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Bio - 20 > Ch 1-2: Energy Transphers In The Biosphere > Flashcards

Ch 1-2: Energy Transphers In The Biosphere Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is the Biosphere?

A

The regions where living matter could live.

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2
Q

What are the three different regions of the biosphere?

A

Atmosphere: Air
Hydrosphere: water
Lithosphere: Land

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3
Q

What is an open system?

A

A system where matter or energy is free to move through it.

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4
Q

What is a closed system?

A

A system where matter or energy cannot leave.

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5
Q

Is Earth a closed system when it comes to matter?

A

Yes, there are some exceptions though.

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6
Q

Is Earth a closed system when it comes to energy?

A

No, different types of energy constantly leave and enter the planet. (heat & light)

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7
Q

What is the definition of albedo?

A

The ability of a surface to reflect energy.

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8
Q

If a surface has a high albedo, what does it mean about its ability to reflect energy?

A

It means it can reflect a lot of energy.

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9
Q

If a surface has a low albedo, what does it mean about its ability to reflect energy?

A

It means it can reflect a minimal amount of energy.

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10
Q

What is radiant energy?

A

Heat & light energy from the sun.

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11
Q

What percentage of radiant energy is absorbed at the Earth’s surface?

A

51%

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12
Q

What percentage of radiant energy is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds?

A

19%

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13
Q

What percentage of radiant energy is reflected from clouds, dust, water and land?

A

30%

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14
Q

What percentage of radiant energy is absorbed by land and water producers

A

1-2%

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15
Q

What is the equation for Photosynthesis?

A

6CO2 + 6H2O + light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2

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16
Q

What is the equation for cellular respiration?

A

C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

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17
Q

What is a Autotroph?

A

An organism that can capture free energy from its environment to make food. (plant)

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18
Q

What is a Heterotroph?

A

An organism that needs to consume food to live.

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19
Q

What is a Canivore, Herbavore, Omnivore, and Decomposer?

A

An organism that eats…
Carnivore - animals
Herbavore - plants
Omnivore - plants and animals
Decomposer - dead organisms & waste and breaks them down for food (by doing so brings nutrients back into the soil)

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20
Q

What is a producer?

A

Produces its own food.

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21
Q

What is the order of Primary (1°) Secondary (2°), and Tertiary (3°) Consumer mean? What is the order from closest to the producer to farthest?

A

It tells us where they are in the food chain. Primary → Tertiary

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22
Q

What is the Rule of 10? What does this rule not include?

A

Only 10% of energy gets passed on to the next consumer. This rule does not include plants (only 1-2% gets converted).

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23
Q

Where does the other 90% of energy go in the Rule of 10?

A

It goes to natural life processes & heat.

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24
Q

What is Biomagnification?

A

The increasing concentration of a substance,
such as a toxic chemical, in the tissues of
tolerant organisms at successively higher levels
in a food chain.

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25
Q

What are the first and second laws of thermodynamics?

A

First Law: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed from one form into another.

Second Law: The entropy (disorder) of a system will increase over time. E.g. heat will move and diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.

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26
Q

What is the Pyramid of Numbers? What is a disadvantage?

A

it’s a pyramid that shows the amount of animals in each trophic level. It can be inverted

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27
Q

What is the Pyramid of Biomass? What is a disadvantage? What are the units for it?

A

A pyramid that calculates the dry mass of a trophic level per meter. The disadvantages are no agreed definition, inverted, and can include more than one organism.

g/m^2

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28
Q

What is the Pyramid of Energy? Is it the best Pyramid?

A

Calculates trophic levels by energy.

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29
Q

How much of the Atmosphere is composed of Carbon Oxygen, Sulfur, and Nitrogen?

A

78% Nitrogen, 20% Oxygen, 1% Carbon, and 1% sulfur.

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30
Q

What is a Abiotic Nutrient Reservoir?

A

stores non-living components of an ecosystem.

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31
Q

What is a Biotic Nutrient Reservoir

A

stores living or recently living components of an ecosystem.

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32
Q

What is a carbon sink?

A

A carbon sink is a reservoir that absorbs carbon.

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33
Q

What are four examples of carbon sinks (& slow cycles)? What is the largest?

A
  1. Trees in the forest
  2. Rocks
  3. Fossil fuels
  4. Ocean - largest
34
Q

Why do forests (trees), Rocks, Fossil Fuels, and the Ocean consider a slow cycling of carbon?

A

These are all examples of the slow cycling of carbon because they all take millions of years to cycle.

35
Q

Name four ways carbon can quickly cycle into the environment?

A

Through…
1. Forest fires
2. Erosion of rocks (like CaCO3)
3. Movement through the food chain
4. Burning fossil fuels

36
Q

Is sulphur considered to have a fast cycle or a slow cycle? What processes make it able to be cycled at that speed (name 4)?

A

Sulfur is cycled rapidly.

it can be distributed through the food chain, the water cycle, volcanos, and burning coal.

37
Q

What is a process where sulfur becomes a slow cycle?

A

when it is layered down as sediments and becomes parts of rocks, which often takes millions of years to recycle.

38
Q

List three ways sulfur is released back into the atmosphere from rocks.

A
  1. The burning of fossil fuels - such as oil, coal and natural gas.
  2. Volcanic activity - release sulfur trapped in rocks into the atmosphere
  3. Weathering of sediments - releases sulfur back into the air
39
Q

What is acid deposition?

A

Acid deposition is where sulfur that has been released into the atmosphere reacts with water vapour to produce acidic compounds.

40
Q

What are the negatives of large amounts of acid deposition (name 3)?

A

it can damage plants, acidify lakes, and leech nutrients from the soil.

