HW4-Jalc0323

From Environmental Technology

Chapter 4 Questions

2. One example of secondary succession would be the incident of forest fires in Yellowstone National Park. After the fires, gray ash covered the forest floor. Scientists took this opportunity to study the environment. After only a year, lillies and other herbs sprouted. After ten years, larger seedlings and tree sprouts appeared.

4. When the fungi prevent the host from being able to reproduce, that is a negative effect ont he host organism. Therefore, the relationship is turning in to a form of parasitism.

5. The fundamental niche relates to all possible niches of an organism. The specific one it chooses is the realized niche. Therefore, the realized niche is smaller.

8. The lack of water would be the most obvious limiting resource in a desert simply because it is a desert.

11. In protecting keystone species, which are often predators, the populations of other species are kept in check. In turn, the smaller species, such as insects, do not enter endagerment and a lack of food is not a problem.

Chapter 5 Questions

8. Global air temperatures have risen considerably over the recent past years. This coulbe be because of the increased amounts of carbon in the atmosphere.

12. The lowest layer of the atmosphere is the trophosphere. The second lowest is the stratosphere. The trophosphere is different from the stratosphere because it contains turbulance and weather, where as the stratosphere does not. The stratosphere does, however, contain the important layer of ozone that absorbs most of the suns ultraviolet rays.

14. The ocean and the atmosphere often play off of each other. For example, the El Nino phenomenon happens when the trade winds are lowered along the North and South American Pacific coast, bringing in warmer waters. These warm water temperatures causes a rise in the atmospheric temperature, as well.

16. Plate tectonics studies the movement of Earth's plates, predicting earthquake location. These locations are often found along the plate boundaries.

17. Southern Illinois is in the middle of a tornado prone area. Mild earthquakes are also a possibility because we are close to a plate boundary.