4 biomes Flashcards
Element Cycling
- Involves the movement and trasnofrmation of aiotic and biotic forms of elements
- Includes inputs and outputs and internal cycling in an ecosystem
- Obeys the 1st law of tehrmodynmic: no matter can be created or destroyed
Food Webs Cycle Carbon
- Carbon cycle intracetly linked network of biological and physical processes
- Organisms move cabron between neighbours and surrounding - shows the functioning of ecosystem and persistnce over time
- Transfromation of inroganic to organic forms of carbon
- Primary producers generate organic compounds that will provide food for other orgnaisms in their local envrinment
- Those that consume this food are consumer and are primary consumers
- Carbon largely moves as biomass like glucose - plants take inorganic forms of carbon and turn it into carbs which primary consumer eats and so on
- Primary producers: base of food web, provide organic carbon to other organisms, cyanobacteria and eukartoic algeae and plants
- Primary consumers: consume primary producers, herbivores and grazers, consumed by secondary consumers or carnivors and scavengers
- Decomposers/detritovres: breakdown remains of other organisms to more basic compounds - ex. Are fungus and earthworms - carbon orgnially fixed by photosyntehsis is returned to atmopshere by respiration of fungi and decomposers that break down dead tissue - detrivores are like earthworms which move materials in the soil
Short term carbon cycle
- Photosuntheis uses sunlight to reduce CO2 to carbohydrates while oxidizng water to O2 - respiration runs the same reaction in reverse and this forms a cycle
- Aniaml respition and fungus and acteria decomp of dead plants and naimals returns the CO2 to atmosphere
The amount of CO2 removed from the atomsphere by photosynthesis and the amount returned by respiration is about equal
- Aniaml respition and fungus and acteria decomp of dead plants and naimals returns the CO2 to atmosphere
Energy Transfer in an Ecosystem
- Energy doesn’t cycle through an ecosystem
- New energy must be contiunaully harvested
- A trophic pyrmaid is formed because:
○ Building organic molecules isnt 100% energy effcient
○ One trophic level rarely consumes all the resources in level below
○ Enegry is lost to heat and work
○ Biomass decresse from one trophic level to the next
Terrestrial Biomes
- Plants have indepently evolved adaption by convergent evolution to climate
- Plants provide a phsyical structure for each terestrial biome
- Herbivorous animals feed on the products of plants (leaves, stems,) include small mamals, brids and insects
Carnivores are usually well recognzied (birds, lions, tigers and bears) - Carbon in terrestrial habitats begin with atmospheric CO2
- Photosynthesis converts this to organic carbon as glucose
- All types of plants and lichen/algae do this on land
- From there consumers feed on plants, predators feed on consumers and dead animals are decomposed
- Carbon cycle is intricatly linked netwrok of biological and physical processes that shuttles carbon among rocks, soil, oceans, air and organisms
How organisms move carbon from one species to another and then between and tehir surrounding envirnment, underpins both the efficent functioning of ecosystems and their persisetnce over an immesne span of time - Focus on temeprate broadlef decidous forest and urban landscapes
- In both:
○ Major primary producers are vascular plants with additional prodcution form mosses and lichens
○ Major primary consumers are mammals, birds and insects
Temp Decidious Forests
○ Moderate climate and dominance of hardwood deciduous trees
○ Four disticnt seasons
○ Springtime sun passes through seasonally leafless trees to reach a disverse understory flora
○ Soils are rich in nutreints from annual leaf fall
○ The moderate temp and precipation promote decomposition
○ Cold winters promote accumulatin of organic materials
○ High biodiveristy than boreal forests
○ Birds and small mammals are numerous
○ Largers mammals (grazers and carnibores) also prominent
Plentiful fallen plant material is decomposed by fungus and invertebreates like insects, woms , crustaceans etc.
Urban Landscapes
○ Full of life, but typidied by disturbance - event in time that disrupts ecosystem, community or population structure and changes resources, substarte availability or phsyical envrinment
○ Human progated plant monocultures are disurted by adventious or resliant pioneer species (thriving in barren or recently exposed spaces)
○ Both native and non native species are prominent
Pollution, human conatc, phsyical barriers, all makeup unqiue challlenges to urban living
Aquatic Biomes
- The two focus is on tropical reef and freshwater stream
- Aquatic biomes reflect climate, the availability of nutreints and oxygen and the depth to which sunlight penetrates through water
- In both of our biomes, depth often penetrates to the benthos but one is marine and other is frshwater
- Biogeochemcial cycles in oceans:
○ Coral reefs receive nutreints from various sources
○ Freshwater and rain runoff enetrs from rivers and coastal run off
○ Cool water from open ocean can bring in additional nutreints up from depths
In oceans - algae and cyanbacteria convert CO2 to orgnaic molecules - consumers from animal to bacteria live on organic matter orginally generated by producers
Coral Reef
○ Best known reefs occur in shallow, tropical to subtropical envirnments
○ Deep sea reefs are also numberous
○ Nutreints levels are commonly low but primary production is high and mostly tied to dinoflagellate algae that live within tissues of corals
○ Free living algae occur in reefs but are kept at low abundance by grazing fish
○ Coral reefs are hotspot of life in ocean - in terms of diverist and density
○ Primary producers are alage (endocymbitic, plankton and macro alage)
○ Consumers are corals and anemones (cnidaria), fish, crusteacean, worms, and vsiting verst like tyrtles and dolphins etc
Freshwaetr
○ Freshwater biomes include lakes and ponds and rivers and streams
○ Water chemisteries varies with the types of terrain in which they are found and nutreint levels can be low to exteremly high
○ Rivers and streams are characetrized by moving water and can vary in size and chem
Because of currents, rivers are generally weel oxugenated although oxyegn leevls may be lower in slwoly moving rivers on floodplains
Freshwater Stream biome
○ In streams producers include plants and eukaryotic alega which grow along river margins and phytoplankton photosyntehising throgiyt water column
○ Insects are consumers but other invertebrates (crustaceans bivalves etc) fish turtles and birds can be abudnat and diverse
○ Many consumers are filter feeders
○ Also in rivers and stream, the carbon cycle overlaps with terrestrial surroundings
§ Leaves enter the stream
§ Some organisms have life stages in both areas
§ Terrestrial aniamls take prey from the stream and vice versa
Animal waste/remains may enetr water
