Biosphere Quiz- Cycle Flashcards
Properties of Water
- Water is a universal solvent
- Water has a relatively HIGH boiling & melting point
- Water has special adhesive & cohesive properties
- Water has a HIGH heat capacity
Universal Solvent
- Water is very good at carrying other materials
- The structure of water allows it to dissolve a variety of substances
- Polar molecules, meaning it has a positive & negative end, which creates a weak attraction called a hydrogen bond
Weird Water Density
- Frozen water is LESS dense than liquid water
- WHY?
- When water freezes, it EXPANDS because hydrogen binds to hold the water molecules in an open crystal structure.
- When ice melts, its solid, crystalline structure begins to break down, INCREASING its density.
Heat Capacity
- A measurement of the amount of heat a substance can ABSORB or RELEASE for a given change in temperature
- Water has a HIGH heat capacity, which means it NEEDS a large transfer of energy for a small change in temperature
Water stores heat
Adhesion
Water molecules are ATTRACTED to OTHER substances
Ex. Raindrops sticking to the window
Cohesion
Water molecules are ATTRACTED to other WATER molecule.
Ex. Water drops
Water Cycle (HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE)
The movement of water through the environment from the atmosphere to Earth and back
Evaporation
The sun’s energy heats up the water from lakes, rivers and oceans, turning it into steam (water vapour) that rises into the air
Condensation
When the water vapor goes high up where it’s colder, it turns back into tiny water droplets, forming clouds.
Precipitation
When clouds get heavier with water, the water falls back to the ground as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Usually occurs when the temperature is just right.
Collection
The water gathers in rivers, lakes, and oceans. Some of it soaks into the ground and becomes groundwater, which plants and animals can use.
Runoff
Some of the rainwater flows over the ground into streams, rivers, and eventually back to oceans or lakes, continuing the cycle.
Water moves along the lithosphere (Land) into the hydrosphere (Body of water).
Transpiration
Plants absorb water from the soil through their roots and release it back into the atmosphere through their leaves.
The loss of water through the stomata on the plants leaves.
Storage
Water is stored in various forms, including oceans (96% of Earth’s water), lakes, rivers, groundwater, ice caps, and glaciers, as well as in the atmosphere as water vapor.
Water Table
The top level of the region below the ground that is saturated with water.
Plays a big role in storing and moving water underground.
The water table helps keep water available for plants, animals, and people
Leaching
The removal of soluble minerals by percolation.
A process of extracting a substance from a solid material that is dissolved in a liquid.
Process where nutirents enter the water table or the hydrosphere through run-off.
Negatively impacts natural ecosystem.
Percolation
The movement of a liquid through a porous material, such as soil particles.
Carbon Cycle
The cycle of matter in which carbon atoms move from an inorganic form to an organic form and then back into an inorganic form.
Carbon Source
Something that ADDS/RELEASES carbon to the environment
Ex. Combustion (Breathing Things), Breathing (Cellular Respiration)
Carbon Sink
Something in the environment that STORES carbon
Ex. Ocean, forest, soil, wetlands
Organic Carbon
Carbon compound found in living (or recently living) organisms
Ex. Glucose, Carbs, lipids, DNA, hormones.
Storage Areas: Bodies of living things.
Inorganic Carbon
Carbon compound found in the environment in NON-LIVING things
Ex. Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbonate, carbide
Storage Areas: Atmosphere (The smallest), oceans and Earth’s crust.
Oxygen Cycle
Oxygen is important for both photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
The movement of oxygen gas from living things into the atmosphere through photosynthesis and then back into living things through cellular respiration.
Human Impact on the Carbon Cycle
Mining fossil fuels trapped in Earth’s crust and burning them.
Clearing away vegetation in order to build infrastructure or a farm
Nitrogen
PERCENTAGES:
- 78% is Nitrogen, 21% is oxygen, 1% is other gases
- Parts of proteins in an organism
- Parts of DNA in cells
- Most organisms CANNOT use the nitrogen straight from the atmosphere
Using Nitrogen
- Bacteria convert nitrogen into ammonium in a process called nitrogen fixation
- When decomposers break down organic matter (Called ammonification), it produces ammonium
- Some soil bacteria convert ammonium into nitrite and then into nitrate, which plants can use to get nitrogen
Nitrogen Cycle
A cycle of matter in which nitrogen atoms move from nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, to inorganic forms in the soil, to organic forms in the living things, & then back to inorganic forms in the soil and nitrogen gas in the atmosphere
Aerobic Respiration
Occurs in the presence of oxygen
Nitrification is aerobic
Anaerobic Respiration
Occurs when there is limited oxygen
Denitrification is anaerobic
Nitrogen Fixation
- Free nitrogen (Nitrogen gas) is converted into ammonia, nitrites or nitrates
Two Methods of Nitrogen Fixation
Bacteria can convert the free nitrogen into ammonia, and then other bacteria convert it into nitrites & nitrates.
