2.3 Flashcards
What is the nitrogen cycle?
a continuous series of natural processes by which nitrogen passes successively from air to soil to organisms and back to air or soil involving principally nitrogen fixation, nitrification, decay, and denitrification.
What are the steps
nitrogen fixation, nitrification 1, nitrification 2 decay, and denitrification.
Productivity definition
Productivity is the conversion of energy into biomass over a given period of time. It is the rate of growth or biomass increase. It is measured per unit area per unit time.
What is the GPP (Gross Primary production)
The total gain in energy/biomass per unit area/ per unit time fixed by photosynthesis in green plants.
Secondary Productivity
Measures feeding or absorption of stored energy. When the productivity of consumers is considered, two losses are important:
• Respiration.
Faecal losses - animals are unable to use all the biomass they eat.
What is NPP (Net primary productivity)
The gain in biomass/energy per unit area/per unit time by producers - respiration (R)
Gross Secondary Productivity (GSP)
The energy gained by consumers through absorption - faecal loss.
Net Secondary Productivity (NSP)
Gain in energy/biomass per unit area/per unit time by consumers - respiration (R)
What is the equation for NPP
GPP-R
What is the equation for GSP
Food eaten - faecal loss
What is the equation for NSP
GSP - R
Energy…., Matter….
Energy Flows, Matter Cycles
Stores within the carbon cycle
The ocean, soil,
Flows (transfers) within the carbon cycle
- Herbivores feeding on producers
- Carnivores feeding on herbivores
- Decomposers feeding on dead organic matter
- Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolving in rainwater oceans.
- Deforestation
- Volcanoes
Flows (Transformations) within the carbon cycle
- Photosynthesis which converts inorganic materials into organic matter. Photosynthesis converts carbon dioxide and water into glucose using sunlight energy
- Combustion transforms biomass into carbon dioxide and water.
