Study Guide Final PDF

- The last Third of the Class (3/3) ================================= - **Earth-Water-Life: Travertine, Extremophiles** - What are the different spheres in the Earth system and how do they differ? - What is systems thinking? How is it different from traditional thinking? Give...

- The last Third of the Class (3/3) ================================= - **Earth-Water-Life: Travertine, Extremophiles** - What are the different spheres in the Earth system and how do they differ? - What is systems thinking? How is it different from traditional thinking? Give an example. - What is geobiology? How do life and geology interact? - What is taxonomy/a taxonomic rank? - What is the tree of life? - What are the three domains of life and how do they differ? - What is the difference between archaea and bacteria? - What percent of Earth's biomass do microbes account for? - When and what is the evidence for earliest life on Earth? - What are cyanobacteria and stromatolites, and why are they important? - How did Earth atmosphere get oxygenated? - Why did it take so long to oxygenate the atmosphere? - What are extremophiles? - Why do researchers care to understand extremophiles in Yellowstone? - Where in the tree of life are organisms tolerant of extreme conditions placed? - What is the role of life in Yellowstone's thermal features? - What is the importance of color of Yellowstone bacteria? - What is the difference between biochemical (biogenic) limestone and travertine? - How is calcite (CaCO3, the mineral that makes limestone/travertine) dissolved or precipitated? - What is ocean acidification and why is it important? - Why is there so much travertine at Mammoth? - What is the role of abiotic processes in forming travertine at Mammoth? - What is the role of biotic processes in forming travertine at Mammoth? - Which process probably causes the majority of travertine precipitation? (abiotic or biotic) - **Wildfire** - What is fire? - What defines and initiates wildfire? - How does fuel moisture affect wildfire potential? - How does fire behave and what are the controls? - What is considered fuel? - What role does wildfire play in ecosystems? - What is primary succession? Secondary succession? - How did the 1988 wildfire in Yellowstone affect fire policy? - How do we manage wildfire? - What do we know about paleo-fire history? - What do we anticipate from future wildfires? - **EcoSystems: Wolves, Beaver, and Trout** - How are systems defined and characterized? - What is the difference between an isolated, closed, and open system? - What distinguishes positive and negative feedbacks in systems? - Give an example of a positive feedback loop. A negative feedback loop. - How does food source distinguish groups of organisms (different trophic levels)? - How do energy and matter flow through an ecosystem? - What are some of the different abiotic and biotic factors in an ecosystem? - What is a trophic cascade? - How did introduction of lake trout affect the Yellowstone ecosystem? - How did removal and reintroduction of wolves affect the Yellowstone ecosystem? - What effects do Beaver have on the environment and landscape? - What is a keystone species? - **Paleoclimate** - What distinguishes climate from weather? - What are paleoclimate archives? - What is a proxy in the context of paleoclimate? - How do paleoclimate archives provide proxies for prehistoric conditions (biological, environmental or chemical)? - What is the physical evidence for a changing climate? - Describe how 18O isotope concentrations differ between an icesheet and the ocean during icehouse conditions. - What influences the Earth's climate over time? - Which factors are external and which are internal? - Which factors affect climate on the order of 10,000 to 100,000 years? - Which factors affect climate on the order of millions of years? - What are some examples of feedback effects between the different factors that influence Earth climate? - What happens to global temperatures when CO2 increases? Decreases? - What is the carbonate-silicate weathering cycle? - What happens to global CO2 levels in the atmosphere when there is lots of silicate weathering? - What are records of past climate change? - How many icehouse-greenhouse periods have there been on Earth? - What records of past environmental change are available for Yellowstone? - **Glaciers** - What is the Cryosphere and what are its components? - How does the Cryosphere relate to the Earth System? - What is a glacier? - What distinguishes snow from glaciers? - How do glaciers flow? - Where and why do glaciers form? - What are the two main types of glaciers? - Why do glaciers retreat or advance? - What are the erosional and depositional landforms associated with glaciers? - What is permafrost? - What is the difference between a U-shaped and a V-shaped valley? How do they form? - What is the global history of glaciation? - What is ice loading? Glacial rebound? - What are glacial and interglacial periods? - What is the Pleistocene history of glaciation in Yellowstone? - Why did so much ice accumulate on the Yellowstone Plateau? - **Changes in the Earth System, Contemporary Climate Change** - What are: - Cyclical changes? - Unidirectional changes? - Gradual changes? - Catastrophic changes? - How has temperature varied throughout Earth history? - What are human impacts on the Earth system? - How does the greenhouse effect work? - **What is/are the...** - **causes of** Contemporary Climate Change? - **evidence for** Contemporary Climate Change? - **consequences of** Contemporary Climate Change? - **mitigation of** Contemporary Climate Change? - **adaptation to** Contemporary Climate Change? - **In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem** - Which changes are already observed? - What changes are anticipated? - What actions can be taken to mitigate or adapt?