Plants can take up nitrate.
Lighting can also fix nitrogen into nitrates.
Energy from the lightning can cause nitrogen gas to react with oxygen in the air.
Nitrification
The process that converts ammonia to nitrites & then nitrate
(Ammonia –> Nitrites–> Nitrates)
Assimilation
When plants & animals take up the nitrogen & incorporate them into their body systems
Nitrogen absorption by plants and animals, and the nitrogen is transferred up the food chain
Ammonification
When decomposers break down dead materials of plants and animals it produces ammonium
Denitrification
The process of converting NITRATE –> NITROGEN GAS
Denitrifying bacteria complete the cycle by converting nitrite or nitrate back into nitrogen gas
Phosphorus
- Essential nutrients (The body CANNOT produce them, so it needs to consume them)
- Limited amounts are available in the environment
- Concentrated in living things
- Parts of the DNA & ATP
- A major part of the teeth and bones
- Different from carbon, nitrogen and sulfur because it does not cycle through the atmosphere
- Found in soil & water, and weathering, gradually release the phosphorus trapped in rocks
How do Organisms Get Phosphorus?
- Animals get phosphorus by eating plants or other animals.
- Producers get phosphorus in the form of phosphate, which is dissolved in water
Phosphorus Cycle
The cycling of phosphorus between the biotic and abiotic parts of the environment
Consists of a biological and geological cycle.
Short-term Phosphorus Cycle (Biological Cycle)
Occurs within living organisms, soil, and water over days to decades.
It includes the movement of phosphorus between plants, animals, decomposers, and the soil.
Absorption by Plants – Trees, ferns, and mosses absorb phosphates (PO₄³⁻) from the soil to grow.
🔹 Consumption by Herbivores – Herbivores like Roosevelt elk and banana slugs eat plants, obtaining phosphorus for bones, teeth, and energy production (ATP).
🔹 Transfer to Carnivores – Predators like wolves and bald eagles consume herbivores, passing phosphorus up the food chain.
🔹 Decomposition – When plants and animals die, fungi, bacteria, and insects break down their bodies, returning phosphorus to the soil.
🔹 Waste Recycling – Animal feces and urine release phosphorus back into the environment.
🌲 Example: A Sitka spruce tree absorbs phosphorus from the soil. A Roosevelt elk eats its leaves and gains phosphorus. A wolf preys on the elk, transferring phosphorus into its own body. When the wolf dies, decomposers like fungi break it down, returning phosphorus to the soil.
Long-term Phosphorus Cycle (Geological Cycle)
Occurs over a long period of time as phosphorus moves between rocks, soil and water through a slow geological process.
🪨 Rock Weathering – Phosphorus is stored in rocks for millions of years. Over time, rain, wind, and plant roots break down rocks, releasing phosphorus into the soil.
🌊 Sedimentation & Burial – Some phosphorus washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans, where it settles into sediments and becomes part of new rock formations.
⏳ Geological Uplift – Over millions of years, tectonic forces push phosphorus-rich rocks back up to the surface, restarting the cycle.
Example:
Rain erodes phosphorus-rich rocks in a temperate rainforest.
The phosphorus enters the soil, where trees and plants absorb it.
Some phosphorus washes into rivers and oceans.
Over time, it gets buried in ocean sediments, forming new rocks.
After millions of years, tectonic activity lifts the rocks back up, restarting the cycle.
Food Pyramid
- An ecological hierarchy of food interactions in which the apex predator is at the top
- Each level preys on the next lower level, and the bottom level is generally green vegetation.
- Energy is transferred from one trophic level to another in the ecosystem, and some amount is lost at each trophic level.
Long-term Phosphorus Cycle (Geological Cycle)
Occurs over a long period of time as phosphorus moves between rocks, soil, and water through slow geological processes.
🪨 Rock Weathering – Phosphorus is stored in rocks for millions of years. Over time, rain, wind, and plant roots break down rocks, releasing phosphorus into the soil.
🌊 Sedimentation & Burial – Some phosphorus washes into rivers, lakes, and oceans, where it settles into sediments and becomes part of new rock formations.
