Assignment 3
Chapter 7 – Chapter 9
Due Friday, February 19, 2016 at 11:59 pm
Directions: Answer the following questions (2 – 5 sentences) in your own words. Type your answers beneath each question and upload your document through Blackboard before the due date/time.
Chapter 7 – Speciation and Extinction
1. Describe two species concepts that we discussed.
Evolutionary Species Concept , Biological Species Concept
2. What are the four microevolutionary processes that can lead to genetic divergence?
Mutation, Genetic Drift, Natural Selection, and gene flow.
3. What is natural selection?
Natural selection was a Natural selection is the micro evolutionary process where certain species develop certain traits that help them adapt and survive
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Provide two examples of human-caused species extinction.
Two human-caused species extensions are thylacine or Thylacinus cynocephalus, and the dodo bird, (Raphus cucullatus). The Thylacine and the dodo bird were both hunted and killed by settlers. Thylacine were hunted because of a bounty, and dodo birds were very charismatic with humans and were easily hunted and had coveted eggs. Chapter 8 – The Changing Earth
6. What are the major layers of Earth (in order, beginning with the layer closest to Earth’s surface)?
The major layers of Earth are the Earth’s crust, mantle, and core. The crust is the outermost part and is composed of the continents and oceans. The mantle includes the asthenosphere and is composed of hot dense solid rock. The core is divided by the inner and outer core, and is made of solid iron and nickel.
7. Describe the current model of plate tectonics.
The current model of plate tectonics is that there are tectonic plates above the mantle (lithosphere) are moving. There are 19 plates recognized and each plate is about 100km thick.
****8. What are the three basic forms of plate boundaries? What zones/faults are associated with each of these
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Describe a biogeographic consequence of tectonic events.
A biogeophraphic consequence would be mass extinction from the change in wind, weather, and seas and from the movement of continents. Also marine basins being destroyed as well as climates dramatically changing which in turn would affect species and the environment.
Chapter 9 – Glaciation and Biogeographic Dynamics of the Pleistocene
11. What is the most likely explanation for the overall pattern of heating and cooling during the Pleistocene?
The overall pattern of heating and cooling during the Pleistocene is most likely due from the cyclical changes in Earth’s orbit from the positioning of the planets in the solar system and the magnetic pull that’s placed on the Earth.
12. What are glacial – interglacial cycles?
Glacial cycles were cycles of cold temperatures and glacial advances during the ice age period. Interglacial cycles on the other hand are warmer temperatures and climates between glacial periods.
13. Explain three biogeographic responses to climatic cycles of the
There are three different types of plate boundaries. The first type of plate boundaries is, the spreading boundary. A spreading boundary is when two plates move apart. The spreading boundary is also known as a divergent boundary. The second type of plate boundary is a colliding boundary. A colliding boundary is when two plates come together, or collide. It is also known as convergent boundary. The third is, a sliding boundary. A sliding boundary is when two plates slip past each other moving in opposite directions. It is also known as transform boundary. Those were the three different types of plate
There are three distinct types of plate boundaries existing, which are supported by geological observation, geophysical data, and theoretical considerations. Their names and categories are based on if adjacent plates move apart from each other (divergent plate margins), toward one another (convergent plate margins), or slip past one another in a direction parallel to their common boundary (transform plate margins) (Pitman, W.C., 2007).
The theory of plate tectonics states that Earth’s outer shell is divided into plates. The crust and upper mantle is broken into plates that move around on the mantle, changing in size throughout time. The lithosphere makes up the crust and upper mantle and the asthenosphere a plastic like layer beneath the lithosphere. There are three types of plate boundaries. Divergent boundaries where two plates move away from each other. The ocean widens and new crust forms at the mid-oceanic ridge. Convergent boundaries has three types of converging, moving two plates towards each other. First we have an ocean floor plate that collides with a less dense continental plate. Next an ocean floor plate collides with another ocean floor plate. Finally a continental plate collides with another continental plate. Transform boundaries were two plates slide past one another. The resulting effects of plate tectonics is landforms such as rift valleys,
Earth has experienced many episodes of dramatic climate changes with different periods in earth history. There have been periods during which the entire planet has been covered in ice and at another time it has been scorchingly hot and dry. In this regards, earth has experienced at least three major periods of long- term frigid climate and ice ages interspersed with periods of warm climate. The last glacial period which current glaciers are the result of it, occurring during the last years of Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years age (Clayton, 1997). Indeed, glaciers present sensitive indicators of climate change and global warming and by estimating and monitoring the dynamic evolution of these ice masses, several
As the climate warms, there is a good chance that these gases will be released from the permafrost into the atmosphere. This release of greenhouse gases causes the Earth’s temperature to rise. Earth’s rising temperature melts more permafrost creating open water. The more open water that’s exposed to sunlight, the more solar energy goes into heating the ocean. Heating the ocean then melts more permafrost causing sea levels to rise. The conclusion is that rising sea levels will result in the loss of land for people, like the Inupiats to inhabit, as well as the rest of mankind.
