42 - Ecosystems and Energy Flashcards
Bioremediation
Detoxifying the environment / removing something from it
Plants, Fungi, and prokaryotes may take up or break down pollutants from a site
Salts, metals, hydrocarbons, hazardous wastes
Use these organisms in water treatment facilities
Bioaugmentation
Adding to the environment / to enhance something
Add plants and organisms that enhance the site / increase the nutrient concentration of the site (N-fixing bacteria, mycorrhizae ect.)
Build soil, make nutrients available, provide habitat for other organisms
May need to supplement wildlife by releasing animals or building habitat
Received From atmosphere/reservoir - absorbed during photosynthesis
How do consumers get it - stored in plants consumed by herbivores, also in soil, fossil fuels, and ocean
How is it returned to the atmosphere/reservoir - respiration, combustion, decomposition, and animals, fungi, and bacteria
What do organisms use it for - building cellular structure, energy storage, and metabolic process
Carbon Cycle
Received From atmosphere/reservoir - Atmosphere through fixation
How do consumers get it - Incorporated into organic material by plants and passed to consumers through eating
How is it returned to the atmosphere/reservoir - Denitrification by bacteria, also released during combustion
What do organisms use it for - Amino acids, Proteins, nucleic acids, tissues, enzymes, and genetic material
Nitrogen Cycle
Received From atmosphere/reservoir - Weathering of rocks
How do consumers get it - consuming plants/organisms that have it
How is it returned to the atmosphere/reservoir - recycled through terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by decomposers
What do organisms use it for - Nucleic acids, ATP,cell structure, and energy transfer
Phosphorus Cycle
Grass or meat what provides the most energy
Grass because it doesn’t lose any energy from cell resp, waste, and heat. Holds all the solar energy it receives and doesn’t lose some like animals
(Amount of solar energy converted to chemical) - set energy budget
Production of new organic matter or biomass by autotrophs in an ecosystem per unit area
Sets the energy budget for the food web
Gross primary production (GPP) = total primary production by all primary producers
Net Primary production = GPP – Respiration (What actually available to consumers)
Primary Production
Production of biomass by heterotrophic consumers
Secondary Production
Energy Flow
Some lose Multiple directions
Passage of energy through the components of the ecosystem (one direction)
Vital for immediate survival and functioning of organisms
Driven by solar radiation (photosynthesis) and metabolic processes.
Chemical Cycles
Flows one direction
Use and reuse of chemical elements such as C, N, ect, within an ecosystem.
Crucial for long-term ecosystem health and nutrient availability.
Driven by biological processes (decomposition, assimilation, respiration) and geological processes (weathering, erosion).
Compare primary and secondary production.
