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Study Guides

My tests are a mix of multiple choice, matching, true-false, analytical problem-solving, short-answer, essay, etc. In short, I will use any format that I think is appropriate for the subject matter. Some tests may be more essay and problem-solving, some may be more multiple choice, etc. So, you have to be prepared for any format. No matter what, I will have some questions designed to test your knowledge of the fine details and other questions designed to test your understanding of the big picture. You'll have to study for both. Because we cover much more information than you can be tested on in an hour-long test, there will always be some topics that you studied extensively for but that did not end up on the test. Sorry, that's just how it goes.

Exam

• Remember, our exam is Wed at 11 am in our usual room.
• The exam is comprehensive – about half (or slightly more) new material and the rest old material. In some cases the old and new will be integrated—you have been building on your knowledge base all semester and should be drawing on all that information if needed. There may be some questions straight off your old test, so be sure to review them. You should review major concepts and themes from each section we have covered – I will avoid the really fine details (obscure phyla, etc.). With that in mind, you should still review the study guides on this page from each test. Due to the short turn-around for grades to be turned in, and knowing my lightning fast grading ability, there is likely to be a significant component that is multiple choice, matching, fill-in… But not all of it – expect some short answer/essay as well.
• Below is a copy of test 3, since you don't have the graded tests back yet. I will notify you here when they are done, which should be before Wed.
• Since the last test, our new material has been from chapters 8, 9 (minus mangroves), and 11 (fisheries mainly). Review your notes and the study questions in your book for these chapters, with special attention to topics covered in class.

Some thought-provoking questions:

• In the mutualistic relationship between coral polyps and zooxanthellae, what does each provide for the other?
• What are the different geomorphological types of estuaries? What are the different hydrologic (current pattern) types of estuaries?
• Why are estuaries so productive? Is there a down side to their ability to retain nutrients?
• Compare vertical zonation patterns and patchiness in a salt marsh intertidal versus a rocky intertidal habitat. How are the habitats and processes similar? How different?
• What is the differences in nutrient cycling and nutrient availability in estuaries, coral reefs, and the open ocean? What is the relative importance of the microbial and detrital loops to each of these systems?

· Dr. Bigreef studied a square km of reef and found that the species composition of corals and fish was fairly constant from 1995 to 2000 (same species present in similar relative abundances). Dr. Patchreef studied a 20 square meter portion of this same reef during the same interval and at this smaller scale found a significant change in species composition and relative abundance over the same time interval. Is this an equilibrium community (has a stable community structure to which it returns after a disturbance) or a non-equilibrium community? Justify your conclusions (you can waffle on this as long as your arguments are good). Do these results support the predictions of niche specialization, lottery, or resource partitioning? Justify your conclusions (again, you can waffle on this as long as your arguments are good).

· Much of the deeper sections of Chesapeake Bay go anoxic each summer. Give 3 potential solutions to this problem and describe why they are easier said than done.

· Zooxanthellae only accounts for about 25% of the primary production on the reef. What groups account for the remaining primary production? How is the rest of the reef so productive even though the surrounding waters remain nutrient-poor? Describe 2 activities or processes, natural or human-related, that can upset this nutrient balance.

· In our local salt marshes, nutrient cycles can be dominated by nitrates in the winter and ammonia in the summer. Why and what are the consequences to the community?

· What characteristics are required for hermatypic corals to survive?

· What are the e major types of reefs?

· What are the major sections of a reef cross-section (stick to the ones we emphasized). What characterizes each section (coral types, processes, physical environment, etc.)?

· What is an example of a fishery management failure? A fishery management success?

· What is meant by “fishing down the food chain?”

· Evolutionarily, why would intense fishing effort select for a younger age and smaller size of maturity for a fish population?

