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Environmental Science > Chapter 3 Vocab Adam Farid > Flashcards

Chapter 3 Vocab Adam Farid Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

Who was Ernst Haeckel?

A

A 19th century scientist who created the term ecology.

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2
Q

What is ecology?

A

Ecology means the study on one’s house. It consists of biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) surroundings.

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3
Q

What is biotic?

A

Living organisms in the environment.

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4
Q

What is abiotic?

A

Something that is nonliving in the environment.

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5
Q

What is population?

A

A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area at the same time.

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6
Q

What is a community?

A

A natural association that consists of all the populations of different species that live and interact within an area at the same time.

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7
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A

A community and its physical environment.

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8
Q

What is a landscape?

A

A region that includes several interacting ecosystems.

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9
Q

What is a biosphere?

A

The parts of Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and soil that contain all living organisms. All life.

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10
Q

What is the atmosphere?

A

The gaseous “envelope” surrounding Earth. Thickest layer on Earth.

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11
Q

What is the hydrosphere?

A

Earth’s supply of water.

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12
Q

What is the lithosphere?

A

The soil and rock of Earth’s crust. Thinnest layer on Earth. Biggest piece of Earth.

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13
Q

What is energy?

A

The capacity or ability to do work.

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14
Q

What is chemical energy?

A

Energy stored in the bonds of molecules.

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15
Q

What is radiant energy?

A

Energy that is transmitted as electromagnetic waves.

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16
Q

What is thermal energy?

A

Energy is heat that flows from an object with a higher temperature to an object with a lower temperature.

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17
Q

What is mechanical energy?

A

Energy that is in the movement of matter.

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18
Q

What is nuclear energy?

A

Energy that comes from atomic nuclei.

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19
Q

What is electrical energy?

A

Energy that flows as charged particles.

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20
Q

What is potential energy?

A

Energy that is stored and waiting to become kinetic.

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21
Q

What is kinetic energy?

A

Energy that is in motion.

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22
Q

What is a closed system?

A

A self contained and isolated system. It doesn’t exchange energy with its surroundings.They are very rare in nature.

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23
Q

What is an open system?

A

A system that shows an exchange of energy in its surroundings. The food web is an example of this.

24
Q

What is thermodynamics?

A

The study of energy and its transformations.

25
Q

What is the first law of thermodynamics?

A

That an organism may absorb energy from its surroundings, or it may give up energy into its surroundings, but the total energy content of the organism and its surroundings stays the same.

26
Q

What is the second law of thermodynamics?

A

That the amount of usable energy available to do work in the universe decreases over time.

27
Q

What is entropy?

A

The measure of less usable energy that is more diffuse.

28
Q

What is photosynthesis?

A

The biological process in which light energy from the sun is captured and transformed into the chemical energy of carbohydrate molecules.

29
Q

What is aerobic cellular resipration?

A

When molecules are broken down in the presence of oxygen and water into carbon dioxide and water, with the release of energy.

30
Q

What are hydrothermal vents?

A

They are on the floor of the deep ocean where seawater had penetrated and been heated by the hot rocks below.

31
Q

What is chemosynthesis?

A

When chemical reactions occur to create energy.

32
Q

What is Energy Flow?

A

The passage of Energy in a one way direction through an ecosystem.

33
Q

What are Producers/Autotrophs?

A

Photosynthetic organisms that are potential food resources for other organisms.

34
Q

What are Consumers/heterotrophs?

A

Almost only animals that feed on other organisms.

35
Q

What are Primary Consumers/Herbivores?

A

Organisms that feed on plants.

36
Q

What are Secondary Consumers and above/Carnivores?

A

Organisms that feed on primary consumers.

37
Q

What are Omnivores?

A

Organisms that eat both plants and animals.

38
Q

What are Detritivores?

A

Organisms that eat dead organic material.

39
Q

What is the Hippo-Tilapia connection?

A

If poachers kill the hippos, there will be no poop for some of the organisms to live in. If those organisms die, there won’t be any Tilapia for the humans to eat.
If hippos die, the whole food chain is effected.

40
Q

What are Decomposers?

A

Heterotrophs that break down dead organisms and use the decomposition products to to supply themselves with energy.

41
Q

What is a Food Chain?

A

When energy from food passes from one organism to the next in a sequence.

42
Q

What is a Food Web?

A

A representation of the interlocking food chains that connect all organisms in an ecosystem.

43
Q

What is a Trophic Level?

A

An organism’s position in a food chain, which is determined by its feeding relationships.

44
Q

What are Krill?

A

A piece of the Antarctic food web, they are tiny shrimp-like herbivores.

45
Q

What are causes for the collapse of the Antarctic Food Web?

A

Atmospheric change, humans killing whales, global warming, and humans harvesting krill.

46
Q

What are Ecological Pyramids?

A

Tools used to graphically represent the relative energy values of each Trophic Level.

47
Q

What is a Pyramid of Numbers?

A

Used to show the number of organisms at each trophic level in a given ecosystem. Organisms at base are most abundant.

48
Q

What is a Pyramid of Biomass?

A

Used to illustrate the total biomass at each successive trophic level.

49
Q

What is Biomass?

A

A quantitive estimate of the total mass or amount of living material, it indicates the amount of fixed energy at a particular time.

50
Q

What is a Pyramid of Energy?

A

Used to illustrate the energy content, often expressed as kilocalories per square meter per year, of the biomass of each trophic level.

51
Q

What is Gross Primary Productivity (GPP)?

A

The total amount of photosynthetic energy that plants capture and assimilate in a given period.

52
Q

What is Net Primary Productivity (NPP)?

A

Productivity after respiration losses are subtracted.

53
Q

What is Gross Secondary Productivity (GSP)?

A

The rate at which energy is captured while consuming producers.

54
Q

What is Net Secondary Producers (NSP)?

A

Productivity after respiration losses are subtracted.

55
Q

What are the findings from Vitousek and Rojstaczer’s Research?

A

The annual land-based NPP for humans is 32%.

56
Q

What is the take-home message from Vitousek and Rojstaczer’s Research?

A

If we want our planet to operate sustainably, we must share terrestrial photosynthesis products - that is, NPP - with other organisms.

Environmental Science (5 decks)

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