapor by plants
• Precipitation = condensation of water vapor as rain or
snow
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Groundwater
• Aquifers = underground reservoirs of sponge-like
regions of rock and soil that hold …
- Groundwater: water found underground beneath
layers of soil
- Water table: the upper limit of groundwater held in
an aquifer
- Water may be ancient (thousands of years old)
• Groundwater becomes exposed to the air where the water
table reaches the surface (wells)
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The hydrologic cycle
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Human impacts on hydrologic cycle
• Damming rivers increases evaporation and infiltration
• Altering the surface and vegetation increases runoff and
erosion
• Spreading water on agricultural fields depletes rivers,
lakes and streams
• Removing forests and vegetation reduces transpiration
and lowers water tables
• Emitting pollutants changes the nature of precipitation
- Acid Rain Probelms
• The most threatening impact is overdrawing groundwater
for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use
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Plate tectonics shapes the Earth
- Continental Drift (Wegener, 1880-1930)
• Plate tectonics: The motions of regions of Earth’s
Lithosphere which drift wrt one another.
Underlies earthquakes and volcanoes, and determines the
geography of the Earth’s surface.
• Crust: thin outer lightweight layer of Earth
Asthenosphere: boundary layer where slipping occurs
• Mantle: malleable layer on which the crust floats
Convection Cells
• Core: molten heavy center , made mostly of iron
• Average Density of Earth:
~5.5g/cm3 = 5.5 kg/L = 5.5 Mg/m3 = 5.5 ton/m3
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The Internal Structure of Earth
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Earth Topography
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Earth Topography
World War II: Needed Sea Floor Map for Submarine Warfare
Harry Hess, US Naval Officer, History of Ocean Basin, 1962
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The Earth has 15 major tectonic plates
Movement of these plates influences climate and evolution
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The effect of mantle convection
http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect2/Sect2_1b.html
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Earth’s crust is constantly created and destroyed
• Divergent plate boundaries =
magma surging upward to the
surface divides plates and pushes
them apart, creating new crust as it
cools and spreads
• Transform plate boundary = two
plates meet, slipping and grinding
alongside one another
- Friction spawns earthquakes
along slip-strike faults
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Tectonic plates can collide
• Convergent plate boundaries = where plates collide
• Subduction = one plate of crust may slide beneath another
- Magma erupts through the surface in volcanoes
• Two colliding plates of continental crust may lift material from
both plates
- Resulted in the Himalaya and Appalachian mountains
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The Locations of Earth’s Volcanos
Occurs mostly along the plate boundaries
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The rock cycle
• Rock cycle = The
heating, melting,
cooling, breaking
and reassembling
of rocks and
minerals
• Rocks help
determine soil
chemistry, which
influences
ecosystems
• Helps us
appreciate the
formation and
conservation of
soils, mineral
resources, fossil
fuels, and other
natural resources
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Igneous rock
• Magma = the molten,
liquid state of rock
• Lava = magma released
from the lithosphere
• Igneous rock = forms
when magma cools
• Intrusive rock = magma
that cools slowly well
below Earth’s surface
(i.e., granite)
• Extrusive rock =
magma ejected from a
volcano (i.e., basalt)
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Sedimentary rock: Limestone
• Sediments =
particles of rock are
blown by wind or
washed away by
water
• Sedimentary rock =
dissolved minerals
seep through
sediment layers and
crystallize and bind
sediment particles
together:
• Lithification =
formation of rock
through the processes
of compaction,
binding, and
crystallization
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Formation of sedimentary rock
through chemical and physical processes
• Some rock is formed by chemical means when rocks
dissolve and their components crystallize to form new
rock: primarily by chemical processes
- limestone (CaCO3 )
- rock salt (NaCl)
• Other rocks are formed when layers of sediment
compress and physically bond to one another:
primarily by physical processes
- shale (from silt & clay particles)
- sandstone (from sand),
- conglomerate (from gravels), coal (organic)
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Metamorphic rock: Marble
• Metamorphic
rock: great heat or
pressure on a rock
changes its form
• Temperatures is
high enough to
reshape crystals
and change its
appearance and
physical properties
Marble: heated
and pressurized
limestone
Slate: heated and
metamorphosed
shale
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Pangaea: the supercontinent
At least twice in Earth’s history, all landmasses were joined
in one supercontinent
Pangaea: 225 Myr BP
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Pangaea: the supercontinent
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Fossil Evidence for Plate Tectonics
http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec124/originalnature.html
Fossils from Extinct Animals
and Plants of the Triassic Periods
(245~210 M yr BP)
History Written by Mother Nature
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/historical.html
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Earth’s crust is constantly created and destroyed
• Divergent plate boundaries =
magma surging upward to the
surface divides plates and pushes
them apart, creating new crust as it
cools and spreads
• Transform plate boundary = two
plates meet, slipping and grinding
alongside one another
- Friction spawns earthquakes
along slip-strike faults