41
Q

what is the part of the plant that uses nitrogen?

A

Chlorophyll.

42
Q

Define Nitrogen fixation and what completes the process.

A

a process where bacteria convert nitrogen gas into ammonium (NH4+).

43
Q

What is the relationship between plants and bacteria in the process of Nitrogen Fixation?

A

Some plants have lumpy nodules on their roots which contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria to help it produce Ammonium in exchange for sugar.

44
Q

What is the process of Ammonification? Who uses the bi-products of it? What other organisms can do this process?

A

Where decomposers break down ammonium into nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-). Plants can use this as a nitrogen source. Certain soil bacteria can do this.

45
Q

Define Denitrification & who completes the process. In what environment does this usually occur?

A

Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate and nitrite back to nitrogen gas. This generally occurs in environments where there is very little oxygen.

46
Q

What is crop rotation? Why is this done?

A

A method farmers use that involves growing legumes which have nitrogen-fixing bacteria so they release nitrogen back into the soil. This helps the crops gain the extra nitrogen they need and allows the use of fertilizers to be avoided.

47
Q

How much of the atmosphere is composed of Phosphorus?

A

0%

48
Q

Where can phosphorus be found in the environment?

A

The soil and the water.

49
Q

How can animals consume phosphorus (name 3 foods)?

A

Animals obtain phosphorus by consuming foods such as:
1. milk
2. grain
3. meat

50
Q

What is the only form of phosphorus that plants can use?

A

Producers, such as plants and algae, can only only phosphate (PO43-), which dissolves in water.

51
Q

What is an algal bloom?

A

The overgrowth of algae.

52
Q

Describe the 6 steps that lead to a fish dying because of an algal bloom.

A
  1. Excess phosphorus enters the aquatic ecosystem
  2. Algal bloom and overgrowth occurs
  3. Sunlight cannot penetrate below the surface
  4. Plants below the surface can no longer photosynthesize and die
  5. Decomposer population quickly grows, depleting oxygen
  6. Fish and other organisms requiring oxygen die
53
Q

What is Nitrification? What does this?

A

takes N2 and makes Nitrate for plants. Lightning does this!

54
Q

What are two substances that humans release into waterways that can increase the chances of algal bloom?

A

Sewage and Run-off

55
Q

Where is sulfur in our diet? How is sulfur used in the body?

A

in Vitamins and protein, as well as muscles. Used In muscles, skin, and bones,

56
Q

Where are the two places Nitrogen is in our body?

A

DNA and Protien

57
Q

What is Productivity? What are the units?

A

The rate at which an ecosystem’s producers capture and store light
energy with organic compounds over a certain length of time.

J/m^2/a

58
Q

What is precipitation, condensation, infiltration, transpiration and evaporation?

A

Precipitation - rain
Condensation - condensing water vapor
Infiltration - Water seeping into the ground
Transpiration - water vapor produced in plant reparation

59
Q

What is productivity based on?

A
  • Number of producers
  • Amount of light
  • Amount of heat
  • Amount of rainfall
60
Q

What is the Gia Hypothesis?

A

The biosphere acts like an organism that regulates itself, maintaining environmental conditions within certain limits.

61
Q

If life wasn’t on Earth what gases would make up our atmosphere?

A

98% carbon dioxide, 1% nitrogen, 0% oxygen.

62
Q

What are Stromatolites? What are they used for?

A

Layered rock in the ocean. They are used to date the planet.

63
Q

What are biogeochemicals?

A

Chemicals that cycle around the earth and impact the biosphere.

64
Q

What is the equation for chemosynthesis?

A

6 H2O + 6 CO2 + 3 H2S = C6H12O6 + 3 H2SO4

65
Q

What are the human impacts of sulfur

A

Sulfur fertilizers and the burning of coal, lead to acid deposition.

66
Q

Does large biomass mean more productivity?

A

No

Ex. grasslands (low biomass, High productivity) and forests.

67
Q

What are the 8 properties of water?

A

Universal solvent, high melting and boiling point, adhesive and cohesive, high specific heat capacity, surface tension, polarity

68
Q

What are stromatolites?

A

Layered rocks in the ocean that date our planet and can tell us what kinds of life lived there.

69
Q

What is the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration?

A

The products they produce are required by the other

70
Q

Where does chemosynthesis occur

A

Deep sea vents or can occur in the absence of o2

71
Q

describe the transfer of matter in the ecosystem

A

Producers to consumers to decomposers to inorganic molecules back to producers

72
Q

Explain the transfer of heat in the ecosystem

A

Sun to producers to consumers to decomposers

Note: some of the energy is lost in the cycle

73
Q

What is a food chain?

A

a diagram that shows the path of energy from one living thing to another.

74
Q

What is a tropic level

A

The position an organism has in a food chain

e.x

1st Trophic Level: Producer

2nd Trophic Level: Primary Consumer

3rd Trophic Level: Secondary Consumer

4th Trophic Level: Tertiary Consumer/apex predator

75
Q

How is phosphorus used by us

A

DNA, ATP, bones, teeth

76
Q

What is the difference between rapid and slow cycling

A

Rapid cycling is when matter can be cycled as fast as a year or a day

Slow cycling is when matter can take up to 1000 or a million years to cycle

77
Q

What is a nutrient reservoir?

A

A temporary storage location for matter/nutrients in their cycle

78
Q

How is phosphorus released into the environment

A

Weathering - Natural
Sewage - human
Fertilitizer run off - human

79
Q

What’s the Gaia hypothesis

A

The biosphere acts like an organisms that regulates itself, maintaining environmental conditions within certain limits.

80
Q

Label the water cycle

A

Get the Graph

81
Q
A

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