· Since nutrients are limited in most aquatic systems, efficient recycling of nutrients is essential for maintaining high rates of productivity. Rank a rocky intertidal zone, a salt marsh, the open ocean, and the deep sea benthos (not a hydrothermal vent community) from highest to lowest in terms of their nutrient recycling efficiency. By efficiency, I mean how quickly nutrients are cycled through the system and how many times they are likely to be recycled before being lost to the system. Justify your conclusions, discussing both the organisms that make up these communities and the physical processes that influence how these communities function. I'm interested in your ability to boil this down to a few major factors that constitute significant differences between each community.

TEST 3

1. (20 pts) Using no more than a sentence or two for each, define FIVE of the following:

1. Epiphyte
2. Competitive exclusion
3. Littoral
4. Multiple stable states
5. Epifauna
6. Bathypelagic

Answer only 1 of the following 2 questions: (9 pts)

2. Pick 3 adaptation “themes” (examples: feeding structures, sensory structures, etc…) and discuss how and why they differ for mesopelagic vs. bathypelagic organisms.

3. Discuss the importance of disturbance and patchiness to community structure in the rocky intertidal zone. Give an example.

4. (6 pts) What’s the difference between the mesopelagic zone and the dysphotic zone? Under what conditions are they similar? Different?

3 token multiple choice questions:

5. (4 pts) Warning: I’ve changed this question from the one on the study guide. For three imaginary species in the rocky intertidal zone, species A can survive out of water the longest (it only requires an hour or 2 underwater per day, although it does fine if submerged all day), species B is next (it can survive in the mid- and low- tidal range), and species C dries out fairly quickly (it can only survive in the low-tidal range). In terms of competition for space, species A is the dominant competitor, and species B is the least effective competitor. Assuming competition has time to go to completion, what pattern of vertical zonation within the intertidal zone would you predict? (Hint: You may want to sketch this out.)

1. A dominant on top (upper tidal range), B dominant in the middle, C dominant on the bottom (lower tidal range)
2. C dominant on the top, A dominant in the middle, B dominant on the bottom
3. A dominant everywhere
4. A dominant on top, B dominant everywhere else

6. (3 pts) In the above example, now what will be the dominant pattern if species A is the favorite prey item of a common predator which can survive in only the middle and lower tidal ranges? (all else is the same).

a. A on top, B in the middle, C on the bottom

b. All B

c. A on top, B in the middle, A on the bottom

d. All A

7. (3 pts) Who lives in the supralittoral zone?

1. anemones
2. lichens
3. barnacles
4. kelp

Answer only 1 of the following 2 questions: (10 pts)

8.

1. Describe how killer whales may act as keystone predators that effect kelp forests.
2. This is a relatively new phenomenon. Why did killer whale feeding habits change?

9. Name and describe a circulatory mechanism for thermoregulation in marine mammals, marine birds, and endothermic fishes like tunas, swordfish, and great white sharks.

Answer only 1 of the following 2 questions: (15 pts)

10. Two marine ecosystems each have the same amount of primary production in a given year. System A has a 20% transfer efficiency and 4-step food chain. System B has a 10% transfer efficiency and a 3-step food chain.

1. Which system will produce the greatest biomass at its highest trophic level? (not sure? – do an example of each and show your work if you want partial credit).
2. Does it seem likely to you that the shorter food chain has the lower transfer efficiency? Explain

11. Compare the energy flow through the biological community in a mid-gyre epipelagic setting and a coastal upwelling setting. Specifically touch on:

1. your estimate of a relative comparison of the magnitude of total annual primary production in the two sites (assume they are at the same latitude, so receive the same amount of sunlight each year) – don’t give me an actual number for gC/m².yr, just predict whether they are similar or one is a little bigger or a lot bigger than the other. Justify your prediction.
2. Your estimate of a relative comparison of the magnitude of total secondary production (production of biomass above the first trophic level). Again, justify your prediction.

Answer only 1 of the following 2 questions: (15 pts)

12.

1. What’s the difference between the Deep Scattering Layer and the Oxygen Minimum Zone. What are they and how are they related?
2. Why do they occur at a certain depth range and not above or below?

13.

