BESC 320 – Water and Bioenvironmental Science
Exam 1 Review Material
In general, colored font in the lecture notes should alert you to important concepts. Pay attention to figures—If I illustrated a concept, it is important. Try to study for concepts. For example, if you see a pattern in a figure, ask yourself what is the root cause of that pattern. Seek further information on unclear concepts or words (e.g., what is a convection current?).
What are the important chemical properties of water, especially as related to the origin, maintenance, and nature of life (e.g. its solvent properties, its thermal properties, its ability to globally transport energy, etc.)? How was the chemical nature of water discovered? What are some other elements of water’s nature that determine key properties?
What are the major reserves of water in the global budget and roughly what percentage does each occupy? Which water sources are most useful to us, and for what functions?
Know the hydrologic cycle in detail. Know how water participates in global physiological processes (nutrient cycling, energy transfer, climate ameliorization, etc.).
Be able to read a topological map of a watershed, and describe the nature and dynamics of water on the landscape. Understand the geomorphology, physical and biological dynamics of rivers.
Describe the process of water nutrification, and what it means for aquatic organisms. Understand stream geomorphology as discussed in class. How does a river course evolve? What is a floodplain and of what use is it; what happens when it is altered? What are the contrasts between headwater and lowland rivers?
How do humans impact natural waterway volume, velocity and course during development? What consequences emerge?
Understand the concepts and specific ecosystem services provided by natural aquatic systems like floodplains, swamps, marshes, and rivers.
Understand groundwater geomorphology and dynamics (e.g. what determines recharge rate?, how are wells pressurized, etc.). Understand the role of sea ice in the global water cycle.
Understand the scale and reasons for wetlands loss. Who protects wetlands in the US? Who owns them? The case study of the American Everglades is extremely important to understand. What are the major problems of the Everglades? What is the system like now, and through history? Why were they drained. Why are they being restored?
Understand the geomorphology and dynamics of estuaries. Why are they so important? Why so fragile? What is a dead zone and why does it form, how commonly and where?
Understand atmospheric water. In what ways does water move into and from the atmosphere? How does the sun and heat energy synergize with water to produce major weather patterns. What factors determine global and regional climatological patterns? In particular, understand convection, frontal weather, effect of terrestrial topography on behavior of water in the atmosphere, and how major latitudinal and longitudinal patterns of precipitation arise. How do hurricanes form? What is el nino?
Understand energy dispersal through atmospheric and oceanic water.
Understand public water supplies, drinking water—infrastructure, costs and processes, both social and mechanistic. Who regulates water? How are water regs met by PWSs? What if they don’t meet standards? What is the state of the nation’s water infrastructure in general? How is drinking water becoming globalized? Know aspects of water infrastructure history as discussed in class. Understand how reverse osmosis systems work and their benefits.
Understand the concept of Silent Spring in general, and endocrine disruption, and case studies from class, especially Atrazine and frogs and BPA. What are some important nexes between science, water use/abuse, and the public. What is missing in that framework regarding the scientific mindset about their research results? How may water quality be affecting health, in different ways, in the developed and developing (third world) countries. Why is EPAs job of water regulation huge beyond reasonable capacity?
Describe how hydropower is generated, the scale of energy produced, and the quirks, costs and benefits of dams. Describe non-dam alternative hydropower technology. How is tidal energy generated and how is this essentially gravitational or lunar energy.
Understand how wastewater is treated, including all elements of primary through tertiary processes, as discussed in class and in recommended external material. Describe the various treatments and how they work. Know the regulatory constraints recounted in this arena.
Know the Great Lakes case study: names of water bodies, how they were formed, what human impacts have occurred and the history of invasive species and their management.
Be sure to review videos and the first two Water Atlas vignettes, plus water for transportation, and water for energy in the Water Atlas and other vignettes as relevant.