Basic of ecosystem Flashcards
ecology definition and who invented it
the living community of plants and animals in any area together with non-living components of the environment such as soil, air and water, constitute the ecosystem
Ernest Haeckel in 1869 german
ecosystem meaning, 2 types and most diverse ecosystem in the world
an ecosystem is a geographic area with plants animals and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, containing biotic(living) and non-biotic (non living)
Artificial ecosystems: natural regions affected by man-made ecosystems ex artificial lakes, cities
natural ecosystems: classified into two types: aquatic ecosystem and terrestrial ecosystem
the huge coral triangle in southeast asia
aquatic types and Terrestrial types
Fresh water: Lentic(ponds,lakes) Lotic(rivers, streams),
Wetlands(marshes, swamps)
Marine: coastal areas(estuaries, coral, reefs, mangroves), Upwelling regions, Open oceans
terrestrial
Grassland, Desset, Forest
autecology/
species ecology
and what is
synecology, examples
the study of individual species of organisms and its population
while synecology deals with the study of communities, their composition, their behaviour and relation with the environment
ex: population, community, ecosystem
what is coral bleach and why does it happen
what is enocide
coral bleach is when coral lose their bright colours, in water that is too warm, they die in water that is not salty enough
enocide
the destruction of entire ecosystems by human beings
what are keystone species, who invented it, examples of keystone species
some species if eliminated seriously affect the environment, characteristic of a keystone species is that it fills a critical ecological role that no other species can. 1960 Robert Paine found out
star fish, sea otters, beavers, wolves, bees, hummingbirds, American alligators, Tiger sharks
ecological pyramid and what are tropic levels and food chains
how is energy and matter related in ecosystem
a model that represents the relative amount of matter and energy contained within each trophic level of ecosystems
organisms in food chains are grouped into trophic levels, divided into to producers, consumers, and decomposers etc
how is energy and matter related in ecosystem
primary consumer
secondary consumer
tertiary consumer
apex predator
decomposers
producers
energy flows through the ecosystem, while matter cycles within it, decomposers transform mater back into inorganic forms that can be recycled within the ecosystem,
while organic molecules are stored as biomass or converted into heat
what is a disasters
natural disasters
a disaster is a serious disruption of the functioning of a society involving widespread human, and environmental losses and impact
manmade:
disasters having elements of human intent, negligence, error, failure of human-made systems, such as: ex: nuclear, chemical, accidental, terrosims
natural:
any catastrophic occurrence generated by the effects of natural, that produces great loss fo human life of destruction of the natural environment, etc caused by weather or climate events etc
landslide, and three types of landslides
avalanche meaning
two snow avalanches- sluffs and slabs
a landslide has range of ground movements, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, landslides are caused by rains, earthquakes, volcanoes, or other factors that make slopes unstable, and can happen offshore, coastal, or onshore
falls and topples: heavy blocks of materical fall after separating from a very steep slope or cliff
transitional slides: surface material is separated from the more stable underlying layer of a slope
a lateral spread: is the movement of material sideways or laterally
avalanche:
a mass of material moving rapidly down a slope. triggered when material on a slope breaks loose from its surroundings
sluff- occurs when a weak layer of a snowpack is on the top. A sluff is a small slide of dry, powdery snow that moves as a formless mass
a slab - occurs when the weak layer lies lower down in a snowpack, this layer is covered with other layers of compressed snow, thus pulling all the layers on top of it down the slope
why are climate-related disasters such as droughts increasing etc
cyclone
tsunami
drought
earthquake and worst earthquake of 21 th century
flashfloods
due to global warming the WMO states
CYCLONE
a area of closed circular fluid of motion rotating in the same direction as the earth, inward circular winds that rotate anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and vice versa in southern , and anticyclone rotates
air comes in from above and sinks to the grounds
tsunami:
seismic sea wave, its a series of water waves caused by displacement of a large volume of body of water up to speeds of 805 km
Drought:
an extended period when a region receives a deficiency in its water supply, whether atmosphere, surface or groundwater
can last for months years etc, substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region
earthquake:
a sudden release of energy in earth’s crust that creates a seismic wave(of an area refers to the frequency, type/size of the earthquake) = seismometers, and magnitude=Richter scale
india on january 26 2001, magnitude 7.7 and lasted for 2 mins (18600 death), 1,67000 injured, 1.2 million house destroyed
flashfloods:
an overflow of water that submerges land, from overflow of water bodies such as lakes and rivers, due to heavy rains
flash floods, can develop with hours of rainfall,
deserts are vulnerable to flash floods
heat exhaustion or heat stroke
heat wave
heat exhaustion: faint or dizzy, excessive sweating, cold pale, clammy skin, nausea or vomiting, rapid weak pulse, muscle cramps
heat stroke: throbbing headache, no sweating, body temp above 103 , nausea or vomiting, rapid stong pulse may lose conscious ness
heat wave:
a prolonged period of excessively hot weather accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries
nuclear, chemical disasters
nuclear
An accident taking place in any nuclear facility of the nuclear fuel cycle including the nuclear reactor, or in a facility using radioactive sources, leading to a large-scale release of radioactivity
or accident during the transport of radioactive material
CHEMICAL
due to safety systems failures: Human errors, technical errors, Management errors, accidents during transportation, toxic waste processing/disposal, terrorist attack
biological disasters, the symbols, and who made
Charles Baldwin made these biohazard symbols in 1966, biohazard disasters are natural scenarios involving disease, disability or death on large scale, among the populous there are symbols made for atomic, biological, and chemical
what biohazards classified into, and how many levels
classifies biohazards (BIOSAFETY LEVELS)
BSL, 4 levels
BSL 1: microbes that are not known to cause disease in healthy adults, minimum hazard,
BSL 2: microbes pose moderate hazards to labs and the environment varying severity to humans (HIC, Hepatitis), use of autoclaves for sterilising and biological safety cabinets
BSL3: bacteria and viruses causing severe to fatal disease in humans ex: anthrax, MERIS, COVID, stringent safety protocols such as the the use of respirators to prevent airborne infection
BSL 4: potentially fatal like ebola, Marburg
protection positive pressure suit, with a segregated air supply
pre-disaster management, diaster prepardness and post disaster managment
activities which are undertaken to prevent or mitigate the adverse effects of a disaster in short and long term.
Diaster prepardness
prevent or minimize the losses and damage in case of a disaster,
Post disaster management
Theresponse phaseincludes the search and rescue; fulfilling basic humanitarian needs of victims ; assistance by regional, national and international bodies etc. Recovery phasestarts after the immediate threat to human life has subsided.