1. List/describe 3 different ways that food obtained by hydrothermal vent and cold seep communities.

Answer only 1 of the following 2 questions: (15 pts)

14. Compare the importance of competition for space versus food in the deep sea benthos, rocky intertidal/sublittoral, sandy intertidal, and muddy intertidal/sublittoral. List each of the 4 habitats and explain your conclusion for each. Bullet statements will shorten your time and organize your answer.

15.

a. How productive are kelp forests and seagrass beds

b. what services do they provide (as food source, shelter, habitat modification, etc.)

c. what conditions (physical and biological) help control their presence or absence in an area?

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Lab practical study guide

Can you ID all of these? Do you know their names? Do you know the phylum and major classes?

Codium sp. Ensis directus Arbacia punctulata Lagodon rhomboides Atrina sp. Microciona prolifera Mercenaria mercenaria Chthamalus fragilis Nereis succinea Ilyanassa obsolete Anchoa mitchelli Spartina alterniflora Callinectes sapidus

Mellita quinquiesperforata Aiptasia pallida Ulva sp. Menidia menidia Salicornia sp. Chaetopterus variopedatus Dinocardium robustum Geukensia demissa Ocypode quadrata Asterias forbes Fundulus heteroclitusi Juncus romerianus Styella plicata

Leptogorgia virgulata Palaemonetes vulgaris Mugil cepahlus Polinices duplicatus Mnemiopsis sp. Clibanarius vittatus Lolliguncula brevis Bugula neritina Littorina irrorata Squilla empusa Leiostomus xanthurus Crassostrea virginica

Lab Practical Study Pages – they don’t include everything, but they’ll help

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Test 3

· Review session: Thursday at 5:30 in SCIE 110

· The test is over chapters 4-6. Click HERE to download a word file of my notes for this section. They are less detailed that for the last 2 tests and we have been following the book much more closely than in past tests.

· I’ve added a lot of questions here the day before the test. Nothing you shouldn’t have been studying already. Some of these questions (or versions of them) will be on your test.

· This test will have fewer multiple choice questions and more big picture or general pattern questions. Also, potentially more case study type questions. The study questions in your book should be useful guides, as well as your notes. Do not bog down in remembering every specific example from your book. It does a good job of illustrating its main points with many specific examples, but review these for understanding, not for memorizing each species and what it does.

· We had one lecture on nekton adaptations that was related more to the material on the last test. If you can answer the questions about these subjects on this page, that is all you need for those topics.

· Potential questions:

· Describe how killer whales may act as keystone predators that effect kelp forests. What changes have occurred in the last several decades that demonstrate this?

· Compare osmoregulatory mechanisms in cetaceans, sea birds, and sea turtles.

· Name and describe a circulatory mechanism for thermoregulation in marine mammals, marine birds, and endothermic fishes like tunas, swordfish, and great white sharks.

· What is the importance of marine snow?

· How do adaptations differ between epipelagic, mesopelagic, bathypelagic, deep sea benthic, and hydrothermal vent organisms?

· Given a constant rate of primary production, how would you structure the food web to maximize the amount of secondary production (production of higher trophic levels)?

· Why is there a deep scattering layer and what are it’s ecological consequences?

• For three imaginary species in the rocky intertidal zone, species A can survive out of water the longest (it only requires an hour or 2 underwater per day, although it does fine if submerged all day), species B is next (it can survive in the mid- and low- tidal range), and species C dries out fairly quickly (it can only survive in the low-tidal range). In terms of competition for space, species B is the dominant competitor, and species C is the least effective competitor. What pattern of vertical zonation within the intertidal zone would you predict? (Hint: You may want to sketch this out.)

a. A dominant on top (upper tidal range), B dominant in the middle, C dominant on the bottom (lower tidal range)

b. C dominant on the top, A dominant in the middle, B dominant on the bottom

c. A dominant everywhere

d. A dominant on top, B dominant everywhere else

• In the above example, now what will be the dominant pattern if species B is the favorite prey item of a common predator which can survive in only the lower tidal ranges? (all else is the same).

