Chapter 53 Flashcards
Def: ecosystem
one or more communities in an area + abiotic components
Primary producer (autotroph)
can synthesize its own food from inorganic sources
Gross primary productivity
the total energy captured by autotrophs
How is energy used in primary producers
cellular respiration or growth and reproduction (refered to as net primary productivity)
How can you calculate net primary productivity
NPP = GPP - R
-R represents energy used in cellular respiration
Why do plants utilize such a small percentage of solar energy
-use fraction of the wave length spectrum
-less or 0 during winter
-stalled if too dry
-enzyme efficiency varies with temperature
How does energy move through an ecosystem
-arrives as sunlight
-slowly dissipates as it flows through ecosystem
-primary producer to primary consumer to secondary consumer to tertiary consumer
How do nutrients move through an ecosystem
-cycle through ecosystem
-move from primary producer to primary consumer to secondary consumer to tertiary consumer
-when any of these species die they will decompose and provide nutrients to the primary producer
Food webs
allow summarizing energy flows and the complex trophic interactions in ecosystems
what % of potential NPP do humans currently prevent
24%
Biochemical cycle
the path that an element takes as it move from abiotic systems through organisms and back again
Terrestrial Nutrient cycle
-roots uptake organic matter in the soil
-assimilation occurs in plants
-animal (herbivore) consumes plants
-excretion and dead plants and animals become detritus
-decomposition occurs by providing nutrients to decomposer
-when they die the nutrients is returned to the soil
What 3 factors impact the rate of nutrient movement
- Abiotic conditions
-oxygen availability, temperature (faster in warm climates) and precipitation - Quality of the detritus as a nutrient source for the fungi, bacteria and archaea
- the abundance and diversity of detritivores present
What are major nutrient import/export agents
ACCELERATE NUTRIENT EXPORT:
farming, logging, burning and soil erosion
4 major mechanisms to replace lost nutrients
- Ions that act as nutrients are released as rocks weather
- nutrients blow in on soil particles or arrive as solutes in streams
- Carbon is added when primary producers fix carbon
- Nitrogen is added when nitrogen-fixing bacteria convert molecular nitrogen in the atmosphere to useable nitrogen in ammonium or nitrate ions
The global water cycle
-greater portion of evaporation occurs from ocean than precipitation over the ocean
-water vapor moved by wind over land
-precipitation greater than evaporation over land
-water runs off back into the oceans
What percentage of earths water is salt water
97.5%
What percentage of earths water is freshwater
2.5%