The solid part of the Earth consist of solid rocks and soil. The Earths surface is the geosphere. The hydrosphere makes up all of the water on Earth's surface. The Earth is divided into three layers the crust, mantle, and the core. The crust is very brittle and this is why it was easy for Mount St. Helen to blow it to pieces. Tectonic plates are what glides underneath the underlying asthenosphere. This is what causes mountains to shift or grow. This can affect when volcanoes erupt. Volcanos are located near tectonic plate boundaries, where plates either collide or separate.
Name 3 ways that Earth’s plates interact with each other. Earth's plates interact with each other by colliding,splitting up,merging
The three major types of tectonic plates are divergent, subduction and transform. Divergent plates tend to move apart from each other. Subduction plates are when oceanic plate moves under a continental plate. This can cause volcanos to erupt and large sized earthquakes. Transform plates slide back and forth against one another. The Lithosphere consists of the Earths crust and uppermost mantle. The North American plate and the South American plate are the major plates of the lithosphere. The lithosphere also consists of the Pacific plate, the African plate and the Eurasian plate. The Pacific plate is the only major plate that is mainly underwater and is also the largest plate in the lithosphere. The Earth was once one large continental body called Pangea, before the plates started
These plates, along with several smaller ones, are called the lithospheric plates, because they are part of the lithosphere, which is the outermost part of the Earth's shell. . The plate boundaries can be three different types: divergent, transform or subduction. Divergent boundaries occur when the plates are moving away from each other. Transform boundaries are where the plates slide against each other with a back and forth motion. Subduction boundaries occur when an oceanic plate moves under a continental plate. This movement causes volcanic activity and earthquakes. (This boundary is also called convergent.) This activity is always happening, because the plates are constantly in
Those who bicker for a climate-driven explanation for terminal Pleistocene extinctions blame various array of circumstance, adding shifts in vegetation (Guthrie, 2003) The hunters seen the impact the ice age had on the animals, as soon as they left they simply had no choice but follow them till they reached a location, region where the animals had marked as their habitat for the most part. Alroy then incorporated a various of parameters that would be able to particularize how quickly the predators peripatetic, was able to see how skillfully the hunters were able to hunt and how numerous prey would challenge with each other for food. No matter how he fixed the variables, mass extinctions ensued. Surprising the dumbest hunters unleashed environmental destruction (Alroy, 1999.) Mainly the larger creatures in which had maybe the slowest growth rate and a slow gestation periods were very strenuous to jump back just when their population collapsed. They had limited sources of survival, or simply the size of the creature wouldn't allow for them to adapt to their new territory. Regardless of what Alroy had found, not everyone was
The chapter presents different theoretical aspects on Plate Tectonics, which help understand how Earth is built and its internal functioning mechanisms. Central to this theory is the fact that Earth's surface is made up of several large tectonic plates and a few smaller ones, which can be either continental or oceanic, and do not necessarily have the same boundaries as the continents or oceans. These plates shift over long periods of time, movements caused by a force resulted from the planet's internal heat energy convecting mantle. There are three main types of tectonic plate boundaries: divergent (when the movement of plate tectonics causes plates to separate, which can lead, on the long term, to the separation of continents), convergent (plates sink beneath each other forming subduction zones) and transform plate boundaries (one plate scrapes past the other producing no new plate material; e.g. the San Andreas Fault in California). The movement of plate tectonics can be either very smooth, going unnoticed, or more violent, leading to earthquakes. The chapter then follows with a short geological history of North America, in order to illustrate how the discoveries regarding the movement of plate tectonics have led to new ways of thinking about the formation of continents and about the Earth's surface, the development of mountains, oceans and valleys.
These diferences embody changes within the form (eccentricity) of Earth’s orbit each ~100,000 years, the lean (obliquity) of Earth’s axis each ~41,000 years, and therefore the unsteady (precession) of Earth’s axis regarding ~23,000 years. Milankovitch projected that glacial amounts began once the 3 cycles align to favor associate extended period of a lot of radiation within the winter and fewer radiation within the summer at a latitude of 65°N. These situations for the northern latitudes prefer somewhat higher temperatures, however also causing a lot of vapor within the air – inflicting a lot of snow in the winter month. and creating cool summer for the northern latitudes of 65 north. This causes less snow in the winter and large ice formation. (Custom Research Center,
Plates tectonics are very complex, they have many steps that make them work like they do. Plates “float” on top of the mantle, it is the part of the earth between the core. The mantle starts to churn in circular convection currents as they drag the tectonic plates along (“Plate Tectonics” BrainPop). The Earth’s crust is split into
Climate change has been a big debate in today’s world. At the center of this debate is the conflict over the cause of climate change, also referred to as global warming. Many argue that the climate is changing because of global industrialization, while others argue that climate changes occur in a cyclical pattern which has happened throughout the history of the planet. Approximately every 100,000 years Earth 's climate warms up temporarily. These warm periods are called interglacial periods which lasts up to about 15,000 to 20,000 years before it returns back to a cold ice age climate. This leads
People have long suspected that human activity could affect the local climate. However, the discovery of ice ages that span across the entire globe seemed impossible for humans to have caused. If humans didn’t cause it then what did? Was it the variations in the suns heat, volcano’s erupting, or maybe the composition of the air? In the late 1800’s a