text:
Alma d' Arte Biology
Earth's Systems
Hydrosphere (water)
Geosphere/ Lithospere (land)
Biosphere (living things)
Atmosphere (air)
A hydrosphere is the total amount of water on a planet. The hydrosphere includes water that is on the surface of the planet, underground, and in the air. A planet's hydrosphere can be liquid, vapor, or ice.
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hydrosphere/
Bodies of Water:
oceans
ground water
polar ice caps
About 2.1% of all of Earth's water is frozen in glaciers. 97.2% is in the oceans and inland seas 2.1% is in glaciers 0.6% is in groundwater and soil moisture less than 1% is in the atmosphere less than 1% is in lakes and rivers less than 1% is in all living plants and animals.
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/glaciers-and-icecaps?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Water
Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land.
geosphere
Sediments
Tectonic Plates
soil composition
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/
http://www.plantsgalore.com
Soil Sediments:
erosion, landslides, and soil formation
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-11-22/volcanoes-heres-what-happens-when-they-erupt/8997014
What is in a volcanic eruption?
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the world's volcanoes, both on land and undersea, generate about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, while our automotive and industrial activities cause some 24 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year worldwide.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earthtalks-volcanoes-or-humans/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/major-tectonic-plates-on-earth.html
Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as the lithosphere. The plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thick and consist of two principal types of material: oceanic crust (also called sima from silicon and magnesium) and continental crust (sial from silicon and aluminium).
Processes of melting, crystallization, weathering, deformation, and sedimentation, which act together to form minerals and rocks through the cycling of Earth's materials.
weathering and erosion of rocks
types of rock
how crystals form
what about metals?
Ore: a naturally occurring solid material from which a metal or valuable mineral can be profitably extracted.
where did everything come from? A Theory:
Supernova: a star that suddenly increases greatly in brightness because of a catastrophic explosion that ejects most of its mass.
Nuclear Fusion: a nuclear reaction in which atomic nuclei of low atomic number fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of energy.
Stars are powered by nuclear fusion in their cores, mostly converting hydrogen into helium. The production of new elements via nuclear reactions is called nucleosynthesis. A star's mass determines what other type of nucleosynthesis occurs in its core (or during explosive changes in its life cycle).
http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/GenChem1/L1/3.html
Solar Nebula: Our solar system began forming within a concentration of interstellar dust and hydrogen gas called a molecular cloud. The cloud contracted under its own gravity and our proto-Sun formed in the hot dense center. The remainder of the cloud formed a swirling disk called of the solar nebula.
https://www.britannica.com/science/solar-nebula
phosphorous cycle
Phosphorous Cycle: When it rains phosphorous goes from rocks downhill through streams, to soil, into plants
https://socratic.org/questions/how-does-phosphorus-cycle-restart
ngss standards
https://www.nextgenscience.org/dci-arrangement/ms-ess2-earths-systems
Carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide, moves from the geosphere to the atmosphere during which of the following?
A. Cellular respiration
B. Volcanic eruptions
C. Acid rain formation
D. Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis contributes to the carbon cycle by moving carbon in the way represented by which arrow in the diagram provided here?
A. A
B. B
C. C
D. D
All of the following processes move carbon out of the biosphere and into the atmosphere, geosphere, or hydrosphere except–
A. respiration.
B. photosynthesis.
C. excretion.
D. decaying.
Based on the pie chart, what change would yield the greatest reduction in carbon emissions?
A. Cutting in half the emissions resulting from industry
B. Reducing by one-third the emissions created by transportation
C. Cutting in half the emissions resulting from the production of electricity
D. Reducing by one-quarter the emissions created by agriculture
The biodiversity of a habitat contributes to what characteristic of the habitat?
A. The amount of overall biomass contained in all of its organisms
B. The efficiency of energy transfer from one trophic level to the next
C. Its ability to maintain homeostasis in response to changes in conditions
D. The number of top predators that the habitat is able to provide resources for
Humans depend on the biodiversity of living things for all of the following EXCEPT–
A. weather.
B. food.
C. medicine.
D. shelter.
Housing data for several countries is provided.
A. Residential housing for 50,000 in China
B. Residential housing for 100,000 in Germany
C. Residential housing for 200,000 in Australia
D. Residential housing for 300,000 in Japan
Introduction of a non-native species to a habitat can have adverse effects on the biodiversity of the habitat due to which of the following?