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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Oceanic Divergent Plates
Divergence of
South American Plate
and African Plate
http://www.serg.unicam.it/Boundaries.html
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http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/
tectonics_landforms/magnetic_stripe_formation.htm
Tectonic plates can collide
• Convergent plate boundaries = where plates collide
• Subduction = one plate of crust may slide beneath another
- Magma erupts through the surface in volcanoes
• Two colliding plates of continental crust may lift material from
both plates
- Resulted in the Himalaya and Appalachian mountains
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The effect of mantle convection
http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect2/Sect2_1b.html
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The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Oceanic Divergent Plates
Divergence of
South American Plate
and African Plate
http://www.serg.unicam.it/Boundaries.html
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http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/
tectonics_landforms/magnetic_stripe_formation.htm
Transform Plate Boundaries: Strike-slip fault
Pacific Plate and N American Plate
1906 San Francisco earthquake
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/earthq3/along2.html
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San Andreas Fault
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/San_Andreas.html
Convergent continental plates: Himalayan Mountains
Eurasian Plate &
Indian-Australian Plate
http://www.travel-himalayas.com/himalayas-pictures/gifs/spiti-ladakh-b.jpg
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http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/himalaya.html
Convergent plates
with subduction
Nazca Plate Under
S American Plate
Andes
Mountains
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http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/Nazca.html
Conclusion
• The biogeochemical cycles, the rock cycle, and plate tectonics lay
the groundwork for spreading life across Earth
• Understanding biogeochemical cycles is crucial
- Humans are causing significant changes in the ways those
cycles function
• Thinking in terms of systems can teach us how to avoid disrupting
Earth’s processes and how to mitigate any disruptions we cause
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Conclusion
• The biogeochemical cycles, the rock cycle, and plate tectonics lay
the groundwork for spreading life across Earth
• Understanding biogeochemical cycles is crucial
- Humans are causing significant changes in the ways those
cycles function
• Thinking in terms of systems can teach us how to avoid disrupting
Earth’s processes and how to mitigate any disruptions we cause
Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings
Conclusion
• The biogeochemical cycles, the rock cycle, and plate tectonics lay
the groundwork for spreading life across Earth
• Understanding biogeochemical cycles is crucial
- Humans are causing significant changes in the ways those
cycles function
• Thinking in terms of systems can teach us how to avoid disrupting
Earth’s processes and how to mitigate any disruptions we cause
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QUESTION: Review
The term “system” includes all of the following,
except:
a) A network of relationships among various
components
b) The various components tend to minimize
interactions
c) Energy, matter, and information are exchanged
between components
d) Energy and matter are valuable inputs to the
system
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QUESTION: Review
Which of the following describes a positive feedback
loop?
a) It drives a system towards an extreme
b) It stabilizes the system
c) It causes the system to move in opposite directions at
the same rates
d) It causes the system to maintain a constant condition
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QUESTION: Review
Which of the following is a correct statement?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Energy and matter flow in one direction only
Energy and matter both cycle repeatedly
Energy flows in one direction, while matter recycles
Matter flows in one direction, while energy recycles
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QUESTION: Review
What is the definition of “net primary production”?
a) Assimilation of energy by heterotrophs
b) Elements and compounds that are required for
survival
c) Energy remaining after respiration that is used to
generate biomass
d) Assimilation of energy by autotrophs
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QUESTION: Review
Which biogeochemical cycle comprises 78% of our
atmosphere, and is contained in proteins, DNA and
RNA?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Carbon
Nitrogen
Water
Phosphorus
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QUESTION: Review
Which biogeochemical cycle is being affected by
damming rivers, and altering the surface and
vegetation?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Carbon
Nitrogen
Water
Phosphorus
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QUESTION: Review
Which rock is formed from magma; for example, granite
and basalt?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Sedimentary
Igneous
Metamorphic
Phosphorus
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QUESTION: Weighing the Issues
Who should pay for cleanup of the nitrate entering the
Gulf of Mexico?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The federal government
State governments
Fishermen
Farmers responsible for fertilizer runoff
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QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data
According to this graph, which
ecosystem has the warmest
temperature and most rainfall?
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a) Temperate
grassland
b) Boreal forest
c) Savannah
d) Tropical rain
forest
QUESTION: Interpreting Graphs and Data
What would be created as
a result of this figure?
a) An earthquake-prone
area
b) A slip-strike fault
c) Colliding plates
d) New crust
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