⏳ Geological Uplift – Over millions of years, tectonic forces push phosphorus-rich rocks back up to the surface, restarting the cycle.
Example:
Rain erodes phosphorus-rich rocks in a temperate rainforest.
The phosphorus enters the soil, where trees and plants absorb it.
Some phosphorus washes into rivers and oceans.
Over time, it gets buried in ocean sediments, forming new rocks.
After millions of years, tectonic activity lifts the rocks back up, restarting the cycle.
Trophic Levels
- The feeding level through which energy & matter are transferred
- The first trophic level in any ecosystem is the producer
Pyramid of Energy
- Transfer of energy (in J or KJ) from one trophic level to the next
- Typically showing 10%, the efficiency of this transfer can vary from 5 to 20%
- Overcomes the limitations that cause an inversion of the pyramid of biomass
- In all ecosystem, there is less energy at higher trophic levels than at lower trophic levels
- This shows a DECREASE in available energy at each successive trophic level
- Inverted Pyramid of Energy DOES NOT exist
- It is always upright, as there can NEVER be less energy in a lower trophic level than in a higher one.
Food Web
A visual representation of the interconnected feeding relationships within an ecosystem, showing which organisms eat which, and how energy flows through different trophic levels
Pyramid of Biomass
- Biomass is the dry mass of living or once living organisms per unit area (In the whole ecosystem)
- Usually presented in the units of grams per square metre $g/m^2$
- Overcomes the limitations that cause an inversion of a pyramid of numbers
- In most ecosystems, there is less biomass at higher trophic levels than at lower trophic levels
- This illustrates a decrease in available energy at each successive trophic level
- It could be inverted
- In an inverted pyramid of biomass, there is less biomass at the first trophic level than at the second trophic level
Pyramid of Numbers
- How many of each organism are in the ecosystem
- Represents the relative number of organisms at each link in a food chain and at each trophic level
- In many ecosystems, organisms at higher trophic levels are fewer in number than organisms at lower trophic levels
- Illustrates a decrease in available energy at each successive trophic level.
- It could be inverted:
- A smaller number of large organisms at a lower trophic level supports a larger number of small organisms at higher trophic levels
- Due to size of the organism =, there is more biomass at the lower trophic level than at the higher ones
Human Impacts on the Water Cycle
Deforestation: Reduces transpiration, affecting local rainfall patterns.
Urbanization: Increases runoff and reduces groundwater recharge due to impermeable surfaces (e.g., concrete).
Overuse of Freshwater: Excessive water withdrawal for agriculture, industry, and household use can deplete groundwater and rivers.
Pollution: Industrial and agricultural waste introduces contaminants into water bodies, affecting water quality.
Climate Change: Warmer temperatures increase evaporation rates and alter precipitation patterns, leading to droughts or floods.
Human Impact on the Carbon Cycle
Burning Fossil Fuels: Releases large amounts of CO₂, contributing to global warming.
Deforestation: Reduces the number of trees that absorb CO₂ through photosynthesis, increasing atmospheric carbon.
Ocean Acidification: Excess CO₂ dissolves in oceans, forming carbonic acid, which harms marine life.
Industrial Agriculture: Livestock (especially cattle) produce methane (CH₄), a powerful greenhouse gas.
Human Impact on the Oxygen Cycle
Deforestation: Reduces oxygen production by decreasing the number of trees available for photosynthesis.
Burning Fossil Fuels: Consumes oxygen and releases carbon dioxide, leading to a reduced oxygen balance in the atmosphere.
Ocean Pollution: Harmful chemicals and warming waters reduce oxygen levels (hypoxia), causing dead zones where marine life cannot survive.
Human Impact on the Phosphorus Cycle
Excessive Fertilizer Use: Leads to phosphorus runoff, which, like nitrogen, causes eutrophication in lakes and oceans.
Mining for Phosphate Rocks: Disrupts ecosystems and reduces natural phosphorus availability.
Deforestation: Reduces phosphorus retention in soils, leading to soil erosion and nutrient loss.
Wastewater and Detergents: Contain phosphorus, which can contribute to water pollution and harmful algal blooms.
Human Impact on the Nitrogen Cycle
Excess Fertilizer Use: Increases nitrogen runoff into water bodies, causing eutrophication (algal blooms that deplete oxygen).
Burning Fossil Fuels: Releases nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), which contribute to acid rain and air pollution.
Livestock Waste: Releases ammonia (NH₃) into the environment, which can lead to soil and water contamination.
Deforestation: Alters nitrogen availability in soils, affecting plant growth and soil fertility.
