Questions to answer while watching Miracle Planet - Life from the Sea

1. Where did life begin?
    

2. What unusual form of life is found in Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, western Australia?

   What environmental conditions favor the presence of this organism?

   What causes the yellow green tint to these organisms?

   Their surfaces are covered by what primitive form of life?

   Their sticky sheaths collect what?
    

3. Watch the simulation of day vs. night for these organisms. Be able to discuss what happens.
4. When did these organism first appear on Earth?

5. What was discovered in the Australian desert near the town of North Pole in 1976?

   How old are these primitive fossils?

6. Approximately when did photosynthesis begin?

7. Describe the conditions on the early Earth.

8. What happened as the early Earth cooled?

9. What happened to the CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere?

10. What was discovered 9000 ft below the sea? What is it like in and around these features?

    Because no light for photosynthesis can penetrate to the bottom of the sea at depths of 9000 ft,

    what is the energy source of the organisms?
     

11. What are some of the unusual features found at Yellowstone?

    What are the conditions like in some of the hot water pools? (temperature, pH, oxygen levels,

    etc.)

    What form of life grows in these hot water pools?
     

12. How did early organisms change Earth? What were they producing as a byproduct of their

    respiratory processes?

    How did oxygen affect the primitive organisms? How were some able to survive?

    What was the origin of the oxygen?
     

13. The remains of what sorts of organisms are found near Great Slave Lake, Canada?

    How old are they?

    What is surprising about them?
     

14. What rock type is found at Guaylin, China?

    What type of gas is locked up in this rock?
     

15. How has the CO₂ content of the atmosphere changed since 1958?

16. What does CO₂ do to incoming radiation?

17. How much is the temperature expected to increase by the mid-21st Century?

18. What would be the result of a temperature increase?

19. What is indicated by the presence of stromatoporoids in the hills of China?

20. What caused the unusual shape of the hills at Sholin?

21. Why is Venus so hot?

22. Compared to Earth, how much CO₂ is present on Venus?

23. How do corals look during the day?

    How do corals look at night?

24. Corals produce a protective skeleton made of what?

25. How do the polyps reproduce?

26. What is forming beneath the surface of living coral?

27. How does CO₂ get into the seawater?

28. What caused the CO₂ to become locked up in the rocks?

29. What happens in limestone areas when the water table drops?

30. How do CO₂ levels in cave waters compare to normal?

31. Where does the dissolved limestone go?

32. What happens to the CO₂ when it reaches the sea?