Some nutrients are brought back to the surface near the coasts of continents, where offshore winds pushing surface waters away from shore cause cold bottom water to rise to the surface. The water in these upwelling zones
A. is too warm to support abundant life.
B. has a moderate amount of nutrients.
C. is too cool to support abundant life.
D. is nutrient-rich.
Carbon can be found in rocks, the atmosphere, living organism, and dead organisms. These alternative forms of carbon are called
A. trophic interactions.
B. niches.
C. compartments.
D. food webs.
In a British study, the first flowers of a sample of 385 plant species now appear, on average, 4.5 days earlier than they did only 25 years ago. Will climate change affect all of these species?
A. Yes; the average value for advances in flowering hides the fact that some plants did not shift or flower later.
B. Yes; flowering earlier is not adaptive.
C. No; flowering earlier is not adaptive.
D. Yes; the data show all plants are able to adapt to climate change.
You are a scientist designing an experiment to investigate net primary productivity (NPP) over large expanses of Earth’s surface. Which of the following could be measured by satellite to correlate with NPP?
A. Sunlight absorption by chlorophyll
B. Distribution of primary consumers
C. Ground cover by native plants
D. Carbon content of organismal biomass
In the global carbon cycle, the largest reservoirs of carbon are found in
A. carbonate rocks and fossil fuels.
B. the atmosphere.
C. vegetation.
D. soils.
Ultimately, movements of materials between the abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems are linked to which of the following elements?
B. Hydrogen
C. Oxygen
D. Calcium
E. Carbon