a. A on top, B in the middle, C on the bottom

b. All B

c. A on top, B in the middle, A on the bottom

d. All A

• Define: infauna, epifauna, epiphytes, niche, competitive exclusion, neritic, supralittoral, sublittoral, littoral, bioturbation, recruitment
• Do you remember the oceanic depth zones? (epi, meso, bathy…)
• What’s the difference between the Deep Scattering Layer and the Oxygen Minimum Zone. What are they and how are they related? Why do they occur at a certain depth range and not above or below?
• Compare the energy flow through the biological community in a mid-gyre epipelagic setting and a coastal upwelling setting. Specifically touch on:

a. the efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels, including why it isn’t a bigger percentage in general and why it may differ between the two sites

b. the length of the food chains and why they differ

c. your estimate of a relative comparison of the magnitude of total annual primary production in the two sites (assume they are at the same latitude, so receive the same amount of sunlight each year) – don’t give me an actual number for gC/m².yr, just predict whether they are similar or one is a little bigger or a lot bigger than the other. Justify your prediction.

d. Your estimate of a relative comparison of the magnitude of total secondary production (production of biomass above the first trophic level). Again, justify your prediction.

• What’s the difference between the mesopelagic zone and the dysphotic zone? Under what conditions are they similar? Different?
• How does food get to the deep sea? How does this effect the adaptations of deep sea organisms?
• Compare the importance of deposit feeding vs. filter feeding in the deep sea benthos, rocky intertidal/sublittoral, sandy intertidal, and muddy intertidal/sublittoral.
• Compare the importance of competition for space versus food in the deep sea benthos, rocky intertidal/sublittoral, sandy intertidal, and muddy intertidal/sublittoral.
• Choose one of the theories for high diversity in the deep sea benthos (stability-time hypothesis is one example) and give a sound argument against it.
• How is food obtained by hydrothermal vent and cold seep communities? Can organisms survive in a hydrothermal vent community without either eating bacteria or having symbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria?
• Who lives in the supralittoral zone?
• In the rocky intertidal, predator exclusion experiments have demonstrated strong biological interspecific interactions with predictable impacts on community structure. Similar exclusion experiments in soft sediment sublittoral environments have been less clear. Does this mean competition and predation are not important in the sublittoral sedimentary environments? Discuss.
• Give a scenario that might result in multiple stable states of community structure (pick any example from any habitat).
• Discuss the importance of disturbance and patchiness to marine community structure. Give examples.
• What are the causes of, and how distinct is, vertical zonation in kelp forests, rocky intertidal, and beach/marsh intertidal?
• How productive are kelp forests and seagrass beds, what services do they provide (as food source, shelter, habitat modification, etc.), and what conditions (physical and biological) help control their presence or absence in an area?

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Test 2

· More will be posted over the weekend and next week, but this will get you started. Click HERE to download a word file of my notes on marine invertebrates.

· If you downloaded those notes before Monday night, I suggest you download them again. I went back and added in notes on invertebrate reproduction, and I went through and highlighted vocabulary words that I want you to know in red. Remember, that does not mean that you don’t need to know details, facts, and concepts throughout the notes. It just means that of the many difficult new words I have introduced, these are the ones you should know. Many invertebrate phyla and classes are in red (you should know something about them and be able to recognize them), but many are not. Review the phyla pages if you need to brush up on certain groups.

· I will put up more again on Wednesday, but don’t wait for me. Keep reviewing your notes.

· Click HERE to download some abbreviated notes on marine vertebrates. There is limited details here, but at least you can see what vocabulary words your need.

· Your syllabus indicates chapter 7, on meifauna, is part of this test. I introduced meiofauna to you, but we did not get into details on this group. That would have been the other reading question on inverts for you, but if you recall, one of the questions did not load up on the web so you were one short. All I require is that you know what meiofauna are and that they are an important link in the food chain and nutrient cycles, but I will not hold you to any details on the various groups.

· We covered most of chapter 3, but we did not get to special adaptations of marine mammals/birds/reptiles (I needed 1 more day!), nor did we get into nekton ecology (that will be coming later). These topics will not be on your test.

