C4.2 - TRANSFERS OF ENERGY AND MATTER Flashcards
Ecosystems
Ecological systems composed of organisms in an area along with abiotic factors.
Open system
Both chemical resources and energy can enter or exit.
Closed system
Only energy can enter or exit.
What is the principle source of energy for a food chain?
Sunlight
Producers
Use an external source of energy such as inorganic compounds, to produce carbon compounds.
What are exceptions to the source of energy in ecosystems?
- Caves: dead organic matter from other ecosystems. (consumed by saprotrophs)
- Deep sea levels: Chemical energy by chemoautotrophs.
How is energy transferred between trophic levels?
Energy fixated in carbon compounds produced by plants moves to other organisms when they consume them.
Outline the flow of chemical energy between trophic levels:
Producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers.
Give an example of a food chain in an ecosystem:
Tara Shrubs, Lama guanicoe, Puma concolor
Why are levels not always determined in food webs?
- Organisms can get their energy from different trophic levels (omnivores for example).
How are food chains and webs useful models?
They represent feeding relationships between plants and use arrows to model the flow of energy and biomass between trophic levels.
Give an example of an omnivore with a varied trophic level.
Vulpes vulpes (red fox)
Outline the process of the production of dead organic matter:
Death, Defecation, Shedding of Unwanted body parts, Dead organic matter
Saphotrophs
Organisms that feed on dead organic matter
Autotrophs…
use inorganic compounds such as CO2 and HCO3- are used to create organic compounds.
Outline how autotrophs create organic compounds:
- Energy from light and inorganic chemical reactions is used to fixate co2 and anabolic rxns.
Decomposers:
Organisms that break down insoluble, large molecules into small, soluble molecules or ions.
Photoautotrophs:
Convert sunlight into carbon compounds.
Chemoautotrophs:
Synthesize carbon compounds from exothermic reactions such as oxidation.
Which 2 domains are chemoautotrophs;
Bacteria and Archea
How do iron-oxidizing bacteria get their energy:
- Fe2+ > Fe3+ and electron.
- Electron is by electron carrier chains that release energy, Protein pumps that produce ATP by chemiosis, or used to reduce NAD+ to NADH-
- ATP and NADH are used in Co2 fixation
Heterotrophs
Get their energy from other organisms.
Assimiliation
To absorb carbon compounds and use them in body parts.
What are the 2 types of heterotrophs
Saphotrophs and Consumers
What are the two types of consumers
Unicellular and Multicellular
How do saphotrophs digest their food
They secrete hydrolytic enzymes that digest their food, then absorb it.
How do unicellular consumers digest their food
Bacteria such as paramecium consume substances by endocytosis, absorb them into hydrolytic phagocytic vesicles, which is then absorbed by their cytoplasm.
How do multicellular consumers digest their food?
Internal digestion by enzymes secreted by digestive glands.
What are the uses of ATP in chemoauto and heterotrophs
(INTRA)
- Movement of vesicles
- Anabolic rxns that synthesize macromolecules.
(EXTRA)
- Active transport
- Maintaining body temperature
What are the trophic levels in plants?
- producers
- primary consumers
- secondary consumers
- Tertiary consumers
What does an energy pyramid model?
Amount of energy lost and used by trophic levels.
How is energy lost between trophic levels?
- Incomplete Consumption: Not all organisms are consumed/not all parts are.
- Incomplete digestion: Some substances cannot be digested, egested in feces. Saprotrophs digest them.
- Cell respiration: energy in glucose is not fully conserved due to heat loss.
What is the maximum number of trophic levels in an energy pyramid?
4-5
Why are the number of levels in a trophic level limited?
Energy loss between trophic levels decreases them, so each trophic level has exponentially less food.
Give an example of the availability of food for a trophic level of consumers:
Canadian condor needs more than 10,000km2 to find enough food.
Name, in 2 scientific terms, what leads to an increase in biomass (other than cell respiration)?
Growth and Reproduction.
Primary Production
Mass of C-compounds synthesized by autotrophs.
GPP (gross PP)
Total amount of C-compounds made by autotrophs.
NPP (net PP)
GPP - biomass used by respiration. (what is available to next level of consumers).
Secondary Production:
Accumulation of carbon compounds by heterotrophs.
Why does biomass decrease with each trophic level?
- Primary production is greater than secondary production.
