C4.2 transfer of energy and matter Flashcards
open systems
energy and matter can be exchanged in open systems like an ecosystem substance exchanged eg. warer, nutrients, gases
closed systems
only allow exchange of energy eg. bottle garden, grows because plans photosynthesize and other organisms respirate/ cellular respiration so water cycle is self containd process
sunlight
principal source of eneergy sustains most ecosystems needed to produce glucose in photosynthesis
heterotrophs
use sunlight inderictly feed on autotrophs so dependent on it
describe a basic food web
light -> producer -> herbivore (where energy and chemical elements are transferred) -> carnivore (where energy and chemical elements are transferred),
then energy and chemical elements are transferred from producer herbivore and carnivore pass through detrius to decomposer and finally only chemical elements or inorganic compounds pass back to the producer
what are some places which dont receve a lot of sunlight
caves and deep sea
describe cave and adaptations
streams entering cave bring dead organic molten supplies source of energy some caves do not receive any influx, energy is produced by chemoautotrop bacteria through chemical reactions with sulfides, methane or other inorganic materials as substrates
eg.olm= eyeless so other senses very well developed
describe deep sea and adaptations
marine and freshwater ecosystems light must pass through water to reach producers, transmission is not 100% only shorter wavelengths penetrate source of energy deep sea often originate from bacteria can use sulfides as source of energy to synthesize glucose
examples of adaptations organisms use in deep sea
some organisms use chemosynthesis to create food instead of photosynthesis
bioluminiscense communicate attract prey or deter predators
describe flow of chemical energy through food chains
energy enters as lights, flows as nutrients through food chains and usually leaves as heat
recycling nutrients
is a good example of interaction between biotic and abiotic factors within enviornment, nutrients absorbed from enviornemnt, used by living organisms returned to enviornment
describe nutrient cycle
dead leaves (other plants and animal matter) go to decomposers which breakdown organic matter which then end up as minerals and other nutrinets into soil which gows into plant growth
rocky subsoil goes into rocks browken down and water an air penetrate soil
food chains
show flow of energy through sequence of organisms producer= 1st and ends up with consumers
food web
represent complexity of feeding relationships, showing interacting and interconnecting food chains and many consumers they are
decomposer tasks
all chemical energy stuck in nutrients has to be recycled, the supply of energy to decomposers as carbon compounds in organic matter coming from dead organisms and matter eg. faeces, shed exoskeleton, dead plant materials
sapotrops
eg. fungi and mushrooms
breakdown complex insoluble carbon compounds into soluble ones, recycling dead matter, decomposers secrete digestive enzymes into dead organic matter, digest it externally by abrosbing products of digestion eg. sugars and amino acids
describe how hypha work
fungal hypha digest its path into dead organic matter
digestive enxymes secreted into dead organic matter, products of digestion are absorbed by active transport or facilitated diffusion
autotrophs
organism which use external eneergy sources to synthesize carbon compounds from inroganic susbtances
photoautotroph
make organic compounds using energy derived from sun
small amount of solar radiation reaches earth absorbed by chloroplasts, eg. plants, eukarayotic algae, cycnobacteria, use radiation from sun to produce chemical energy (glucose,amino acids) via photosynthesis
chemoautotroph
make organic compounds using energy from oxidation of chemicals
eg.sulfur, hydrogen, iron sulfides, hydrogen, ammonia are sources of energy that can be oxidised by chemoautotrophs, synthesize chemical energy in form of carbon compounds
these oxidation reactions used as energy source eg. prokarayotic bacteria
heterotrophs
synthesize organic compounds by taking in and digesting carbon cpmpounds
they takein and digest organic compounds (carbs, lipids and proteins) from other organism to assimilate and use to produceenergy or build large complex carbon compounds depending type of digestion either consumer or sapotroph
consumers
ingest organic matter which is living or recently killed
animals, which have intenral digestion of life or recently dead matter ingested and broken down which the products are; amino acids, monosaccharides, fatty acids etc.
