BIS 2B Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Intertropical Convergence Zone, C3 Carbon Fixation, C4 Carbon Fixation
29 Apr 2018
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Morphological species - Individuals are grouped into species based on their similar
physical appearance.
Advantages
- practical and simple to apply
- often reflects evolutionary relationships
Problems
- Variation within species may be high due to genetic variation within populations and
changing morphology in response to environment (plasticity)
- Some species may look similar because they evolved those traits independently
Biological species - Groups of actually or potentially interbreeding individuals that are
reproductively isolated from other such groups
Advantage
- it has clear biological and evolutionary meaning
Disadvantage:
- sounds great, but can be difficult to apply in practice
Climate is described by the mean and annual variation in temperature and precipitation
in a given region over the long-term
Incident solar radiation (varies with season and latitude) & Air circulation driven by solar
radiation and Earth’s rotation determine climate.
When the sun is directly overhead, the atmosphere is heated causing air to rise. As it
rises, the air cools. Cool air holds less moisture than warm air, so water precipitates out
and falls as rain.
The intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is the area of intense rainfall in Hadley Cell
circulation.
The vegetation on the east and west of the Sierra look different due to the variation in
climate caused by the rain shadow effect, which prevents moist air from passing from one
side of a mountain to another. Moist air rises, and then moisture is released through
precipitation when the air reaches a high enough altitude. Then, dry air passes to the
other side of the mountain, the rain shadow region.
Around 10,000,000 species on Earth
S = cA^z
Species Richness: the number of species in a given area
Species Evenness: the degree to which species are equally abundant
Species diversity: a measure that combines both richness and evenness
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Autotrophs can live exclusively on inorganic sources of carbon, nitrogen, and other
essential resources.
Heterotrophs use pre-formed organic molecules as food (source of carbon, nitrogen,
energy and other essential resources).
There are a few key methods to calculate the rate of photosynthesis:
1) Measuring the uptake of CO2
2) Measuring the production of O2
Trade-offs:
- Resource acquisition: hunt high energy food that takes longer to capture; specialize in
specific food types: have access to food others can’t eat, but only survive in specific areas.
- Defense against herbivores or predators: plants develop thorns, poison ivy and maybe
not grow as tall; animals develop venoms or can have hard body shells that cost them
speed or energy that could be used for something else like reproduction
- Reproduction: have more offspring but not as good quality and smaller, less parental
care
Endotherm: body temperature is determined primarily by metabolic energy
Ectotherm: body temperature is determined primarily by external conditions
Adaptation: evolutionary change in genotype that maximizes performance
Acclimation: change in phenotype within an individual’s lifetime to maximize performance
(usually reversible)
C3 photosynthesis: the most ancient and common system;
the entire process occurs within the chloroplast;
efficient at low light; perform better at lower temperature.
C4 photosynthesis: evolved later and is more water-efficient;
transport of C4 acid to bundle sheath cells is costly; additional enzyme systems and
anatomical structures are costly
inefficient at low light, but higher max Productivity;
have higher temperature optima, but perform worse at lower temperature.
(C4 plants have a competitive advantage over C3 carbon fixation pathway under high
temperatures, and nitrogen or carbon dioxide limitation.)
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Greenhouse effect - the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms
the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere
The evidence that humans are causing climate warming: Correlation between CO2
and temperature over long time scales & Rapid rise in CO2 at the Industrial
Revolution.
All the CO2 cannot be removed because we are gradually increasing our CO2 output and
the overall process of photosynthesis cannot keep up with levels of output we have. We
could help reduce the gap by using alternative fuel sources to reduce our pollution levels.
Also, in order to make this fertilizer we would need to burn more fossil fuels, which
releases more CO2, and thus the problem of too much CO2 continues.
Fats and sugars are fast and high energy resources that were scarce but very valuable
for survival millions of years ago and thus humans and other organisms have developed
a preference for them. However, in today’s condition, these fats and sugars are readily
and easily obtained. So much so that humans take more of these desired resources than
they actually need, given that technology and other advances have made humans’ lives
less stressful and strenuous from a physical standpoint.
Avoid predators, find mates, uptake specific micronutrients and vitamin. Sometimes when
an individual is capturing a prey and a predator comes then the individual can only give
up the prey and run. Finding mates and selecting preys that have specific micronutrients
and vitamin takes a long time.
The stomata are sunken below the under-surface of the leaf reduces water loss since the
stomata are not directly in contact with the sun and humid air gathers around the stomata
keeping the stomata open. Since the stomata are always open, the rate of carbon dioxide
uptake will increase
How would you expect increasing CO2 and temperature affect the performance of C3 and
C4 plants? What do you think the consequences of humans burning fossil fuels might be
for the relative success of these plant types? What other information might be useful in
making your prediction.
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find more resources at oneclass.com
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BIS 2B Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Morphological species - individuals are grouped into species based on their similar physical appearance. Variation within species may be high due to genetic variation within populations and changing morphology in response to environment (plasticity) Some species may look similar because they evolved those traits independently. Biological species - groups of actually or potentially interbreeding individuals that are reproductively isolated from other such groups. It has clear biological and evolutionary meaning. Sounds great, but can be difficult to apply in practice. Climate is described by the mean and annual variation in temperature and precipitation in a given region over the long-term. Incident solar radiation (varies with season and latitude) & air circulation driven by solar radiation and earth"s rotation determine climate. When the sun is directly overhead, the atmosphere is heated causing air to rise. Cool air holds less moisture than warm air, so water precipitates out and falls as rain.
