Winona State University
BIOL 415/527 – ECOLOGY OF LARGE RIVERS

Exam Review Questions

Below are listed several examples of the types of questions that may appear on Ecology of Large Rivers exams. Use these questions as an aid to guide your studying. This is by no means a complete list of all possible questions or topics covered, so don't assume that if you know the answers to these questions that you have a lock on that "A". Please refer to your reading assignments and lecture notes for the complete range of potential topics to be tested on each exam.


EXAM #1

Essay Question examples

1) Briefly explain Minnesota’s classification system for rivers and streams.

2) Describe the Strahler stream order classification system and include a diagram illustrating the basic concepts.

3) Explain how the river continuum concept uses fish communities and changing invertebrate feeding guilds to describe changing environmental conditions along the river’s length.

4) Use various biological and physical examples to explain the three axes of a fluvial ecosystem as they relate to transfer of materials.

5) List four (4) major pressures affecting river systems today, and briefly provide one or more specific examples of each pressure.

6) List and briefly describe five (5) issues facing the Mississippi River today.

7) Describe the relationship between average air temperature and the proportion of precipitation that leaves a drainage basin as runoff. Use a simple line graph to support your answer.

8) Differentiate between gaining and losing streams and rivers. In what general type of terrestrial ecosystem are you more likely to find losing streams?

9) Draw a generalized stream hydrograph and label the rising limb, the recession limb, and baseflow conditions.

10) Draw a simple diagram to illustrate a river’s bankfull discharge. Is the river technically flooding at this level? On average, how often does a river achieve bankfull discharge?

11) List and describe two ways in which urbanized areas can change the discharge regime of rivers flowing through them.

12) How are pool and riffle spacings related to channel meander wavelength?

13) What is a floodplain terrace and how is it created? Do we have any local examples?

14) List and describe the three (3) sediment sources for stream and river systems.

15) Differentiate between the three (3) types of sediment load moving downstream in a river channel.

16) How do the opposing forces of sediment erosion and deposition change along a river’s course, and how do they influence sediment particle size in the river channel?

17) Explain how the Mississippi River valley at Winona has been shaped by past glacial meltwaters.

18) Describe the three (3) major mechanisms that control river water chemistry (hint: Gibbs chemical classification).

19) What is the freshwater salinization syndrome and what is driving it?

20) Diagram the basic relationship between invertebrate taxa richness or invertebrate abundance and water turbulence (i.e., roughness Reynolds number). Explain why this relationship exists.

21) How do aquatic organisms cope with modest flooding events? Can this same response be successful against extreme floods? Explain.

22) How can we alter dam structures and/or operations to better facilitate fish migration and spawning opportunities?

23) Explain why physical habitat heterogeneity is better for river and stream organisms.

24) Describe four (4) negative effects that excessive amounts of fine sediments have on a river’s physical and/or biological components.

25) What roles did wing dikes and closing dikes play in the Upper Mississippi River prior to construction of the lock and dam system?