A. The non-native species competes for resources with native species
B. The native species interbreed with non-native species, creating hybrids
C. The non-native is less well-adapted to the habitat as the native species
D. The native species are unable to use non-native species as a food source
An indication of a stable ecosystem is that, after a minor physical disturbance, the–
A. biomass of the ecosystem will shift from primary consumers to secondary consumers.
B. energy stored in the ecosystem will begin to steadily decline over several generations.
C. number and kinds of species in the ecosystem will return to the original status.
D. native populations will be replaced with species better suited to the new environment.
Which of the following environmental conditions will have a negative effect on the limit a certain population of organisms is able to achieve in that habitat?
A. Abundant food source
B. Lack of competition
C. High levels of predation
D. Sufficient fresh water
A major ecological disturbance could be distinguished from a minor one by which of the following?
A. The number of species affected and the change in population of the species
B. The geographic range over which the disturbance had an effect on the organisms
C. The duration over which the ecological disturbance took place
D. The range of climatic conditions, such as temperature, in the affected area
The data table shows the populations of four species before and after an ecological disturbance.
According to the data, which species suffered most from the hurricane, in terms of the percentage of population?
A. Buteo lineatus
B. Aix sponsa
C. Rana pipiens
D. Anax junius
The graph shows how the population of a particular species changed between the years of 1800 and 1925.
Based on the information in the graph, it can be concluded that the carrying capacity of this environment for this species is approximately–
A. 0.5 million
B. 1 million
C. 1.5 million
D. 2.0 million
Which of the following organisms is part of the trophic level with the greatest amount of stored energy?
A. Vulture
B. Wildebeest
C. Termite
D. Red oat grass
Which of the following statements is true?
A. Heterotrophs produce their own food.
B. Autotrophs take in nutrients from outside themselves.
C. Consumers are heterotrophs.
D. Consumers are autotrophs.
As energy is transferred between trophic levels, only a small fraction of the available energy is transferred. How can this observation be explained, taking into account the law of conservation of energy?
A. Organic systems do not demonstrate the conservation of energy.
B. Organisms, even after death, continue to store energy in organic molecules.
C. Since biomass increases at higher levels, the concentration of energy is the same.
D. The unused energy is lost as heat through metabolic processes.
The diagram provided shows the amount of energy available in Watts per square meter in a typical habitat.
Which of the following is the best estimate of the energy available at the level of tertiary consumers in this habitat?
A. 0.08 W/m2
B. 0.01 W/m2
C. 0.002 W/m2
D. 0.0008 W/m2
The diagram here is called a trophic pyramid. It shows trophic levels of a grassland habitat. The size of each trophic level represents biomass, with producers representing the largest amount of biomass.
Which of the following best explains the unique shape of the trophic pyramid?
A. The higher levels of the pyramid are smaller due to human interference with those organisms.
B. Decomposers work more rapidly breaking down animal tissue than plant tissue.
C. The organisms on the lower level of the pyramid tend to be smaller in size.
D. The higher levels of the pyramid are smaller due to the inefficiency of energy transfer.
Author: Jazmin Gannon


The goal of the Biospecimen and Clinical Data Core (BCDC) is to leverage clinical, genetic, socioeconomic, and environmental data across participating institutions to facilitate disparities research and drive the development of new analytical methods that can better account for disease outcomes across diverse populations.
Enable the linking of biological data to clinical, contextual and environmental data for health disparities research.
The BCDC is currently finalizing a data use agreement and data request process that will enable Collaborative researchers to generate research to cohorts across participating institutions in order to increase sample sizes and leverage characteristics unique to each institution.
As a supplement to the standard demographic of "race", the BCDC is in the process of generating a genetically derived ancestry profile from subjects with available genetic data in Vanderbilt's genetic biospecimen, BioVU.
It is becoming more and more apparent that a person's zip code, the immediate area in which they live, is just as important as a person's genetic code when trying to understand the etiology of disease and poor health outcomes. Unfortunately, this type of data is poorly and inconsistently documented in the health record. By leveraging available census, EPA, FDA, and other types of publicly available data regarding the environment with the core's existing clinical data sources, we hope to enrich the data available to Collaborative members interested in disparities research.