Chapter 42: Ecosystems/Energy/Nutrients Flashcards
What are the processes at ecosystem and biosphere scales?
Nutrient cycling + energy flow
What is nutrient cycling?
“skilled” organisms (producers and decomposers) recycle nutrients between inorganic and organic forms.
What is ecology?
the study of how organisms interact with each other and the nonliving environment.
What are nutrients?
ability to BE something, elements essential for life
What is energy?
ability to DO things
What is the Law of Conservation of Matter?
matter cannot be created nor destroyed, it is reused
What are autotrophs?
Producers
What are heterotrophs?
Consumers
What is the most important role of photosynthetic organisms in an ecosystem?
produce organic molecules from inorganic molecules
Why are biogeochemical cycles crucial?
Nutrients are in finite supply + nutrients sustain life
What is a reservoir?
a major storage location for a nutrient
What do biogeochemical processes do?
facilitate the transformation of carbon between organic and inorganic forms
What is the Law of Conservation of Energy?
Energy cannot be created nor destroyed, but transferred and transformed.
How is the atomic scale related to the biosphere?
The transformation of atoms and molecules
What is Gross Primary Production (GPP)?
the amount of energy from light converted to the chemical energy of organic molecules per unit time.
