Chapter 3 Flashcards
Three harmful effects of tropical rainforest destruction
- clearing the forest will reduce the earth’s vital biodiversity by destroying or degrading the habitats of many unique plant and animal species, causing their extinction
- causes an acceleration in global warming
- large scale rainforests will change regional weather patterns, which could prevent tropical rainforest regrowth
Earth’s four life support systems
Atmosphere- thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earth’s surface
Geosphere- earth’s hot core
Biosphere- the parts of the atmosphere where life is found
Hydrosphere- all water on or near the earth’s surface
3 factors that sustain life on earth
- one way flow of high quality energy(sun to earth)
- cycling of nutrients (atoms, ions, molecules needed for survival)
- gravity (allows planet to hold on to the atmosphere
Greenhouse effect
Natural effect that releases heat in the atmosphere near the earths surface. Water vaper, carbon dioxide, ozone, and other gasses in the lower atmosphere absorb some of the radiation radiated by the earths surface
Abiotic vs biotic factors
Abiotic- any nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Ex: rock, water
Biotic- any living organisms in an ecosystem
Ex: plants, animals
Primary consumer
(Herbivore)
Animals that eat mostly plants
Secondary consumer
(Carnivore)
Animals that feed on the flesh of other animals
Omnivores
Animals that eat plants and other animals
Decomposer
Composers that release nutrients from the wastes or remains of plants and animals and then return those nutrients to the soil, water, and air for reuse by producers
Detritivores
Feed on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms
Levels of biological organization
Atom Molecule Cell Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere
Aerobic vs anaerobic respiration
Aerobic respiration- uses oxygen to convert glucose back into carbon dioxide and water
Anaerobic respiration- breaks down glucose in the absence of oxygen
Biomass
The dry weight of all organic matter contained in its organisms
Ecological efficiency
Describes the efficiency of energy transferred from one trophic level to the next
Gross primary productivity vs net primary productivity
Gross primary productivity- the rate at which an ecosystems producers convert solar energy into chemical energy in the form of biomass found in their tissues
Net primary productivity- the rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and store chemical energy minus the rate at which they use some of the stored chemical energy through aerobic respiration
Biogeochemical cycles
Natural processes that recycle nutrients in various chemical forms from the nonliving environment to living organisms and then back to the nonliving environment
The water cycle
- water evaporates to the sky
- pulled down to the earth by gravity in the form of precipitation
- surface runoff and transpiration help the water go to lakes so it can evaporate and start the process over again
The carbon cycle
- enters atmosphere as carbon dioxide from respiration and combustion
- absorbed by producers to make carbohydrates in photosynthesis, then put off oxygen
- animals eat the plants, transferring the carbon, then exhaling carbon dioxide through respiration , causes plants to die
- dead organisms eaten by decomposers, carbon returned to the atmosphere
The nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen fixation- nitrogen fixing organisms convert the soil’s nitrogen to ammonia.
Nitrification- other bacteria convert into nitrate. Nitrosomonas convert ammonia into nitrite, nitrite converted to nitrate, consumed plants
Denitrification- nitrates in soil broken down by organisms, nitrogen released into the atmosphere
Phosphorous cycle
-rain + weathering cause rocks to release phosphate ions over years(inorganic) phosphate distributed to soil + water
- plants take it in from soil, animals eat the plants, phosphate incorporated into dna, organic phosphate returned to soil
- mineralization makes organic phosphate available to plants
Soil phosphorous ends up in waterways, then oceans, becomes sediments over time
Sulfur cycle
Mineralization of organic sulfur into inorganic forms, such as hydrogen sulfide, element sulfur, and sulfide minerals
- oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, sulfide, and elemental sulfur to sulfate
- reduction of sulfate to sulfide
- incorporation of sulfide into organic compounds
