Chapter 3- The Biosphere Flashcards
What is ecology
The scientific study of interactions among organism and between organisms and their environment or surroundings
What is the biosphere
The combined portions of the planet in which all life exists
Populations are
A group of individuals of the same species
What is the community
Made up of different populations that live together in a defined area
What is the ecosystem
Includes nonliving things
What is a biome
Ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities
What are the three fundamental ecological methods to research
Observing
Experimenting
Modeling
What is hard science
A term that scientist use to describe the parts of science that are definitive and clear like math and chemistry
What is soft science
A term that scientist use to describe the parts of science that you cannot do experiments on.
What is life’s main energy source
Sunlight
How much of the suns energy does life use
1%
What is light coming from the sun called?
Insolation
Two main groups all biological things are categorized as
Autotrophs
Heterotrophs
What is an autotroph
Organisms that can make their on food/energy
Also known as producers
What are heterotrophs
They rely on other organisms for food and have many subgroups
Sub groups of heterotrophs
Herbivores Carnivores Omnivores Detrivores Decomposers
What do herbivores eat
Only plants
What do carnivores eat
Only meat
What do omnivores eat
Eat plants and animals
What do detrivores eat
Dead materials
What are decomposers
Detrivores that break things down into smaller molecules
What is the basis of almost all life
Photosynthesis
What is chemosynthesis
Bacteria can produce energy with this and not using photosynthesis
What is the food chain
Shows the one way flow of energy in an ecosystem. Energy moves upward in a food chain
What is the food web
A more complex food chain Bc in ecosystems it’s usually not a direct path to the top
What is a trophic level
Each layer in a food chain/web
What percent of the 1% of sunlight That organisms use as energy is converted to glucose
.4%
Food chain order
Producers
Primary consumers
Secondary consumers
Tertiary consumers
Two types of matter
Abiotic
Biotic
Def of biotic
Implies life aka living things
Def of abiotic
Means without life
What is the atmosphere
Is gaseous layer above the earth
What is the troposphere
It’s the “weather layer”
Closest layer of atmosphere
Lithosphere
Earths crust upper layer of exposed earth
Hydrosphere
Water in earth
What is transpiration
The amount of water vapor that plants release from the bottom of their leaves into the atmosphere
What is eutrophication
When a limiting nutrient becomes available
Limiting nutrient
A nutrient that plants need it is not common
What is a key component in all of life
Carbon
CO
Carbon monoxide
CO2
Carbon dioxide
The four main ways carbon moves
- Biological processes:cellular respiration, photosynthesis
- Geochemical Processes: erosion, volcanic activity
- Mixed biogeochemical processes:burial
- Human activities: mining
Explain global warming
Lots of CO2 warms the earth bc it radiates heat well. So if we put lots of CO2 in the atmosphere it will warm the earth
Anthropogenic
Environmental pollution by humans