sapotrophs
feeds on nonliving matter by secreting enzymes absorbing products
eg. mushrooms, fungi, bacteria
all use external difestion of dead and decaying matter ingested and digested externally by releasion of enzymes and absorbed products for insance; amino acids , monosaccharides, fatty acids
amino acids
build up proteins (collagen and enzymes)
cabrs (monosacharides eg. glucose or fructose)
build up polysaccharides for energy production (cell respiration)
vitamins, minerals, fatty acids
cell membrane
what do autrotrophs produce and why
organic compounds eg. vitamins minerals and fatty acids
produced from inorganic matter(co2, HCO3, and carbo sources), energy from sunlight recquired for carbon fixation and for building macromolecules
what is the order of events when consuming energy
ingestion (taking in food)
digestion (breaking down)
absorption (moving food into cells)
assimilation (making food part of cell)
elimination (removing unused food)
assimilation
process digesting nutrients made part of cell by building up complex macromolecules (anabolism) digested nutrients must be small enough to pass through membrane digestive system
why do living organisms need energy
to synthesize lasrge molecules (DNA, RNA, proteins), active transport of molecules accross membranes,vesicular transport molecules with cells, ATP supplies all energy
describe chain of energy
chemical energy (carbs, fats etc) are ingested and converted into ATP which is sent to metabolism and expelled from body as, heat, chemical waste (co2, h2o)
trophic levels
way of classifying organsims by feeding relationships with other organism in same ecosystem
level 1= produced according to position in food web
energy pyramids
energy flow represented via when energy transformations take place, process never 100% efficient 10-20% variable
can be used to show amount of energy gained per year by each tropic level in an ecosystem
amount of energy measure per unit are and per year unit
KJmˆ-2Yrˆ-1
describe pyramid of energy
stepped not triangular
producers are in the lowest horizontal bar
bars labelled eg. producer
scale must be used
explain what happens as we move through a food chain
there is large energy losses between trophic levels, less energy available to each succesive trophic level
give examples of process which lead to energy loss
heat from cellullar respiration, materials not consumed, material not digestion
incomplete consumption
eg. predators dont eat bone, energy dont pass to next stage of food chain but do to decomposers
incomplete digestion
not all ingested and digested matter are absorbed eg. cellulose only be digested by some animals, for the rest simply secreted as faeces
cellular respiration
substrates eg. carbs or proteins are oxidized to co2 and h2o energy being released only compounds which were oxidized can be passed t next level
heat loss
heat is lost to enviornment in both autotrophs and heterotrophs due to conversionof chemical energy to heat in cell respiaration, heat energy unusable, lost from ecosystems
is heat loss important
heat loss resulting from cell respiration importnt to maintai organisms warm, heat passes from hotter to colder bodies, but eventually lost to abiotic enviornment
what does it mean to have a continuos supply of initial energy
sunlight always needed, nutrients are recycled
what is a result of loss in energy through food chains
food chains are limited in length number of trophic levels limited by how much energy enters ecosystem
energy losses reduce biomass of higher trophic levels
biomass
total mass of group of organisms within one trophic level, consists of cells and tissue of organisms, carbs and carbon compounds they contain unit mass in an area or volume
this biomass diminuishes between trophic level as molecules along food chain are lose eg. co2 or excretion
so top predators may have to eat more as less energy and biomass is available
what is production in ecosystems
accumulation of carbon compounds in form of biomass, organism grow= biomass accumulate
two types of primary productivity
gross primary productivity(gpp)
net primary productivity
gross primary productivity(gpp)
total biomass of carbon compounds made in plants by photosynthesis
net primary productivity
GPP - biomass lost due to respiration of plant which is available to consumers
secondary productivity
accumulation fo carbon compounds in biomass by animals, other heterotrophs through ingestion sugars, amino acids from food followed by beingbuilt up into macromolecules (assimilation)
although both auto and heterotrophs produced biomass by growing and reproducing only autotrophs considered primary producers as they synthesize carbon compounds from co2 and other inorgaic substances
secondary production of carbon compounds
because carbon compounds used in cellular respiration as respiratory substrates, not all will be passed on to next trophic level and this results in loss of biomass
with additional ctrophic level eg. meat eaters more crop has to be grown to supply efficient energy so economically and enviornmentally more trophic levels= inefficinet production line
much ore energy is transferred in primary productivity than secondary because 2nd energy is lost as faeces, heat, tissue etc.