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Test 1

• The emphasis of my tests are from my lectures. The book often covers the same material, either in a similar way or from another direction. In some cases, the book adds additional valuable information and detail. You should especially be familiar with sections related to our reading questions and problem set. There will be questions from my lectures on information that is not in your book, as well.
• You should know material supporting any of our reading questions or problem set.
• Much of chapter 1 should be review (or if not you were warned), so I expect you are familiar with it. There may be some questions on supporting marine science and ecology concepts, but they won’t be the major part of the test. We did not get into detail yet for the sections from p. 20-26 in Chapter 1 (beginning with “Biotic Structure of Ecosystems”). Don’t worry about that material – we’ll get to it on a later test. Outside of those pages, you should know all terms in boldface in Chapter 1 and associated concepts.
• Same for chapter 2: you should know all boldface words in your text and associated concepts (the only 2 we really didn’t mention were extinction coefficient and chlorophyll maximum).
• I consider this test to cover the topics below. Of these topics, the last 4 should have the most new material for you, and we spent the most time on #4 and how those players fit in with #6.:
1. a very small review of marine geo/phys/chem processes
2. a quick overview of defining and categorizing life
3. identifying and understanding a few key adaptations for life in the oceans
4. a mixed taxonomic and functional categories review of the plankton and micro-benthos (archaea, eubacteria, protista, metazoan zooplankton)
5. a brief examination of larger autotrophic groups (macroalgae and marine plants)
6. foundations of plankton ecology

• Click HERE to download an MS Word version of my notes. Much of this was not in your book, so I like you have this to make sure your own notes are on target. A word of warning. There may be some material on my notes that I skipped over in class, and there is certainly a lot of detail there that in many cases I told you not to stress over. If you try to memorize everything on those notes, you may be overloading your brain. Use your own notes as a guide to what was emphasized and what I want you to know.
• Go to Problem Sets to see the answer key to our recent problem set.
• New Stuff (uploaded on Monday) below:
• You may want to download my notes again if you’ve already done so. I went back and put all the key words in red. You are expected to know these words, and be able to define and describe them and their significance/function.
• What are the 3 domains? What are 4 eukaryotic kingdoms? What’s the difference between a eukaryote and a prokaryote?
• What are 4 important types of biological molecules? What’s the difference between mitosis and meiosis?
• Why do thermoclines occur? How, specifically, do they influence primary production? Why do we spend so much more time talking about thermoclines than haloclines?
• Which is photosynthetic: radiolarians or silicaflagellates? What are their shells, or tests, made of? Can you answer these questions for other major plankton groups?
• Can you discuss archaea, eubacteria, and protista, both in terms of taxonomic classification (major groups) and in terms of important functional roles by each group?
• What are the major groups of macroalgaes and marine plants. How are they different?
• Would you recognize pictures of the major holoplankton groups?
• What are the controls and consequences of vertical, horizontal, and seasonal distributions of plankton? How do phytoplankton and zooplankton patterns interact? What are some important inshore/offshore trends in the plankton and oceanic productivity, both primary and secondary?
• Can a stenohaline organism be an osmoregulator? Explain. (somewhere in your answer, you must explain both terms—if you only know one of them, at least define that one to get partial credit)
• Consider the following formula: 2H₂S + CO₂ à (CH₂O) + H₂O + 2S

a. Is this process autotrophic or heterotrophic? (circle one)

b. What specific group of organisms would do this?

c. Where might you find these organisms?

• For each process below, tell me (i) a specific group of organisms that carry out the process, and (ii) explain what the process is and why it is important.

a. Nitrogen fixation

b. Nitrification

• Briefly list 3 adaptations for buoyancy in marine organisms.
• The standing stock of primary producers is exactly twice the biomass of the standing stock of herbivores for a pelagic oceanic plankton community. Does this mean that the trophic transfer efficiency for this food web is 20%, as opposed to the usual 10%? Explain.
• Why is trophic transfer efficiency less in the open ocean (10%) than in upwelling zones (20%)?

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