W

2:31 PM vol 2/16/2022

- OX
Sylvia_S._Mader,_Michael_Windelspecht]_Biology(z-lib.org) - Copy(1).pdf -
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (64-bit) File Edit View Sign Window Help Home Tools
[Sylvia_S._Mader._... *

Sign In
☆
&
Q
©
©
873 (892 of 1025)
A
o
R
933%
...
C
hayo
At least one signature requires validating.
Signature Panel
Certain chemicals can move along food chains in a biotic community and never enter an
exchange pool.
Human activities (purple arrows in Fig. 45.20) remove chemicals from reservoirs and exchange pools and
make them available to the biotic community. In this way, human activities result in pollution, because
they upset the normal balance of nutrients for producers in the environment.

O O da o 6
The Water Cycle The water cycle, also called the hydrological cycle, is described in Figure 45.21. A
transfer rate is defined by the amount of a substance that moves from one component of the environment
to another within a specified period of time. The width of the arrows in Figure 45.21 indicates the transfer
rate of water.
During the water cycle, fresh water is first distilled from salt water through evaporation. During
evaporation, a liquid, in this case water, changes to a gaseous state. The sun's rays cause fresh water to
evaporate from the seawater, and the salts are left behind. Next, condensation occurs. During
condensation, a gas is converted into a liquid. For example, vaporized fresh water rises into the
atmosphere, collects in the form of a cloud, cools, and falls as rain over the oceans and the land.
Water evaporates from land and from plants (evaporation from plants is called transpiration) and from
bodies of fresh water. Because land lies above sea level, gravity eventually returns all fresh water to the
sea. In the meantime, water is contained within standing bodies (lakes and ponds), flowing bodies
(streams and rivers), and groundwater.
Some of the water from precipitation (e.g., rain, snow, sleet, hail, and fog) makes its way into
the ground and saturates the earth to a certain level. The top of the saturation zone is called the
groundwater table, or simply, the water table. Because water infiltrates through the soil and rock
layers, groundwater can be located in rock layers called aquifers. Water is usually released in
appreciable quantities to wells or springs. Aquifers are recharged when rainfall and melted snow
percolate into the soil. Human Activities and the Water Cycle. In some parts of the United
States, especially the arid West and southern Florida, withdrawals from aquifers exceed the
level of recharge. This is called "groundwater mining." In these locations, the groundwater level
is dropping, and residents may run out of groundwater, at least for irrigation purposes, within a
few years.
Fresh water makes up about 3% of the world's supply of water. Water is considered a renewable
resource, because a new supply is always being produced as a result of the water cycle. It is possible to
run out of fresh water, however, when the rate of consumption exceeds the rate of production or when the
water en has become so polluted that it is not usable.
Thames River

VDO O Î
video River
Figure 45.21 The water (hydrological) cycle. Evaporation from the ocean exceeds precipitation, so there
is a net movement of water vapor onto land, where precipitation results in surface water and groundwater,
which flow back to the sea. On land, transpiration by plants contributes to evaporation.