ecosytems are what systems
open systems because carbon mostly in form of carbon doxide moves through photosynthesis and respiration, rates not necissirly equal
if photosynthesis is bigger than respiration
net uptake ecosystem= carbon sink
if photosynthesis is smaller than respiration
net release ecosystem= carbon source
carbon dioxide relased by
combustion
what are the 4 reservoirs where carbon is found
biosphere(plants, soil), hydrosphere (oceans), atmosphere, sediments (geolocial reserves of fossil fuels)
desibre carbon network
carbon dioxide taken in by plants via photosynthesis
when plant decays and dead organisms and waste products turned into fossil fuels (a pool), which contain carbon, dead organisms and waste produtcs then used by root respiration and used by auto and factory emissions as well as the fossil fuels
animal respiration, organic carbon and autofactory emissions all release carbon back into atmosphere (pool)
whats a pool
carbon reservoir
are fossil fuels renewable
no, because used up faster than made
diffusion
flux moes carbon dioxid3 from atmosphere into hydrosphere and back, this is the largest flux driven by solar energy, constantly exchanging
biomass, peat, coal, oil, natural gas
big carbon sinks when burnt as fuel incomplete combustion carbon dioide and water are released
fuel + oxygen ->
carbon dioxide and water
is it possible to measure global carbon fluxes
yes but no precisly simply an estimate
how are oil and gas formed over large period of time, source material
dead marine organism containg calcium carbomate when burried under sedement layer hear and compression acts on transforming these organism in oil and gas stored away in pockets of rock and sand
oil and natural gas formed in ocean by calcium carbonate containing organisms under exclusion of oxygen coal formed from plant material
peat
first stage in coal formation, consists of incompletely decomposed organic matter decaying plant material, usually wet areas prevented from decaying fully by acidic and anaerobic conditions, when sediments accumulate over partially decomposed peat, coal, formed by further transformation through weight and pressure
wild fires
caused by lightening or spontaneous ignition of coal supplies can lead to naturally combustion of large fuel supplies, majority of carbon dioxide emission from combustion= burning fossil fuels
keeling curve
diagnostic tool for climate analysis carbon dioxide concentration lower in summer, high in winter because plants photosynthesise more in summer
aerobic respiration by autotrophs dependent on
atmospheric oxygen produced by photosynthesis, dependent on atmoshperic carbon dioxide produced by respiration by hetertrophs
before evolution… oxygenic photosynthesis
little oxygen atmosphere developmnet of oxygen rich atmosphere, allowed evolution of aerobic respiration
describe the recycling of all chemical elements
living organisms need supply of chemical elements, C,H,O make carbs lipids and other carbon containing compnds while N, P make many compounds
how to autotroph obtain their inorganic nutrients
from abiotic enviornment eg. C and N
how do heterotrophs obtain elements
from food eaten and from abiotic enviornment
recycling of chemical elements happne in form of
nutrient cycles eg. carbon cycle
decomposers importance
break fown body parts of dead organisms or organic matter left over in faeces, digeive enzymes of decomposers convert nutrients locked up in complex organic matter into a more stable form for themselves and for other organisms
source of N
atmosphere, ammonium in soil, nitrates in soil, nitrates in soil used by plants
descibre nitrogen cycle
nitrogen in atmosphere is abrobed by soil by nitrogen fixing bacteria in root nodules of legumes, converted into ammonium (NH4) nitrifaction happens bia nitrifying bacteria to convert ammonium into nitrates (NO2)
nitrifying bacteria then convert it into nitrates (NO3) where 2 things can happen;
- assimilation into plants, which when die decomposers break down and convert this nitrogen back into ammonium
- or denitrifying bacteria convert back into nitrogen in atmosphere
