Marine Science flashcards

110 QCE Marine Science cards across 2 modules (39 definitions, 48 key facts, 23 fill-the-gap, 0 formulas). Each session gives you 20 cards, due cards first. Swipe right for easy, left for hard, down for again. Keyboard: Space to flip, 1 to 4 to rate.

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Definition
Adaptations of marine organisms (QCE Marine Science Unit 3)
Define Physiological adaptations
Physiological adaptations are internal processes and chemistry, such as the salt glands of a sea turtle or antifreeze proteins in polar fish.
Definition
Aquaculture in Australia (QCE Marine Science Unit 4)
Define Efficient protein
Fish convert feed to body mass efficiently compared with land livestock, so aquaculture can be a low-footprint protein source.
Definition
Classification and marine biodiversity (QCE Marine Science Unit 3)
Define Bacteria and archaea
Single-celled microbes that drive nutrient cycling and chemosynthesis at vents.
Definition
Climate change and ocean acidification (QCE Marine Science Unit 4)
Define Food web effects
Acidification and warming hit plankton and shellfish at the base of food webs, with flow-on effects to fisheries.
Definition
Connectivity of marine ecosystems (QCE Marine Science Unit 3)
Define Sediment trapping
Mangroves and seagrass trap river sediment so that reefs offshore stay in the clear, low-nutrient water that corals need.
Definition
Coral bleaching mechanism and recovery (QCE Marine Science Unit 4)
Define Bleaching
Bleaching is the breakdown of this mutualism: under stress the coral expels its zooxanthellae (or the algae die in place), so the coral loses its colour and turns white, revealing the calcium carbonate skeleton through the now-transparent tissue.
Definition
Coral biology and the zooxanthellae symbiosis (QCE Marine Science Unit 3)
Define Asexual reproduction
A polyp buds off a copy of itself, growing the colony, and broken fragments can settle and form new colonies. This produces genetically identical clones and lets a colony expand quickly.
Definition
Fisheries and marine resource management (QCE Marine Science Unit 4)
Define Bycatch
Bycatch is the non-target species caught and usually killed alongside the target catch, such as turtles, dugongs, dolphins and juvenile fish caught in trawl nets. Bycatch can drive declines in species that are not even being fished, which is why turtle excluder devices and bycatch reduction devices are required in Queensland prawn trawl fisheries.
Definition
Coral reef structure, zonation and distribution (QCE Marine Science Unit 3)
Define Atolls
Atolls are ring-shaped reefs surrounding a central lagoon, formed as a fringing reef around a volcanic island keeps growing while the island subsides. Atolls are rare in Australia but common in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Definition
Human impacts on marine environments (QCE Marine Science Unit 4)
Define Dredging
Dredging (for example to deepen shipping channels and ports along the Queensland coast) stirs up sediment plumes that smother seagrass and coral and reduce water clarity, and it destroys sea-floor habitat directly.