2.3 FLOWS OF ENERGY AND MATTER Flashcards
Non-living, physical factors that influence the organisms and ecosystems
Abiotic Factors
The interactions between the organisms
Biotic Factors
The conversion of organic matter into carbon dioxide and water in all living organisms, releasing energy
Respiration
carbon dioxide + water –> glucose + oxygen
Photosynthesis
Typically plants or algae that produce their own food using photosynthesis
Producers
Organisms that cannot make their own food eat other organisms to obtain energy and matter
Consumers
Organisms that feed on the dead biomass created by the ecosystem
Decomposers
The conversion of energy into biomass for a given period of time
Productivity
Calculated by subtracting respiratory losses from gross primary productivity
Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
The total energy or biomass assimilated by consumers and is calculated by subtracting the mass of fecal loss from the mass of food consumed
Gross Secondary Productivity (GSP)
Calculated by subtracting respiratory losses from GSP
Net Secondary Productivity (NSP)
Include the Carbon cycle, the Nitrogen cycle, and the Phosphorus cycle : required by plants and animals for energy, growth, development, repair or maintenance
Nutrient Cycles
The organic circulation of carbon from the atmosphere into organisms and back again
Carbon Cycle
The transfer of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil, to living organisms, and back to the atmosphere
Nitrogen Cycle
A process by which nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, become highly concentrated in a body of water, leading to increased growth of organisms such as algae or cyanobacteria
Eutrophication
A measure of the total dry mass of organisms within a particular region
biomass
A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living matter. The process is regulated by food web pathways that decompose matter into mineral nutrients. Nutrient cycles occur within ecosystems
matter cycles
transforms biomass into carbon dioxide and water
combustion
transforms organic matter in dead organisms into fossil fuels
fossilization
Bacteria that can use nitrogen in soil to make nitrogen compounds
Nitrogen fixing bacteria
Convert the ammonium ion into nitrates
Nitrifying bacteria
Bacteria that convert the nitrates in soil or water to gaseous nitrogen and release it back into the atmosphere
Denitrifying bacteria
